Japan gives government power to police religious groups

TOKYO — Japan yesterday revised its law on religion for the first time in more than four decades, granting the government new powers to police religious groups.

Supporters said the change will help prevent the emergence of groups like the Sublime Truth cult, which is blamed for a series of murders and kidnappings as well as the nerve gas attack on Tokyo’s subways in March that killed 12 people and injured more than 5,500.

Critics accused the Liberal Democrats, who make up the largest bloc in the coalition government, of using the issue as a political weapon. They say the Liberal Democrats are seeking to punish a Buddhist group for helping the opposition in August elections.

With the change — the first made to the Religious Corporation Law — religious groups are placed under central government authority and must disclose more to the government. The law passed the upper house of Parliament yesterday and takes effect within a year.

In imperial Japan, the government imprisoned those who strayed from Shinto, the state religion. But in 1951, US occupation forces drafting Japan’s modern constitution wrote the Religious Corporation Law.

Since then, Japan has experienced an explosion in the number of officially registered religions. About 100 new religious corporations are approved in Japan each year, and the tens of thousands of groups currently operating claim one in five Japanese as members.

The Sublime Truth sect went largely unnoticed by the central government and the public until police acknowledged last spring that its top members were prime suspects in a murder, kidnapping and terror spree that included the gas attack on Tokyo’s subways on March 20.

Police now say that for years, the cult had been developing its own machine guns, doing biological weapons research and making deadly sarin gas and LSD. Shoko Asahara, the sect leader, even had plans to take over the world.

After the attack, US congressmen expressed shock at the lack of oversight, saying Washington’s own investigation turned up cult plans for terrorist attacks in Japan and the United States.

Japanese leaders were embarrassed by the revelations, and supporters of the new law said it will ensure that such breaches will not happen again.

The revised law places religions operating in more than two of Japan’s 47 prefectures under the authority of the minister of education instead of local authorities.

Religious groups will be obligated to disclose more financial information and to submit reports any time the government asks for them.

Read Another Article

Japan cult loses its tax status
Two plead guilty in subway attack

Related News Articles Topic(s): Aum Shinrikyo Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Aum Shinrikyo Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog