Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 3, Nos. 2 &3, 2004, Page 57
In the 1990s the Unification Church‘s notorious fundraising strategy interfered with its more
traditional missionary activities on campuses and streets, and the organization had to
develop a more controversial recruitment methodology, which was criticized as ―mind
control.‖ Added to that, the Unification Church several times held mass weddings that the
mass media responded to with sensationalism and criticism. And worse, cult phobia and the
anti-cult movement in Japan further accelerated the Unification Church‘s downturn of fund-
raising and missionary activities.
Legal Cases of the Unification Church of Japan: Number and Rulings
Ex-members of the Unification Church in Japan have filed three kinds of lawsuits:
1. Dozens of property-damage suits against the Unification Church have gone to court.
Plaintiffs filed the initial case at the Fukuoka District Court in 1990 and prevailed in a
verdict at the Supreme Court in 1996. Afterwards the plaintiffs recovered their
damages in several suits filed in District Courts and High Courts, such as Sendai,
Nara, and Tokyo, and won a ruling that the Unification Church should take
responsibility as the employer of salespersons who conducted fraudulent sales of
spiritual goods. According to a survey by a Lawyers' Liaison Meeting regarding
damages claimed against the Unification Church, the accumulated demand for
property damages has totaled about 88 billion yen from 1988 to the present
(approximately 700 million dollars). This huge estimate was derived from an
inspection of annual consultation statistics from the consumer affairs bureau and bar
association in each prefecture of Japan. In half of those cases victims sought legal
advice for their damages and recovered part of them. Although just a handful of
plaintiffs have recovered damages, the existing adverse rulings and their social
impact have forced the Unification Church to stop its fraudulent sales and change its
fundraising strategy of collecting donations in a deceitful and coercive way.
2. Some ex-members made allegations at the annulment of their marriages in several
district courts and family courts, and they received due recognitions. Unification
Church members are required to marry among members in mass weddings
performed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife. Moreover, brides and bridegrooms
are matched and marriages are arranged by the Unification Church without
considering individuals‘ preferences. These marriages are believed to be sacred and
will therefore result in the birth of children without original sin. Ex-members who had
not yet started their married lives when they became disaffiliated from the
Unification Church would want to dissolve any marriage contract they entered into
through the church. Nevertheless, dissolutions would be difficult in those cases in
which the former members already had families, and especially in cases of
international marriage, in which cases Japanese court rulings would not be valid in
other countries.
3. Ex-members also filed lawsuits for financial compensation, claiming that they were
illegally recruited and indoctrinated by the Unification Church. Their attorneys used
the mind-control theory and argument to explain that members' affiliation with the
Unification Church was created under social and psychological pressure, which was
considered a violation of human rights. These lawsuits were beyond the common
sense of religion and the law at issue, because there was no such legal precedent
and no in-depth data concerning the specifics of the Unification Church‘s recruitment
and indoctrination processes in the Unification Church.
Sapporo District Court Case: Contents of Ruling
On June 29, 2001, the Sapporo District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a 14-year trial
in which 20 former members had sued the Unification Church for coercive conversion and
In the 1990s the Unification Church‘s notorious fundraising strategy interfered with its more
traditional missionary activities on campuses and streets, and the organization had to
develop a more controversial recruitment methodology, which was criticized as ―mind
control.‖ Added to that, the Unification Church several times held mass weddings that the
mass media responded to with sensationalism and criticism. And worse, cult phobia and the
anti-cult movement in Japan further accelerated the Unification Church‘s downturn of fund-
raising and missionary activities.
Legal Cases of the Unification Church of Japan: Number and Rulings
Ex-members of the Unification Church in Japan have filed three kinds of lawsuits:
1. Dozens of property-damage suits against the Unification Church have gone to court.
Plaintiffs filed the initial case at the Fukuoka District Court in 1990 and prevailed in a
verdict at the Supreme Court in 1996. Afterwards the plaintiffs recovered their
damages in several suits filed in District Courts and High Courts, such as Sendai,
Nara, and Tokyo, and won a ruling that the Unification Church should take
responsibility as the employer of salespersons who conducted fraudulent sales of
spiritual goods. According to a survey by a Lawyers' Liaison Meeting regarding
damages claimed against the Unification Church, the accumulated demand for
property damages has totaled about 88 billion yen from 1988 to the present
(approximately 700 million dollars). This huge estimate was derived from an
inspection of annual consultation statistics from the consumer affairs bureau and bar
association in each prefecture of Japan. In half of those cases victims sought legal
advice for their damages and recovered part of them. Although just a handful of
plaintiffs have recovered damages, the existing adverse rulings and their social
impact have forced the Unification Church to stop its fraudulent sales and change its
fundraising strategy of collecting donations in a deceitful and coercive way.
2. Some ex-members made allegations at the annulment of their marriages in several
district courts and family courts, and they received due recognitions. Unification
Church members are required to marry among members in mass weddings
performed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon and his wife. Moreover, brides and bridegrooms
are matched and marriages are arranged by the Unification Church without
considering individuals‘ preferences. These marriages are believed to be sacred and
will therefore result in the birth of children without original sin. Ex-members who had
not yet started their married lives when they became disaffiliated from the
Unification Church would want to dissolve any marriage contract they entered into
through the church. Nevertheless, dissolutions would be difficult in those cases in
which the former members already had families, and especially in cases of
international marriage, in which cases Japanese court rulings would not be valid in
other countries.
3. Ex-members also filed lawsuits for financial compensation, claiming that they were
illegally recruited and indoctrinated by the Unification Church. Their attorneys used
the mind-control theory and argument to explain that members' affiliation with the
Unification Church was created under social and psychological pressure, which was
considered a violation of human rights. These lawsuits were beyond the common
sense of religion and the law at issue, because there was no such legal precedent
and no in-depth data concerning the specifics of the Unification Church‘s recruitment
and indoctrination processes in the Unification Church.
Sapporo District Court Case: Contents of Ruling
On June 29, 2001, the Sapporo District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a 14-year trial
in which 20 former members had sued the Unification Church for coercive conversion and
