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Internet home page for defamation. This lawsuit was not admitted to the court on 24 March
2000.
Life Space, Inc., an umbrella organization of the larger religious organization mentioned
above, was ordered to pay a sum of 14 million yen in compensation for damages resulting
from an accident that led to death during a training session at its self-enlightenment
seminar. The court ruled that the organization was responsible by default based on its
obligation to provide safe treatment. (Kyoto District Court judgment of 27 November 1998).
Kofuku no Kagaku. Kofuku no Kagaku has filed many lawsuits against many media
organizations, in particular Kodansha (a large publishing house in Japan) that has criticized
the leader of Kofuku no Kagaku Ohkawa Ryuho and the organization itself. In protest of
Kodansha, Kofuku no Kagaku staged a demonstration led by popular actresses and writers
who are believers of the religion and barraged the publishing company with faxes. These
actions disrupted the business of Kodansha and developed into a social problem. Because
some of Kofuku no Kagaku‘s actions against Kodansha were excessive, in a lawsuit filed by
Kodansha against the religious organization the court ordered Kofuku no Kagaku to
compensate the publishing company for damages. (Tokyo District Court judgment of 20
December 1986.)
Also, as a legal counter measure, Kofuku no Kagaku sued former members who publicly
criticized against the group and concerned citizens who opposed the organization‘s
construction of new facilities. These lawsuits by far outnumber those filed by any other
organization.
Former believers of Kofuku no Kagaku who were compelled to donate about 230,000,000
yen over a very short period of time sued the organization for damages. In response,
Kofuku no Kagaku and its main headquarters sued those plaintiffs and their lawyers for
defamation, seeking 800,000,000 yen in damages.
Soka Gakkai. Soka Gakkai has been at organizational opposition with the present
mainstream Buddhist religion in Japan called Nichiren Seishu. As a result of this discord,
Soka Gakkai has filed more than 100 suits against Nichiren Seishu. The organizations have
mutually sued each other for defamation many times. Alleging defamation, Soka Gakkai
has also recurrently sued the media for criticizing the organization in their reporting.
Religious Organizations in General. As noted in the above examples, when religious
organizations are criticized by news coverage or other social activity or are sued, in many
cases they retaliate aggressively. Given this situation, the work of media organizations,
journalists, freedom of speech activists, lawyers, and others need to proceed seriously and
with due consideration.
Perhaps a religious organization‘s response to criticism from lay society is an indication of its
real personality. Two such indicators might be whether they accept the criticism and try to
change their conduct or activities and/or whether they are big-hearted and flexible enough
to establish opportunities for change or to at least provide detailed, respectful responses to
the criticisms. These indicators may be useful in evaluating religious organizations in the
future.
Counseling Believers After They Leave a Religious Organization
Beginning in the 1970‘s in Japan, a number of counselors (mainly a small group of
Protestant ministers who quit cults) began to help former members of the Unification
Church. In the late 1980‘s in response to social criticism against spiritual sales, such
counseling activities spread to areas throughout Japan, largely due to the organization of a
Counter Measure Conference established essentially by Christian ministers. Due to their
background and experience in providing counseling, such groups, although working with

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 18, 2001, Page 45
limited personnel, were quite effective in helping former Aum Shinrikyo and other cult
members recover.
In response to this, the Unification Church, alleging that the families of believers and
Christian ministers formed a conspiracy to kidnap its believers, confine them, and force
them to quit the Church, filed a criminal complaint and published a book criticizing the said
―conspiracy.‖ The police, however, declined the Church‘s complaint saying that the issue in
question is a family matter.
The Unification Church persuaded their followers to file a civil action against a minister who
counseled the believers and their parents since January 1999. In these cases, the
Unification Church‘s followers are demanding that the parents and the minister cease
pressuring the said believer to quit the Church, and that compensation for damages is paid.
Scientology cooperated with the Unification Church (the Moonies) in one of these lawsuits.
Additionally, a female member of the Jehovah Witness organization sued a Christian
minister for damages in January 1999.
The following issues are being disputed with respect to these cases: First, did an act occur
that is recognized as genuine kidnapping and confinement? Second, what admissible actions
can parents or guardians of a child take when they learn that their child has joined and is
actively participating in an organization that conducts antisocial activities? Third, how should
the participatory role of a minister be concretely defined?
In the future, counseling former and possibly present members of religious organizations
will be a matter of serious concern in Japan.
Problems Within the Family
There have been numerous cases in which a spouse has filed for divorce because the other
spouse became deeply involved in a religion and in doing so neglected his or her family life.
In reviewing court judgments on this subject, it is apparent that in many of these cases one
of the spouses had joined the Jehovah Witness organization or Soka Gakkai. Divorce was
recognized in cases where it was determined that a spouse‘s religious involvement
obstructed his or her obligation to cooperate as a spouse. However, divorce was not
recognized in cases where one spouse refused to accept the religion of the other spouse and
where the courts could not find that the basic life of the spouse had been disturbed due only
to a difference of religious beliefs between the two spouses.
In such cases when divorce is granted, subsequent child custody cases have arisen. In some
cases, a parent who becomes an Aum Shinrikyo, Life Space, or Yamagishi-Kai follower takes
his or her child to live at that organization‘s commune. In response to this, the parent who
is not a member of the religious organization or the grandmother/grandfather of the child in
question takes habeas corpus actions requesting a change in child custody rights with a
view to returning the child to normal society from the said commune. Such requests are
usually recognized in cases where it is clear that the communal life style within a religious
organization‘s facility is detrimental to a child‘s welfare and in cases where a child over the
age of ten years expresses his or her wish to leave the said facility.
Another problem concerns the wish of children and parents of religious organization
believers to protect the estate belonging to that believer. Often, believers donate their
property and assets, one after another, to a religious organization in line with its
propaganda. This has a great financial impact on the believer‘s family. Therefore, family
members seeking to protect the estate have sought legal advice.
In such cases the procedure on Declaration of Quasi-Incompetence may be employed. By
this procedure, when an adult is judged to be incapable of appropriately managing his/her
estate, the court appoints a conservator/guardian to oversee the management of that