Masayoshi Kajiguri, chairman of the International Win-Kyo Rengo (far right), visiting the office of Shinzo Abe in the Diet in 2010 (Photo courtesy of Bungeishunju digital, Mr. Eito Suzuki)
“Friendship groups have been involved in politics with a strong stance.” “We have joined hands with politicians.”
Tomihiro Tanaka, president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church, herefollowing referred to as the Unification Church), said frankly at a press conference on August 10 that the church has been actively involved in politics.
Lawmakers who had contact with the Unification Church also belong to opposition parties such as the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Japan Restoration Party. However, it was the Liberal Democratic Party of the ruling party, especially lawmakers belonging to the Abe faction (Seiwa Policy Study Group), who were deeply involved in both scale and quality.
How did the Unification Church enter the world of politics? Why mightn’t politicians cut off contact with a cult whose antisocial behavior, such as psychic marketing and large donations, has been viewed as a problem? In the first installment of the special feature “Questioning Religion,” we asked Hodaka Tsukada (Sociology of Religion) of Joetsu University of Education regarding the relationship between politics and religion.
–At a press conference on August 10, Unification Church President Tomihiro Tanaka admitted that the church “has been involved in politics with a strong stance.” Please let me know your reaction to this statement.
While politicians, mainly from the Liberal Democratic Party, were trying to emphasize that their relationship was weak, saying, “I didn’t know they were affiliated organizations,” I was wondering if they would really hide their relationship. However, it was confirmed once once more that it was actually a relationship with a strong awareness.
In the end, under the pretext of “confronting communism,” it was strongly supported that politicians who were sympathetic to that stance and groups with strong social problems had continued to cooperate for a long time.
