Panel to discuss Unification Church sales practices

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Panel to discuss Unification Church sales practices

A panel of experts set up by the Consumer Affairs Agency in Tokyo will discuss illegal sales practices, such as those that are a hallmark of the Unification Church, on October 4th, on a draft of legislation to restrict unjust donations to religious corporations.

In the case of the Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unity, victims said they came under immense pressure from church followers to purchase hugely overpriced items, a tactic known as spiritual sales, and more recently make hefty cash donations.

There have been many cases in which donating a lot of money to the church destroys not only the life of a follower but the lives of the person's family, said Shoji Kawakami, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo who chairs the panel.

Kawakami called for new rules to ban the heinous act of demanding donations.

Another panel member, Shiori Kanno, said this kind of rule is necessary in order to distinguish decent religious corporations from groups that use their religious corporation status as camouflage for financial exploitation. The panel is expected to designate two particularly egregious practices, including demanding donations by playing on the spiritual fears of followers and demanding donations when an individual is unable to make a rational decision.

Donations made through such activities will be declared void.

The panel discussed a cap on the amount of donations.

Some panelists urged caution, saying that it could tip off unscrupulous religious corporations about a person's annual income.

The panel is expected to draft a proposal in a few days and fine-tune the wording later.

It is expected to review the Consumer Contract Law and look at ways to order shady religious groups to dissolve.