Plan to Rein In Religious Groups Worries Japanese

In the monstrous worship hall of the Rissho Kosei Kai, busloads of believers alight to behold wiggling cheerleaders in purple sequins, band members pounding out the bouncy strains of “Anchors Aweigh” and a gleaming gold Buddha with bright blue curls.

On a street corner here in Japan’s capital, two women approach strangers and offer to cure their health problems with divine energy emanating from their open palms in a ministry called the Assn. to Make Clear the Love of God.

Kenny Joseph preaches the word of Jesus Christ from his living room ministry, while members of the Soka Gakkai--the Buddhist lay organization whose 8 million households make it Japan’s largest religious group--study the Lotus Sutra, sell gravestones and put out a newspaper.

Worlds apart in faith and scope, these ministries have united under one cause: to fight attempts by the government to revise the Religious Corporation Law, which gives everyone from wacko cults to mainstream churches tax privileges and protections.

Legislative debate on the controversial measure is expected to heat up this week.

Public Outcry

In a clash of religious freedom, power politics and public safety, the move to tighten the law came after Aum Supreme Truth--a cult professing yogic and Hindu teachings--became the prime suspect earlier this year in the murderous nerve gas attack on Tokyo subways. Horrified by the way the cult amassed chemical facilities and weapons with no apparent regulatory oversight, an overwhelming majority of the public called for an immediate crackdown on religious groups.

But since that early outcry, the effort has become entangled in a high-stakes political battle that could well determine which party leads Japan after the next election.

In an upset victory, the opposition New Frontier Party outpolled the leading Liberal Democratic Party in July’s upper house elections--and the Soka Gakkai was the reason.

With stunningly efficient election operations, the Soka Gakkai is estimated to have delivered half of the New Frontier’s 12.5 million votes. As a result, the New Frontier--an amalgamation of parties that includes the former Clean Government Party supported by the Soka Gakkai--won more votes than the Liberal Democrats nationwide and took 18 proportionally distributed seats to the Liberal Democrats’ 15.

The Liberal Democrats’ own religious coalition is made up 10 million largely Buddhist and Shinto supporters. But, divided by faith and uneven in political zeal, it is believed to have delivered a paltry 1 million votes.

“Doubtless the people who originally supported this [revised religion law] were motivated by fears of Aum,” said Yoshiya Abe, a professor of religious studies at Kokugakuin University. “But the motivations have changed, from preventing another Aum to use of the religious laws for political ends.”

Abe and others say that current laws are sufficient to enable authorities to investigate criminal activities, tax evasion or other illegal acts by religious corporations.

Liberal Democrat Secretary General Koichi Kato said the main target of the revision is the Supreme Truth cult. But he added that religious groups should stay away from trying to infiltrate the center of government.

“It’s OK for religious organizations to be interested in politics, especially issues like human rights, peace and social welfare,” Kato said. “But when they try to get into the core of public power, it’s another story. We have to protect our authority of government from the dominance of a specific religious organization.”

Asked if the Soka Gakkai had crossed the line between religion and politics, Kato said, “I want people to debate this.”

Soka Gakkai spokesman Hiroshi Nishiguchi said that a revision in the religion law might well be needed but that ramming it through Parliament with little debate is hardly the right approach. He also said the group fears that even the modest revisions proposed might be expanded in the future.

Dark Memories

That is ominous to many here because it brings back memories of Japan’s dark days of religious oppression. Such oppression was routine until the Allied occupation after World War II crafted the current religious protections.

The occupation reform was aimed at preventing a replay of the years leading up to the war, when state Shintoism was used as the rallying cry for the imperial war machine and when ministers who preached a higher authority than the emperor were jailed and tortured.

But well before that, government authorities had ruthlessly tried to stamp out religious adherents who challenged their power, ranging from Christian martyrs at Nagasaki to a Shinto offshoot called Omotokyo, a sect smashed in the 1930s when hundreds of police raided its headquarters, arrested thousands of followers and ordered wrecking crews to destroy its holy buildings.

The proposed revision to the Religious Corporation Law would reverse a key component of the occupation reform by shifting jurisdiction over the nation’s 185,000 nonprofit religious corporations from local authorities back to the central government--in this case, the Education Ministry. It would empower the ministry to “ask questions” about activities and to demand financial documents, although religious corporations already submit them to tax authorities.

Such proposed powers alarm a broad group of religious leaders. At least 24 religious groups of all faiths have joined to fight the revision.

“I strongly agree they should apply the revisions to every religion that owns a Russian helicopter, manufactures guns and kills its own followers,” said Christian minister Joseph, referring to Supreme Truth. “But leave the rest of us alone. Otherwise, it’s back to 1945 and the thought police.”

Even the Rissho Kosei Kai, a Buddhist group that is the Soka Gakkai’s rival and a key supporter of the Liberal Democrats, opposes moves to change the law because of fears that to do so could unleash an all-out political war on religions.

“The LDP says they won’t bother us because the aim is Soka Gakkai. But if the New Frontier Party becomes the majority party, what kind of harassment would we receive?” one member wondered.

Still, supporters of the proposal say the current law gives excessive protection to all manner of scam artists who are getting rich while posing as gurus. This jaded view of religion was captured in Juzo Itami’s popular film “A Taxing Woman,” featuring a persistent tax collector aiming to bust charlatan monks raking in hidden riches. It is also expressed in the common saying Bozu maru moke-- the monks are making money.

“Out in the country, some monks are really poor and have to teach on the side to support themselves,” said Takeshi Nishide, a journalist who covers religion. “But then you will also see a lot of temples and shrines with a Benz parked in the driveway.”

The popular distrust of religious leaders reflects a deeper suspicion of religion itself, said Rissho spokesman Kenichiro Nakamura.

“To have religion is like having a handicap in this society,” he said. “The evidence of this is that many of us are embarrassed in our lives to admit or talk about our religion because we think we will be treated differently.”

Aversion to Dogma

From the days of the shoguns, Japanese rulers have long discouraged deep adherence to religious dogma because it created a competing loyalty to a higher authority, experts here say. Buddhist temples once were staging grounds for warrior monks to clash with authorities.

Today, most Japanese comfortably integrate both Buddhism and Shintoism into their lives and tend to shy away from dogma.

“Japanese religions have no exclusivity--you can be Buddhist and Shinto and Christian all at the same time--except for groups like Aum, which is one reason people really dislike them,” Nishide said.

He added that the Soka Gakkai’s “hard ideology” is one reason the group seems to cause so much unease. The idea that its followers might be more loyal to its president, Daisaku Ikeda, than to the prime minister or other political leaders also seems to create fears.

The Liberal Democrats’ Kato, for instance, says obedience to a guru or founder doesn’t mix with democracy because it precludes the necessary give-and-take of politics.

“If you don’t have an ear to what the other political party is saying, then it’s a very strong obstacle to the procedures of democracy,” he said.

The Soka Gakkai also arouses a palpable anxiety over how much financial and political aid it funnels to the New Frontier and whether it forces followers to vote a certain way, give money and stay in the group even if they want to quit. But when asked what policies they fear that the group would push if the New Frontier won the election, people don’t seem to have an answer.

Group spokesman Nishiguchi said political contributions are made voluntarily by individuals but not by the organization. And five female Soka Gakkai members said in a group interview that their political activities consist only of asking friends and acquaintances to support the group’s endorsed candidate. They also said people are free to quit the group when they want, although other members would try to persuade them to stay.

Shozo Azuma, a New Frontier lower house deputy, said about 60% of his votes and campaign contributions came from Soka Gakkai members. Azuma, a former refugee worker for the United Nations, said his Buddhist beliefs have affected his politics only in his support for Japan to become involved in international peacekeeping activities.

Citing former President John F. Kennedy’s Roman Catholic faith, Azuma said, “People are entitled to move freely in politics even if they have a religious faith.”

Abe, the professor, said the lax laws may well provide cover for some scam artists and even criminal groups but that such scofflaws are well in the minority.

“My feeling is that this is the price for freedom,” he said.