Japan Enacts Law Banning 'Malicious' Solicitations

Japan has enacted a law that bans organizations from maliciously soliciting donations following controversy over fundraising by the Unification Church but only after the Cabinet made concessions on key issues with the opposition, Kyodo News reported.

Photo Insert: Lawyers supporting those who have suffered financial ruin as a result of giving large donations to the Unification Church have criticized the hastily crafted law for having many deficiencies.

Aiming to prevent the creation of new victims of controversial religious groups, the House of Councillors, or upper house, passed the bill with the support of the ruling bloc and most of the opposition parties on the final day of the 69-day extraordinary parliamentary session.

The bill cleared parliament five months after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot by the son of a follower of the Unification Church. Often labeled as a religious cult, it was established by a staunch anti-communist in South Korea in 1954.

It is rare for Japanese lawmakers to hold a weekend plenary session to adopt a law. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government scrambled to enact the law in an apparent attempt to stave off a plunge in the approval ratings for his Cabinet due partly to issues surrounding the Unification Church.

But lawyers supporting those who have suffered financial ruin as a result of giving large donations to the Unification Church have criticized the hastily crafted law for having many deficiencies, saying it is unlikely to help most of the group's victims.

The law prohibits organizations from "confusing" people to solicit donations through tactics such as "stoking fear," but the lawyers have argued some believers are "willing" to offer massive donations to them.

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