Unification Church Pledges Donation Reforms, Including Receipts for Gifts Above 30% of Income

The Unification Church, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, has announced that it will reform how it accepts donations so that followers do not give “excessive” sums. The church is facing criticism of its practices after the slaying in July of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The measures were announced at a news conference on Oct. 4 at the church’s facility in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. Hideyuki Teshigawara, a top church official, explained the reform plan. The church pledged to check donations regularly and to keep a record when a follower gives more than 30 percent of his or her income.

Teshigawara said a receipt will be issued when a follower donates more than three-tenths of his or her self-reported monthly income. According to him, the church will record the amount of each follower’s monthly income and check whether the follower’s family agrees to the donation before a receipt is issued.

He also said the church will survey its followers every six months, and that the survey will be conducted anonymously. Teshigawara declined to comment on a proposal that donations be checked by a third party.

The same day, a panel of experts set up by the Consumer Affairs Agency met to discuss cracking down on excessive donations to religious groups.

Yasuo Kawai, a lawyer with the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, responded to the plan. He said the church first needs to conduct an in-house investigation into its past excesses in donations, then apologize to victims and compensate them. He also said that without a supervisory framework run by a third party, the effectiveness of the church’s reform plan is open to question (Proverbs 31:8-9).

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