Toshiaki Endo (center), who chairs the General Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, addresses a meeting at the party's headquarters in Tokyo in August as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looks on. | KYODO
· JIJI
· Sep 12, 2022
Toshiaki Endo, who chairs the General Council of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has suggested in a recent interview there should be a debate over legislation aimed at restricting the activities of cults.
The LDP is seeking to end its ties with the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church.
Asked in the interview about such legislation, possibly drawing on a similar law in France, Endo said, “It would be hard to define what cults are.”
“It will be a matter of consideration in the future,” he continued, while questioning whether cults can be distinguished from other groups in Japan, where religious systems take different forms from the United States and Europe. “But it would be best to have discussions,” he stated.
On whether the LDP can separate itself from the Unification Church, Endo said, “Now is the perfect time to make a clean break with religious groups involved in malicious marketing and other problematic practices.”
He also said he believes the LDP has turned a corner in dealing with the Unification Church issue, following its recent release of survey results about links between its members and the religious group.
Endo offered the view that it is impossible to investigate ties between the Unification Church and former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, since he is already dead, and that the whole party ending its relations with the group would be enough.
In July, Abe was shot to death, with the suspect, who reportedly held a grudge against the Unification Church, having drawn a link between former prime minister and the group.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/12/national/toshiaki-endo-ldp-cult-law/
