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© KYODOKishida pledges help to those financially affected by Unification Church
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sakurasuki
Vilifying church while make government spend more money, that's new capitalism.
Any plan to ease inflation and do something about exchange rate?
TokyoJoe
Is he justifying the actions of Abe's killer?
Because without it, non of this would have been addressed.
obladi
just throw 'em out already.
Mark
Smart move, clean it up Mr. kishida and the sooner the better.
JeffLee
Compensating people for their own bad choices is certainly not the solution. Prosecutors or the attorney general need to investigate the group for financial wrongdoing. If evidence is found and prosecution is successful, then they can order the group itself to "financially assist" their victims.
I certainly don't want my tax money pay compensation to people for joining a bad, dishonest religion.
dagon
Unless they is implemented across the board I can see the so-called investigation saying this would violate freedom of religion.
More likely is government financial assistance to the victims of the UC, in effect subsidizing the Church with maybe a promise by them to "be more careful".
A win-win for the LDP and the Church, a loss for the Japanese people.
elephant200
The U.C. is still.legal, right?
Capuchin
It's always interesting to see the LDP turn on its partners in corruption whenever they expose and threaten their dirty dealings. Much like the Moritomo Gakuen scandal.
Yubaru
Right... use taxpayers money to assist folks who lost money to a cult.
Legrande
I know of more than a few cases where the LDP itself "violated various norms, including criminal law."
Moskollo
Instead of helping those who CHOSE to be duped by a cult, why not give help to families who have been neglected by this administration in a sho ga nai manner..
dbsaiya
And Abe and Hosoda's involvement? Doubt if he'll take it that far, this is only a deflection move to steer attention away from their own dirty dealings. Would be fun to watch the Moonies reveal all the dirty laundry after being thrown under the bus by the LDP!
TrevorPeace
He needs the PR.
Mr Kipling
So is he going to pay the legal bills of Abe's killer? His family were financially wiped out by the so called church. That is why he did what he did.
yokohamarides
Throwing(taxpayer) money at problems you have caused. New capitalism apparently.
Stephen Chin
Is Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida offering to help those members of a church that has exploited them financially? Does he know how rich the Unification Church is? Does he know that the Unification is Church is rich enough to sue the Prime Minister of Japan and the state of Japan?
Michael Machida
Does not make any sense. What about the rest of the people in Japan who are affected by the terrible market in Japan? Why not help the rest of us?
shogun36
so wait…..us tax payers already have to pay for “their” Olympics,
then “their” Abe Funeral, and now their cult that steals money, from who knows where?
how is this guy still in office again?
Aly Rustom
Kishida pledges help to those financially affected by Unification Church
Kishida pledges huh? When have I heard that before...?
I'll believe it when I see it.
Yrral
Lots of them, will give the money back too the church,these churches hold people hostage,by denying access to their family and friends within the organization by shunning them , Google Religion Coerced Shunning
Aly Rustom
yes.
yes.
simple. Japan is not a democracy
wallace
Japan is a democracy.
gaijintraveller
Why investigate just this one church? Because it is bankrupting families or because of the outcry over its influence over the LDP?
Is there any other religious group that has any influence over the LDP? Is there any other religious group that had an influence of Abe? Is there any other religious group that needs to be investigated?
I remember when there was news of Abe's assassination, at first there was mention of a yet-unnamed religious group. My first guess at which group was wrong. For some reason I guessed it was Nippon Kaigai. Well, thank you for letting us know we forget about that group now, Mr Kishida?
Numan
@Wallace
Until things do not go according to the status quo then they become no different than the CCP.
mimi
using taxpayers' money?
fxgai
Cracking down on this sort of financial destruction is a good role for government to play.
Just don’t get too free with our taxes, because it is it the role of government to spend our money bailing out other people. Charities etc where people can voluntarily donate money is a fairer, freer way to go about supporting such family members who were victim.
Sanjinosebleed
They should be focusing on all cults in japan with questionable "donation" practices. The "Happy Science" cult run by an ex stockbroker comes to mind!
noriahojanen
It's the Unification Church and affiliates who should pay back the ripped-off money. Hold them liable.
asdfghjkl
hang on, so he is planning to help people, they helped steal money from by us ain’t tax payers money. I would maybe understand if all this is coming from the politicians own savings.
kohakuebisu
Will this include the family of the man who killed Abe?
Yrral
Unification church knew Japanese society was easy prey to their beliefs,a society where individual thought are not welcome,and group think is common,it was easy picking
Yrral
Think for yourself,or others will think for you, embrace critical thinking, question authority
Kumagaijin
Exactly, the money should come from the church itself, or from politicians that took money from the church. Definitely not the tax payers.
Andy
Will they pay me back? After all, I was affected financially by Abe's corruption and association with the Moonie cult, it was my tax money.
gaijintraveller
Andy, I think that is unlikely. He pledges to help those financially affected by the Unification Church, not just those affected in a negative way. Is it possible he wants to help LDP members who were affected positively by donations from the church?
Mohan
Oh no....Is this going to cost much again??
Already the Funeral ate up lots...
Pray for Tax Payers
BakabonPapa
Dear Public,
The Party apologizes for relying on a criminal organization for help with our campaigns for decades. Now we'd like to use some of your tax revenues to help people who were harmed by said criminal organization. Please keep voting for our party members so that we may continue to rule over you and ensure that you become poorer while the rich get richer.
Sincerely,
The (Neo)Liberal (Un)Democratic Party of Japan
Disillusioned
Will that include the mother of the guy that killed Abe?
Garthgoyle
Using money you and I paid but the church still pays zero tax.
Why not taxing the cult 30 or 40% and then using that money to help those financially affected by the organization?
Hideomi Kuze
And, Kishida regime try to obscure deep relation between Unification Church with LDP and its responsibility.
Septim Dynasty
The Unification Church is rich enough to buy votes that enable more than half of Japan's parliament annually. Their control is extremely steep within Japan, and I don't even want Sokka Gakkai into the mix because Ikeda is likely having Korean heritage. Abe's assassination somewhat confirmed the lingering conspiracy of "Koreans control Japan" but it is actually the US who controls everything. Moonies have close ties with the CIA to distribute bribes to anti-communist politicians across Asia, so their mission in Japan is no different.
It is more useful to investigate how much the CIA and US intelligence community still support the Unification Church in influencing Japan and the rest of Asia.
girl_in_tokyo
The government sure does seem to have a lot of money to throw around, what with a 1.5 billion yen funeral and giving money to people stupid enough to join a cult.
Aly Rustom
Yeah right whatever.
Yeah. the one party democracy.
wallace
Aly Ruston
why do you live in a country you believe is not a democracy? I would have left already.
You do not have a vote so like the rest of us, we are only spectators.
Aly Rustom
Because my wife and kids are Japanese. If they had been Chinese I would be living in China. I've lived in PLENTY of countries that are not democracies. Doesn't cross my eyes none.
Why? Its not like you can vote anyway.
Exactly. So what difference does it make to you whether or not its a democracy? Why would you leave?
Aly Rustom
That's an excellent question
Bofington
This is an awful idea. Taxpayer money going to brainwashed idiots. What's stopping them from handing it right back to this 'church'?
They should be forcing the cult to hand that money back themselves. This is insanely backwards.
yildiray
So tax payers are bailing out people who were scammed? Unless this is a desperate attempt to make people lose anger at the church, what’s the point?
wallace
Aly
countries which are not democratic tend to be oppressive type like Saudi or Iran.
Aly Rustom
Aly
Japan is also oppressive- just in a different way.
smithinjapan
So, now we're using our taxes to help out cultists, while not banning the cult?
lunatic
Cannot understand this modus operandi.
The cult keeps being promoted and supported, now more than ever.
tttccc111
Low interest rates encourage stupid decisions that lead to bankruptcy.
Aly Rustom
Pretty much. But that's what happens when you have free reign to do whatever you want. I mean, at the end of the day, what can anybody do about it?
No argument there. Unfortunately, both the church and its representative party have deeper pockets than anyone who wants to sue them. Sad but true
wallace
The numbers of people involved with the Unification Church are less than one million. It had little affect on most of the country.
The numbers of victims are small.
lunatic
When a cult kills an ex-PM, you should start taking it seriously.
kaimycahl
The Unification Church and affiliates have deep pocket if they have any real estate or bank account in Japan Kishida should freeze them and take the church to court and force them to pay back those who they have ripped off money and make them pay for the Japanese attorneys used to prosecute the case and not use tax payer money hold them totally liable and make them accountable..
4Tno
Why ur at it, let's make all pachinkos pay all those righteous people who got their hard-earned money taken from them.
Alan Bogglesworth
What a dill
Alan Bogglesworth
At this point, the real religion Japan needs to be worried about is the LDP, they have everyone brainwashed they're the only party that is capable of doing a good job.