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III. Unlawful nature of the Defendant's system
of soliciting Donations A. According to the admissions of the previous section the following special characteristics about the Defendant's system of soliciting donations may be given: (1) According to the Ban Butsu Fukki teaching, that each and every prospective believer was made to deliver a large portion of his or her estate and that this was the defendant's (as a whole) aim i.e. to collect large amounts of capital; (2) That in order to achieve a certain level of prospective donators/believers, the Defendant adopted measures so as to conceal or leave unclear the relevance of itself and Sun Sen Moon, in its teachings of Ban Butsu Fukki and so as to give rise to or foster feelings of insecurity by telling stories of (ill) destiny and so on - based on the anxieties of the prospective donator; and, (3) That according to various manuals and the like, methods for soliciting donations were common throughout Japan and that such methods were conductedsystematically. B. Special Characteristics Point 2 may be judged an unjust method in that when donations or membershipsare solicited for the Defendant, the judgement of those persons sought for donations or membership is influenced heavily by being told falsehoods, and inthat such persons may be intimidate, threatened or embarrassed into becoming members or giving donations. C. Relationship with Freedom of religion Acts of propagation and soliciting donations by religious organizations are an outward expression of religious belief. This is a part of freedom of religion which is guaranteed under the Constitution. However, when the religious organisation in this case makes special efforts to conceal that itis in truth a religious organization and that the concerned conduct is indeed religious conduct, and then carries out its missionary work. The religious organization has not shown externally in any way that such activities were religious because external conduct alone is not recognised as being connected with religious faith. The acts in question are outside the domain of freedom of religion. The same amount of impartiality employed in the claims of general business companies is expressed in acts concerned with soliciting donations. D. To conclude from the above and make an overall judgement, the Defendant's system of soliciting donations employed unjust methods, and forced persons into making donations vis-a-vis a process of inculcation and as a result by making those persons lose their ability to make sound judgements. Thus, the said system us judged appropriately to be unlawful. |
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