(上記の原文)
FROM THE DESK OF
SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH
October 12, 2023
His Excellency Fumio Kishida
Prime Minister of Japan
2-3-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8968 JAPAN
Dear Mr. Kishida,
Thank you for your extraordinary leadership and service to the great nation of Japan – our trusted ally.
For the sake of the future of Japan’s democracy and the future of U.S. and Japan relations I urge you to withdraw the Ministry of Education’s (MEXT) request to the court to dissolve the Family Federation for World Peace (formerly Unification Church).
The Japanese Communist Party’s assaults on the LDP and other elected officials are remarkably blatant attacks on our shared values for security, democracy and anti-totalitarianism – values you and Mr. Abe have worked for throughout your careers. Ultimately, the goal of the communists is to weaken the LDP and, in doing that, undermine the Japan-United States alliance and create an opening for a Chinese Communist-Japanese rapprochement. The motivations of the Communist Party and the leftist press are harmful to the interests of Japan.
The Family Federation is a target of opportunity for the Communist Party of Japan. The communists have been at war with the Unification Church since 1978 when the Federation’s Victory over Communism efforts proved to be devastatingly effective, causing communist candidates to be defeated in numerous elections.
Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, formerly the U.S. State Department’s Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom during the Obama Administration and Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, formerly Chair of the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom and President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, co-authored an article in a U.S. journal stating:
Japan, which has been a beacon of democracy and human rights protection for several decades, is flirting with the idea of trampling on religious freedom. In a move that is much more reminiscent of current practices in China and Russia, Japan’s government is now threatening to dissolve a legally constituted religious group for seemingly political reasons.
Furthermore, Ambassador Rashad Hussain, the current U.S. State Department’s Ambassador-at-Large in the Office of International Religious Freedom, in the Japan section of his 2022 report, raised concerns:
“Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Liberty of Conscience (CAP-LC), a Paris-based United Nations NGO, submitted a series of statements to the UN Human Rights Committee that said that the Unification Church had become a victim of ‘a campaign of intolerance, discrimination, and persecution’ in Japan since Abe’s assassination. The church stated its members suffered attacks, assaults, and death threats as a result of negative media attention.”
Dissolving the Family Federation would set a tragic precedent for two reasons:
1. The Family Federation and its practices have been under a government microscope for over a year, being forced to answer almost 700 questions submitted to them by MEXT, going into every aspect of the church’s operations, finances, and leadership. No criminal laws have been broken by the Family Federation, according to MEXT.
2. The Japanese Constitution has strong protections for the freedom of religion, and Japan is an exemplary champion among nations for religious freedom. To abridge it for political expediency would set a tragic precedent, especially so when no criminal wrongdoing has been found.
To again underscore the urgency of this, the current attack on the Family Federation is an effort to undermine and weaken the Japan-United States alliance.
Major religious freedom experts worldwide are decrying this action. Therefore, we urge you to take steps to block the dissolution of the Family Federation.
Respectfully yours,
Newt Gingrich
U.S. Speaker of the House (1995-99)