Press Conference Text by Professor Masaki Nakamasa of Kanazawa University ("Association of Intellectuals Seeking Fair and Impartial Trials") - The Issue of the "Dissolution" of the Former Unification Church
Masaki Nakamasa, a popular philosopher and former member
Continuation of the previous post. Professor Masaki Nakamasa of Kanazawa University was a member of the former Unification Church from April 1981 to October 1992. During that time, he belonged to the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP, now
World CARP JAPAN), was active in Germany, and after returning to Japan, became a reporter for the church-affiliated daily newspaper "Sekai Nippo," leaving the organization two and a half years later. Nakamasa first gained widespread attention in 2009 when he published "Portrait of N: Memories of Days Spent in the Unification Church" (Sofusha). The fact that a sitting national university professor had laid bare his past as a member of a notorious "cult" was received with both surprise and curious eyes.
As he was just "breaking out" as an up-and-coming philosopher, I think the response was significant. (The book was later retitled "The Unification Church and I" and republished by Ronso-sha.) Since then, Masaki Nakamasa has become a popular philosopher, releasing new books one after another, to the point where there is a "Masaki Nakamasa" section in the philosophy department of major bookstores. In 2017, he appeared on NHK's popular educational program "100 Minutes on a Masterpiece" to provide commentary on Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism."
The following is the video and transcript of the press conference held on August 6th by the "Association of Intellectuals Seeking Fair and Impartial Trials."
Tatsuki Nakayama Next is Professor Masaki Nakamasa, a professor in the Faculty of Law at Kanazawa University, specializing in political thought and the like. Since he seems to be familiar with the internal circumstances, I think we will be able to hear some valuable stories. Professor Nakamasa, please go ahead.
I have no interest in the future of the former Unification Church, but the process of the dissolution order is strange
Masaki Nakamasa As you may know, I am a former member and left in October 1992. For nearly 30 years, I would occasionally get contacted by old acquaintances, but I have mostly ignored them to avoid getting involved. However, given the current situation... Even now, it can be awkward to talk to people I knew well in the past, and since I wouldn't have left if I thought it was such a good religion, even now, to be clear,
I think the process of the dissolution order is strange, but as for what will happen to the former Unification Church after this, frankly, I don't care either way.
This process alone is strange. Why is that? Because it is too far removed from the reality. I would like to state this from the perspective of a former member, and while there are many things I want to say, I would like to start by making three points.
I was never told, "You will go to hell"
This is often reported, that the Unification Church makes people donate by threatening them, saying, "If you don't do this, you will go to hell." They also say they force people to engage in unreasonable activities, but in my 11 and a half years (as a member), while I won't say the concept of hell didn't exist at all, there was nothing in the doctrine that said, "If you don't do this, you will go to hell." I can say that clearly. When I left, I dissolved the "Blessing" of the so-called mass wedding, and there was some trouble over that. I was also persuaded. But even then, I was never told a single word that if I dissolved the "Blessing" and left, I would go to hell. I wasn't a very good member, so I was always causing trouble internally. I was often scolded by the church leader, Mr. Tokuno (Eiji Tokuno, who later became the president of the Unification Church), and told to "get out," but I don't remember ever being told, "If you leave, you'll go to hell." So, while there might have been people who used the phrase "go to hell," this is not general. I will state this.
[Note 1]
Professor Masaki Nakamasa's point is correct. The media, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and many citizens seem to believe that "If you don't do this, you will go to hell" is the doctrine of the former Unification Church, but this is a major misunderstanding. Surprisingly, the courts have recognized this. Please refer to the following article.
The "mind control" that can manipulate people as one wishes is a fiction!
Another thing, about mind control, it's a bit late to say this, and church members sometimes say it as a joke, but if there were such a thing as mind control technology, I would have used it to get ahead in the world myself. I don't remember ever learning such a thing. If I had learned it, I think I would have navigated the world much better. It depends on what you call mind control, but I think that in any religion, or even if it's not a religion, if humans live in a group, there is some degree of mind control. So, if you live in a group in the Unification Church—though they don't do that much anymore—I think there was some of that. If you pray together dozens of times... However,
I don't remember ever being taught a "technique where if you do this, this person will listen to what you say"
, and if that had been done to me, I wouldn't have left, no matter how you look at it. I've seen people other than me leave all the time, and some of them have various grudges, while others are relatively calm and say, "It has nothing to do with me anymore"... There is no way such powerful mind control technology exists. I think it is safe to say that what is being circulated is largely a fiction.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology only listens to the stories of "victims." Why don't they listen to the members who are said to have caused the "harm"?
And for the third and final point, in the process of requesting the dissolution, the opinions of active members are not being heard. If there are former members who are victims, whether or not such people exist becomes a matter of individual cases, so I will not deny that entirely. There may indeed be people who can be called victims. However,
if there are victims, there must be members who caused the harm to those people. I don't know if they are active or if they have also become former members, but in that case, I think they should at least listen to the stories of the people who are said to have caused the harm, but the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has not done that at all. As a former member, I think I have made a name for myself, and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology probably recognizes that there is a problem (child), or rather, a professor who complains about various things at Kanazawa University, but if you ask if the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has ever inquired with me, the complaining Nakamasa, even once, the answer is no. And since they haven't even asked me, I think they have almost no interest in
active members. In such a state, only the image of the Unification Church is being amplified. Isn't that too unfair?
That is why I am opposing this, saying that the process of this dissolution order is strange.
[Note 2]
Since the incident in the summer of 2022, Masaki Nakamasa has been invited by various media outlets to hold discussions and contribute articles, but since he is a philosopher, he has also published difficult books such as "Philosophizing Religion," which examines the Japanese view of religion and the issue of the separation of church and state.
On the other hand, for general readers, his contribution to "Monthly Seiron," "The Delusion that the Former Unification Church is a 'Shadow Government'", is easy to read, and as the title suggests, he cuts through and discards the discourse circulating in the streets that the former Unification Church is hijacking the Liberal Democratic Party and the government to manipulate Japanese politics as it pleases (it was almost about to happen!) as an absurd delusion. He also clarifies the unscientific nature of "mind control" based on his own experience, a point he emphasized at the press conference. Another book to read regarding the dissolution order is his contribution to "Religious Issues,"
"Should the Former Unification Church be Dissolved as It Is?"