Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Oversight Hearing on Religious Liberty
Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

[blocks in formation]

D.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The Additional Charges Resulting from the
False Swearing Counts Permitted the
Government to Expand the Scope of its
Proof at Trial to Include Highly Inflam-
matory Material Concerning the Religious
Practices of the Unification Church

69

E.

The Government's Improper False Swearing
Charges Against Mr. Kamiyama Were Supported
With Equally Contrived Allegations Per-
taining to Certain Church Financial
Documents

74

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Oversight Hearing on Religious Liberty
Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

[blocks in formation]

in the record on behalf of the Unification Church of

America.

Those comments, filed August 15, 1984, in response to an invitation extended by Senator Orrin G. Hatch at the conclusion of the Subcommittee's hearing on current issues in religious liberty, addressed the Federal tax prosecution of Reverend Sun Myung Moon ("Reverend Moon"), spiritual leader of the Unification Church of America and the worldwide Unification Church movement, and the implications which that prosecution held for the future of religious liberty in the United States. Based in part upon evidence of juror prejudice and prosecutorial misconduct, this initial submission asserted that Reverend Moon's prosecution

2

had been handled in an unfair manner and that the

proceedings against Reverend Moon resulted in an attack upon the Unification Church itself, questioning both the validity of its theological tenets and the professed faith of its numerous adherents. No information has been discovered to date which would contradict this impression. Such comments, accordingly, continue to reflect the viewpoint of the

Unification Church of America.

Additional comment, however, is warranted by the circumstances surrounding the prosecution of Reverend Moon's co-defendant, Takeru Kamiyama ("Mr. Kamiyama"). Such circumstances lend further support to the disturbing conclusion that the criminal proceedings at issue herein failed to comport with minimal standards of normal and substantive justice and that these proceedings were motivated and sustained whether consciously or not by the improper influence of religious intolerance and bigotry. Mr. Kamiyama's prosecution appears to have ended in a broader effort to harrass and convict Reverend Moon. The charges leveled against Mr. Kamiyama, thus, provided a putative basis for the introduction of highly prejudicial evidence concerning the religious practices of the Unification Church at the parties' joint trial. In this manner, Mr. Kamiyama's ordeal directly involves the vital issues of religious freedom, constitutional right and proper

« AnteriorContinuar »