Re: BPO’s Decision to Review Happy Science’s TV program

On Friday, July 10, online news and other media reported that the Broadcast Ethics Verification Committee of the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO) decided to initiate a review to determine whether there were any broadcast ethics violations in Happy Science’s TV special, “Adventures Beyond This World: Challenge to the Imperishable Truth,” which was broadcast by eight commercial stations in March this year. As we have received inquiries from various sections, we hereby set forth our Group’s official view as follows.

(1) Issues Regarding the Content of the BPO’s Announcement

In its official statement, the BPO announced that following an initial investigation prompted by viewer feedback alleging that the program “broadcasts the teachings of the religious group one-sidedly,” it decided that: “The program failed to clearly distinguish between the program content and advertising, carrying the risk that viewers might mistake the program for an advertisement. Consequently, it was deemed necessary to thoroughly verify whether there were any broadcast ethics issues, including whether the independence of the broadcasting stations was maintained during their program screening process.”

Although Happy Science has not been informed directly about this matter other than through the aforementioned media reports and the BPO’s official announcement, we have produced and broadcast a total of 28 programs of a similar nature over a period of 14 years since 2012. Despite this long track record, we find it extremely unnatural and concerning that the BPO has targeted our program for review for the first time this year. Furthermore, we consider it a major issue that the BPO went out of its way to officially declare that an opinion alleging that the program “broadcasts the religious group’s teachings one-sidedly” served as the trigger for launching this review.

The program in question was produced with a sense of “public mission” – namely, to help viewers achieve happiness by providing clues to solving life’s anxieties, such as human relationships, uncertainty about the future, and the inevitable fear of death, through understanding “what kind of mindset leads to happiness” and “the spiritual truth that the soul is eternal.”

In the first place, for a religious organization to sponsor a program and broadcast its religious teachings in the form of a discourse is a right guaranteed by Article 20 (“Freedom of Religion”) and Article 21, Paragraph 1 (“Freedom of Expression”) of the Constitution of Japan, and should present no issue whatsoever. The BPO’s stance in intentionally announcing a formal review on the grounds that such content might violate “ethics” is an attitude for which it must be held accountable.

According to the BPO’s announcement, the stated reason for initiating the review is the potential difficulty in distinguishing advertising from the main program content. If that were truly the case, there was simply no necessity to explicitly state that viewer opinions claiming the program “broadcasts the religious group’s teachings one-sidedly” were the catalyst. By explicitly including this detail to explain its motive, the BPO’s announcement constitutes a severe infringement upon our “Freedom of Religion.” The BPO must recognize that, as a consequence, the faith of numerous believers across the nation has been deeply hurt.

(2) The “Chilling Effect” of the BPO Review on Regional Broadcasters

Furthermore, the initiation of this review itself represents an excessive intervention into the process through which regional broadcasting stations independently conduct program screening and decide to air content based on their own autonomous judgment.

When a third-party body like the BPO subjects a program dealing with religion and the spiritual world to a review under vague pretexts such as a “failure to distinguish between program and advertisement,” it creates a strong psychological pressure – a “chilling effect” – on local broadcasting stations, leading them to believe that broadcasting programs dealing with religion or spirituality will be treated as problematic. This effectively deprives them of their right to engage in autonomous program scheduling.

Ultimately, this deprives broadcasters of opportunities to transmit diverse opinions and viewpoints, contradicting the fundamental spirit of the Broadcast Act, which aims to ensure diversity (cf. Article 4, Paragraph 1, Item 4 of the Broadcast Act).

(3) The Issue of Media Damage

The production and broadcast of this program were made possible solely through the sincere support and dedicated efforts of many individuals, including those in the relevant departments of local broadcasting stations who acted with integrity and care during the program screening. Therefore, it is extremely regrettable that media outlets reported on this matter with headlines explicitly using the actual name of Happy Science, spreading a narrative that implied there was “something wrong with our religious group.”

As a result of this series of reports, our missionary activities – guaranteed as an integral component of “Freedom of Religion” – have been disrupted, giving rise to what can only be termed “media damage” (harm caused by press reports). Furthermore, because numerous believers across the country supported the production of this program, many individuals have suffered mental distress and had their faith deeply wounded by these media reports.

(4) The Unfairness of Equating Religious Content with “Commercial Advertising”

Happy Science is a religious organization constituted as a public interest corporation, working day and night tirelessly to spread the true spiritual teachings (Buddha’s Truth) to as many people as possible. This program was produced to present the teachings of Master Ryuho Okawa, the founder of Happy Science, in a visual format to make them as accessible as possible to viewers. By offering the view of life based on religious values and the existence of the spiritual world, we aim to offer salvation to people’s minds in modern society.

Master Okawa is the “Buddha” and “Savior”, who has given over 3,500 lectures to date -precious teachings for the salvation of the world. When his lectures are transcribed word-for-word, they become published books that people can read. Happy Science does not aim to sell the books for commercial purposes. Instead, it aims to convey the teachings of the “Buddha” and “Savior.”

Displaying the cover of Master Okawa’s books in the program carries a profound religious significance. It’s the same as showing the Holy Bible in Christianity or the Quran in Islam.

Furthermore, unlike for-profit enterprises such as private corporations, religious organizations are not organizations designed to generate and distribute profits. They are public interest corporations operating to save as many suffering people in this world as possible, and their operational principles are entirely distinct.

Therefore, while the voluntary “Broadcasting Standards” of the broadcasting industry include provisions to the effect that “programs and advertisements must be clearly distinguished so that viewers do not mistake a program for an advertisement” - and while creating stealth marketing programs where commercial enterprises embed advertisements to maximize sales may indeed constitute a violation of broadcast ethics – it is a fundamental error to directly apply standards meant for commercial transactions of for-profit enterprises to a public-interest program designed to save people’s souls, as described above.

(5) Conclusion

This program was watched not only by the members of Happy Science but also by many general viewers, from whom we received numerous favorable comments, such as the representative examples below:

- “I watched this program on TV around March. Master Okawa’s words deeply resonated with me and brought me comfort. I was deeply moved to see such wonderful teachings – things you cannot learn at school – being broadcast on television.” (Female, 30s)

- “Through this program, I learned the correct way to live as a human being. Thanks to it, my personal relationships have improved. It is truly a great program.” (Male, 50s)

- “It touched my heart deeply. I learned so much from Master Okawa’s words.” (Male, 30s)

- “Mr. Okawa’s talk was extremely informative and helpful.” (Female, 80s)

- “Master Okawa seemed like a truly gentle and refined person. His sermon was magnificent and spoken so clearly that it sank right into my mind. It was simply wonderful.” (Age and gender unknown)

Happy Science will continue, as always, to openly and proudly spread the “Buddha’s Truth” (the correct Buddhist / Divine Truth) and engage in activities to transform this world into a Buddha Land Utopia, praying for the happiness of each and every individual.

Happy Science Group Public Relations Division