13)
“Other Activities of the Soka Gakkai”
This is a mischaracterization
of a lawsuit filed by a Nichiren Shoshu member in Washington State.
Nichiren Shoshu uses it in an attempt to demonstrate SGI physical harassment. But a careful reading of the appeal court’s decision — without the coloring Mr. Bratcher tries to give it by including it in his “everything about the SGI is bad” litany — reveals quite clearly that whatever altercation there was occurred when Nichiren Shoshu members began getting physical, and that the intention of the SGI members was dialogue with the priest as they said, and as actually happened when they eventually encountered him at a motel; in fact, when the room filled up with other guests, they broke it off rather than insisting on continued confrontation. The Nichiren Shoshu members were ordered to pay the court costs.
But, Nichiren Shoshu and Mr. Bratcher would say (and have said on ARBN): the court said that if the priest, rather than the Nichiren Shoshu members, had sued, he would have won.
No, of course, the court did not say that. No appeals court would render a decision on a case it has not heard. The court merely said the priest would have had better grounds to file than the members.
14)
“Fight Against Coercive Tactics Mentions SGI”
This is an article from
November 1990, concerning the controversy over the environmental impact
of the Soka University campus in Calabasas, California. The controversy
was resolved, of course, and the campus stands. One indication of the accuracy
of the reporting is the description of President Ikeda as a Japanese “industrialist”.
15)
“Japan Times Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
Another old account of the
Asaki suicide, implying that the SGI was involved in her death. Again:
the police and insurance companies who investigated determined the death
a suicide, and at least one publication that continued making this allegation
about the Gakkai has been successfully sued for libel.
16)
“Leader of SGI Priests Ordered to Vacate Temple”
This is a rather skewed
version of events — skewed by Mr. Bratcher in his headline, and skewed
by the official Nichiren Shoshu magazine Dai Byakuho, from which
the article is taken. There are no “SGI priests”. There are former Nichiren
Shoshu priests who support the SGI, but they are a completely independent
organization, whose goal is to reform Nichiren Shoshu. The SGI has no designs
on reforming Nichiren Shoshu.
17)
“Weekly Post - Women’s Division Leader stabs her SGI leader boyfriend”
This is another out-and-out
lying headline, and the story itself (from the Weekly Post) is not
much better.
There was a stabbing: an SGI member stabbed another, and they had been lovers. Neither is reported to have been a “leader”. The WP refers to them both as “clerks” — and then says that SGI “clerks” are an elite crew that lead all election efforts for the Komeito. They are not. They are clerks. Only Mr. Bratcher calls them “leaders”, and he does so because he wishes to have us believe that the SGI organization is inherently violent. He wishes to do that because it would overshadow the violence he himself does to the truth.
More rebuttal of SG-eye: