35)
“LA Court Transcript”
This is the transcript of
the Los Angeles trial of Nikken. After Hiroe Clow revealed his detention
in 1963 by the Seattle police, he called her a liar. She sued him in Los
Angeles. Nichiren Shoshu members would like you to believe that it exonerates
Nikken of that charge. But if you read the transcript, you will see quite
clearly that no evidence about the incident was even heard, as the case
was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds before the proceedings got near
the evidentiary phase. The only time the truth of the incident was argued
was in Tokyo, at Nikken’s initiative. And in that trial, it was found that
Mrs. Clow was telling the truth, and it was Nikken who had tried to cover
up the incident.
36)
“Cults on Tokyo Campuses”
Just says a number of religious
groups, including Soka Gakkai, have clubs at local universities. I imagine
Nichiren Shoshu considers that naughty because it means doing something
in a social setting — not just in a temple.
37)
“Asahi Shimbun — Soka Gakkai Sending Warning Signals to the Religious
World”
Indeed it was. The Japanese
government was using the Tokyo subway gassing as an excuse to restrict
the activities of the Gakkai, but the proposed method — a revision of the
Religious Corporation Laws — would have submitted every religion to government
control of their organizational structure and membership statistics. The
measure was opposed by most Buddhist sects, as well as by the Japanese
Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. That is the “warning
signal” the Soka Gakkai was sending, as the article makes clear. Nichiren
Shoshu, by the way, did not oppose the measure
38)
“Who is Daisaku Ikeda — in his own words”
And here we have a few sentences,
completely without context, from a book published over 30 years ago, with
few extant English copies. And, one quote that is completely free of a
source (a “photo gathering”?)
39)
“State Senator letter to the United Nations”
First of all, the SGI has
a long history of working together with the UN: it’s an NGO (non-government
organization) affiliated with the UN, and has participated with the world
body in refugee relief and in a number of exhibitions and projects. The
UN doesn’t need a state senator from Illinois to advise it on the nature
of the SGI.
What’s more, the senator, David Barkhausen, represented the district that houses the national headquarters of the Cult Awareness Network. CAN was so indiscriminate in its use of the label “cult” that one of its targets sued for libel, won, and now owns the Cult Awareness Network! Nonetheless, Mr. Barkhausen was approached by members of CAN and asked to sign a letter they had prepared, which he did. It was nothing but a very formal favor for a constituent and, when asked about the letter a few years later (after he had left office), Mr. Barkhausen had no recollection of it. He did not know what “Soka Gakkai” is, and had no recollection of thinking a Buddhist group was a threat. He had, of course, not done any follow-up with the UN to condemn the SGI — because he didn’t know what the SGI is!
Obviously, using this letter as representative of the opinion of a “state senator” is a bit of a stretch.
40)
“Weekly Post — Japan, Haven for Religious Groups”
This is a 1996 article,
just another exploitation of the Japanese political atmosphere of the time
as a means to slander the Gakkai by the Weekly Post. Except it contains
this surprisingly honest — and probably unintended — explanation of the
motive behind much of that very slander:
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which governed Japanese politics for almost four decades until their defeat in the 1993 election, took full advantage of increasing outrage of Japanese public toward Aum. They wasted no time in shifting the nation’s attention to attack Sokagakkai which is the most powerful religious organization in Japan and possesses a significant amount of influence over Japanese politics.And that, as mentioned earlier, is why there were so many anti-Gakkai articles and lawsuits (e.g., Nobuhira) in the mid-Nineties.
More rebuttal of SG-eye: