The Temple is familiar with that SGI tradition, but it does not suit their agenda of portraying the SGI as a potentially violent, mindless cult. So they began saying how worried they were for their safety after, again, providing their own context for the quote. SG-eye fails to mention that there was a follow-up memo, from the same leader, saying specifically what "appropriate action" means.

Picture a parent telling the family to "do whatever is necessary to get this house clean by tonight"; and a neighbor who dislikes the family calling the police to report that the guy next door told his kids to toss the trash into the neighbor's yard. And then claiming that the only reason the kids did not throw the trash into his yard was because he had called the police. SG-eye is very good at this sort of lying through context.

13) "Washington Post Lifts Lid on the Gakkai"
This is actually a somewhat balanced story — though one would never know it if SG-eye were their only source of information about it. It quotes a person who is politically opposed to the Gakkai: 

"It's religious dogma is intolerant and based on the belief that the group must expand its control of society."

As for "control of society": the author quoted states a common view in Japan. It's a misunderstanding of, first, the relationship between the SGI and Nichiren Shoshu as it previously existed; and, second, of the SGI's current application of the Gosho to its activities in society, as opposed to Nichiren Shoshu's reticence in participating in society at all.

Nichiren wrote that a Grand Main Temple should be built at the time that the entire nation, from the emperor on down, took faith in his teachings. Nichiren Shoshu long interpreted this to mean that it should become the state religion, and the state should actually build this temple. The Soka Gakkai disassociated itself from this notion, formally, years ago; the mainstream of Nichiren Shoshu did so some time later — though some factions within Nichiren Shoshu still hold to it (this was one of the obstacles to the construction of the Sho Hondo in 1972).

As with many other teachings and practices, some sections of the public confuse the SGI with the feudal-era teachings of Nichiren Shoshu. (Another example was mentioned earlier, concerning intolerance of other religions).

The SGI philosophy confused with "controlling society" is merely a matter of people whose lives are based on the Daishonin's teachings applying those teachings to their own fields of endeavor, thus influencing those fields in the direction of humanism. In politics, for instance, this means there will be people in government whose only motivation is truly the good of the people. It means art that is encouraging and uplifting, education that prepares students to be world citizens rather than specialists who know only how to make money. It by no means entails a religious dictatorship — just the opposite, in fact: it's the influence of Buddhism rising from the people into institutions, rather than the institutions dictating the behavior of the people.

Meanwhile, I mentioned that the story in The Post is somewhat balanced. The selective editing of SG-eye, of course, does not give that impression. SG-eye conveniently forgot to include anything from the second part of the story. For instance:

Soka Gakkai, which means Value Creation Society, was founded in the 1930s and grew rapidly during the desolation of the years immediately after World War II. It describes its goal as combining happiness of the individual with the prosperity of all society, and it initially targeted the less affluent.

But despite its benign philosophy, Soka Gakkai is still viewed with suspicion by many people.

"Among my friends, if I talk about Komeito and they don't like Soka Gakkai, they don't support our party," said Setsuke Otake, 52, who was among the group of voters listening to Endo (a Komeito politician) recently. "They read only about the bad reputation of the Soka Gakkai in the media."

Chizuko Osaki, 60, said she was raised in a poor family. "It was hard for my mother to buy textbooks. I learned it was Komeito who got the law passed to make textbooks free."

Few in the group were members of the Soka Gakkai. Most had supported Komeito in previous elections. Trying to reach voters who are not members of the Soka Gakkai is the key element of Endo's election strategy, because under electoral reform Endo will run this time in a single seat district and needs nearly twice as many votes to retain his Diet seat as he did under the previous system.

"The image of the Soka Gakkai used to be very militant, said Kazue Ogawa, 68, who runs a tobacco shop and whose family used to harvest seaweed. "Now they are much softer. They are active in helping others."

SG-eye has pounced on an article about a children's skit, performed by the members in Denver, where heroes fight "bad guys": Hitler, Nikken Abe, and — Dr. Evil from Austin Powers. Obviously, the skit did not "compare Nichiren Shoshu and High Priest Nikken to Nazi's", as SG-eye tries to characterize it. The skit was part of the SGI Youth Division's "Victory over Violence" program, a tenet of which is "I will value my own life". The point was that one who values one's own life will not submit it to base authoritarianism, will not be influenced by peer pressure, will have the confidence to respect the lives of others as well.

To use another example: consider if the skit had portrayed the lives of people whose lives exemplified kindness — say, Jesus, Albert Schweitzer, and a fireman who rushed into a burning building to save a child. Using the same logic, SG-eye would say the producers of the skit were "comparing a fireman to Jesus". 

SG-eye also refers to an article by Greg Martin, an SGI-USA vice General Director, that is says compares Nikken to Hitler. 

"For example, the April 2000 issue of SGI's World Tribune has an article where a leader (Greg M) infers (sic) that the Holocaust and world strife are equal to the 'slander' being done by Nichiren Shoshu, he encourages all SGI members to 'act as the Daishonin would'." 

There are those who feel that it is too much to label Nichiren Shoshu as evil. The Holocaust, slavery, environmental destruction -- these are evil. But a band of misguided priests who have never killed anyone? Wrongheaded, unfair, petty . . . words like these better describe the actions of Nichiren Shoshu, some feel.  [elision in original]

SG-eye knows that it is twisted logic to imply that using the same adjective to describe two different things is not saying they are "equal". Nichiren spent his life fighting the evil of distorting the teachings of the Buddha. That is the "evil" he had to contend with, and it is the evil SGI has to contend with. SG-eye quite deliberately tosses ethics out the window in it's attempt to cause people to think the SGI is insensitive to the Holocaust.

That sort of behavior is nothing new for Nichiren Shoshu, though. Its High Priest Nikken was once talking about the Soka Gakkai. In the midst of his discussion of this organization, he said: 

"I once heard that the leader of an organization said 'If you tell a lie a hundred times it becomes the truth'. Those who hear such guidance will begin to think nothing of lying." 
—Myodo, June 1991, p. 4 

15) "Japanese Magazine Doubts Seattle Verdict"
The magazine is the Weekly Bukkyo, published by the Nembutsu sect, which has a longstanding grudge against the Soka Gakkai for converting its members away. It claims, first, that the name on the passport of the man detained in Seattle was not Nobuo Abe (actually, it was — Japanese characters can each have many pronunciations and meanings). And, second, that the Seattle police officer involved in detaining Mr. Abe was actually on military leave at the time.

The article was written in response to the rendered verdict that the incident did in fact occur; this point had been raised in court and successfully refuted. The officer — Sprinkle — had been in the reserves, called up for the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. All reserve units were deactivated by the end of November, and Sprinkle was assigned to a base near his home in Seattle — and thus was able to resume his job on a part-time basis. Documents and testimony were presented in court to demonstrate this, to the satisfaction of the judge.