Letter from SGI Las Vegas leader Lisa Pullman and a member's response

Here's a segment of the letter I got, forwarded from our zone:

>We have recently heard that there is a possibility that Nikken is
>planning to expand his activities into Vancouver, Canada, by opening a
>propagation center. This is quite serious, as this center would directly
>challenge the members in Canada and our zone, as well. At present, our
>nearest threat comes from San Francisco, which is in charge of a large
>geographic area--from northern California to Canada.
>
>Let's use this opportunity to redouble our efforts and to talk to our
>members about Soka Spirit and this upcoming toso. It is my determination
>that we will have at least 200 people chanting December 12-14 (begins
>Friday, 6pm and ends Sunday, 6pm) about this issue.  Let's show our
>support for our SGI family in Canada and also bring Sensei and Mrs Ikeda
>to our zone by proclaiming a great victory over Nikken and our own
>fundamental darkness!  Thank you!

I know I'm probably flogging a dead horse, but this really bugs me, the 
thought of praying to keep limit others' religious practices and preferences. 

I have lived in a state (Utah) where there is a dominant religion, that at 
one point in time, managed by threat and location (Porter Rockwell, and the high 
desert), to keep other religions away, and this is a VERY hot point for me 
(Incidentally, they are a completely lay religion run autocratically, like the 
SGI). An organization cannot simultaneously be tolerant of all religions and 
organize prayer groups wanting to shut one of them out of a country. And the 
argument that "People will think Nichiren Buddhism requires priests, and will be 
corrupted" just doesn't hold water for me - it just means that Nichiren 
Buddhists who believe in an un-mediated religious practice just need to be more open 
about the good that their practice does them, not attack another religion! 
Also, most non-buddhists I know (who don't know much about Japan) are surprised 
to know there ARE Buddhist priests. Monks, sure, but priests? It seems to me 
that people who choose religions with an intermediary generally want an 
intermediary - it seems it is a human condition to call in a specialist ;)

At any rate, in our zone, I've seen one member flat out tell a senior member 
flat-out he wouldn't join the Soka Spirit groups because he felt it was 
hypocritical and I have (I hope in a rational way) too. I hope Bruce Barnes has done 
good... though after watching one of the leaders here go off on how we had to 
keep them out and then saying, gee, that's not what I meant, has, 
unfortunately, made me wary of trusting SGI leader of late (not saying Dave Baldshun is 
untrustworthy, just that I have seen this behaviour in a few leaders up here).

Another question: if defeating religions is the core of Soka Spirit, and 
that's the core of the SGI, when we've wiped out Nichiren Shoshu, which religion 
is our next target? If the SGI feels that it must define itself an adversarial 
position with another religion, what happens when it wipes out and or 
assimilates all of them? (okay, okay, that's a cheap shot, but on bad days, it worries 
me).

Anyway, I sincerely hope Dave Baldshun is right, but maybe that attitude 
hasn't hit the northern latitudes yet.

Disappointed and sincere (and hopefully not too hot-headed),
Kris