"Suicide will not be tolerated" -- actual Soka University of America campus guideline

"Leave the Soka Gakkai and you may be prone to violence, alienation, despair, and even suicide."-- SGI Newsletter No. 8835

Unfortunately, we see members who stay IN the Soka Gakkai committing suicide. Let's list them, shall we?

• Amy Winehouse
• Elisabeth Ann Morrison
• That young YWD in the St. Paul, MN, HQ, back ca. 1992. Her parents were gung-ho chapter leaders, so she and her older brother were forced to do lots of SGI activities, naturally. When SGI-USA FINALLY allowed the Kotekitai members to wear something other than all white, she immediately started wearing all black. I was concerned, both about the clothing and her general withdrawn appearance, so I spoke to the YWD HQ leader for St. Paul.

"You don't need to worry about her," she assured me. "Both her parents are SGI leaders with really strong practices." I couldn't involve myself further, as I was moving away shortly thereafter, but a few months later, I heard that girl had attempted suicide.

I'm only talking about actual people killing themselves. Not the SGI "Soka Spirit" fearmongering and guilt-tripping:

In destructive cults, fear is a major motivator. Guilt is a close second, and shame is third. Only the cult leader is perfect, so everyone below is fearful that those above will find out their shortcomings. Cult members feel constantly guilty for having those real or imagined shortcomings, and are ashamed that they haven’t worked harder to get rid of them.

• “Never talk about your problems to the members until they are resolved.”
• “Did you know that so and so got hit by a car and is paralyzed. He should have stayed with the Soka Gakkai.”
• “She turned in her SGI Gohonzon and lost her job and her house.”
• “He committed suicide not soon after joining the Nikken sect.” Source

The reason we don't pay any attention to those is because no actual information is ever provided so that we might check up on those details for ourselves. It's like the stories in the National Enquirer or the old Weekly World News tabloid, you know, like "Bat Boy Marries The World's Fattest Cat" and "Farmer Shoots Butterfly With 15-Foot Wingspan" and "Woman's Head Falls Off In Her Sleep". Those last two are actual headlines I've seen. But, you know, the Bat Boy one could be an actual headline - anything goes with Bat Boy!

You'll all be happy to know that Soka University has outlawed suicide:

Direct and indirect forms of verbal and written abuse, threats, physical harassment, intimidation, or violence against another person or their property, as well as conduct that threatens the health and safety of self (including threats of or attempts at suicide), will not be tolerated on the campus**. Soka University Academic Catalog

THAT's how you fix the problem!!!

From Reddit Soka Gakkai by Blanche Frommage