"Soka Gakkai keeps religious, political machine humming." Short article. Some interesting bits of info:
Out of the 10 million Soka Gakkai members, 2.5 million regularly participate in religious meetings and try to increase membership, according to Hiromi Shimada, a religion scholar who has written several books about the group. Soka Gakkai has 1.69 million members outside Japan.
Interesting that even in Japan, the "active" membership of SGI is comparatively low. Also, in response to the question "What is Soka Gakkai worth?" in Japan:
It declines to disclose a figure. But Shimada estimates its assets total about ¥500 billion. These include its headquarters and branch buildings across Japan and the Seikyo Shimbun. Most revenues come from member donations. Other sources are newspaper sales and ad revenue.
500 billion yen is about $5.25 billion U.S. I welcome mathematical corrections. Link.
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I forgot to mention this little comment:
"Withdrew" is newspeak for "was excommunicated."Not that I think Nichiren Shoshu is any great shakes, either. But SGI launched a verbal war on Nichiren Shoshu in retaliation for SGI having been excommunicated. Hostilities continue to this day. Withdrew? Ha. That would've been sensible.