Tag: policies

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LDS Church Must Acknowledge Sex Abuse Problem for Change to Happen

For the LDS Church to change its policies regarding sex abuse, it must first admit there is a systemic problem in the institutional organization. Since some victims are silenced with non-disclosure agreements and others are afraid to speak up because they fear retribution from their perpetrators or from the Church, we will never know the extent of the abuse. However, physicians and therapists in heavily Mormon populated areas state that a number of their patients or clients are victims of ecclesiastical sexual or physical abuse.

The following is a brief list of a few LDS bishops and leaders who have been convicted of sexually abusing members. Since only one-third of those who are sexually abused report abuse to police and only 6 out of 1000 are convicted, there are many LDS leaders who do not have a criminal record but who abuse members or spouses without being held accountable.

♦“In September 2008, LDS Church BishopTimothy McCleve pleaded guilty to sexually molesting children from his ward. He was sentenced in December 2008 to one-to-15 year prison terms for the abuse.

♦“In March 2010, former LDS Church bishop Lon Kennard, Sr. was charged with 43 felony counts of sex abuse and sexual exploitation of children, and was imprisoned in Wasatch County, Utah”. In November 2011, Kennard was sentenced to three terms of five-years-to-life in prison to be served consecutively, after pleading guilty to three first-degree felony counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child for sexually abusing his daughters.

♦“In December 2013, LDS Church bishop Todd Michael Edwards was sentenced to three years in prison for molesting two teenage girls who attended his congregation in Menifee, California”. Edwards received two concurrent sentences of three years in prison for two felony counts of sexual battery and sexual penetration with a foreign object. A felony charge of witness intimidation was dismissed as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors after Edwards pleaded guilty.

♦“On August 15, 2017, MormonLeaks published a three-hundred and sixteen-page document which contained confirmed and alleged instances of child sexual abuse between 1959 and 2017.

♦“On October 30, 2017, an Australian court sentenced Darran Scott to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing boys, some of whom he met as a Mormon leader.”[1]

Many more accounts of LDS abuse regarding LDS members, including women and children have been compiled. Most victims suffer in silence because they have been ignored by Church leaders, been threatened by excommunication for disclosing their abuse, or have signed non-disclosure agreements after reporting abuse.

When members are required to obey and sustain their bishops and are told that each of one of them is called by the Lord under revelation, they become easy targets of perpetrators and are often disbelieved or blamed if they report abuse, especially is an ecclesiastical leader is a perpetrator. Some bishops were violent and malevolent offenders before they were called. Although many are kind and caring individuals, it is unhelpful and even dangerous to suggest that all of them are called of God. Surely, God would not call a rapist, child molester, thief, or murderer, and yet many have been convicted of these crimes and more.

Until LDS Church leaders acknowledge that there is a problem regarding ecclesiastical sexual abuse in the Church, they will not take measures to solve it.  Current LDS Church policies continue to silence victims and empower perpetrators.  This is unacceptable. The Church must enact effectual policies and programs that protect members and not perpetrators. Until that happens, we will continue to see an epidemic of abuse that is not only permitted but encouraged by the practices that it employs.

 

 

 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.—Matthew 18:6

 

1.See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_abuse_cases.

RESOURCES:

Joe E. Trull & James E. Carter, Ministerial Ethics: Being a Good Minister In A Not-So-Good World (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1993), 81.

Dr. Kris Helge and Bradley T. B. Toben, “Sexual Misconduct of Clergypersons with Congregants or Parishioners,” Clergy Sexual Misconduct and Prevention, Baylor University.

“Grooming Dynamic,” National Center for Prevention of Crime. http://victimsofcrime.org/media/reporting-on-child-sexual-abuse/grooming-dynamic-of-csa

Rosemary Webb and Jennifer Mitchell, “A Profile of a Child Molester,” Child Lures Prevention, 2018. https://childluresprevention.com/resources/molester-profile/

Tim Challis, “Six Reasons Why Sexual Predators Target Churches,” 9 March 2015. https://www.challies.com/articles/6-reasons-why-sexual-predators-target-churches/

 

 

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The LDS Church Needs to Follow Its Own Teachings

“And your churches, yea, even everyone, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts. For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.”

“Alma saw the wickedness of the church…Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with their pride, turning their backs upon the needy & the naked and those who were hungry, & those who were athirst, and those who were sick & afflicted.”

“But wo unto the rich, who are rich as to the things of the world. For because they are rich they despise the poor, & they persecute the meek, and their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore, their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.”

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Jesus said, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater. “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee…So is he that layeth up treasure for himself.”

Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ” And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.”

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives less than 1/2 of 1% of its tithes to help the poor and needy in humanitarian work. Surely, with its vast wealth, it can do better to follow its own scriptural teachings.

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Reducing Ecclesiastical Sexual Abuse in the LDS Church

Most men who are called to positions of authority in the Church are kind, caring individuals. I have seen miracles performed by Church leaders who served members with love and compassion. Many bishops and branch presidents serve faithfully and tirelessly. They reach out to the elderly, sick, widowed, poor, and needy.   Faith-filled Church leaders—and members—become instruments in God’s hands when they serve others.

Unfortunately, some leaders misuse the authority they receive. Some bully members into compliance. Others lure members into dishonest financial schemes. Some are physically or sexually abusive. Studies demonstrate that faith communities are even more vulnerable to abuse than secular environments since 93% of sex offenders describe themselves as “religious” and they tend to have more victims and younger victims.[1]

Studies indicate that up to 38% of women and 16% of men were molested before turning 18 years old.[2] In an extensive research study of many religious denominations that included Latter-day Saints, Dr. Diane R. Garland found that 32 members of congregations that average 400 members have experienced clergy sexual misconduct.[3]

Sexual predators often target churches because the church provides them with easy access to victims, because members tend to trust their leaders and to assume that the church is a safe place, and because perpetrators are often supported or quickly forgiven by the Church when victims report abuse.

Current LDS policies create a culture that encourages and protects ecclesiastical abusers. Some include:

  • Teaching members that they should trust their leaders explicitly
  • Dismissing reports of ecclesiastical sexual and physical abuse
  • Assuming that some abuse victims are responsible for being abused
  • Punishing those who report abuse by blaming, silencing or shaming them
  • Presuming that abusers are not guilty unless convicted in a court
  • Failing to adequately train leaders and members on abuse recognition, avoidance, reporting, and treatment.

When an abuser is called as a church leader—or when a church leader becomes an abuser— they can use their position to groom victims. Predators can target people of any age and tend to seek out those who are vulnerable, trusting, and naïve. Child, youth, and adults can be more easily abused since many believe that their leaders and teachers are trustworthy.

Some ways that some ecclesiastical predators groom victims include:

  • Paying special attempt to the victim and making him or her feel special
  • Convincing the victim that the predator can be trusted[4]
  • Asking the victim to share concerns, fears and even details of sexual trauma which should only be revealed in a professional counseling setting
  • Telling the victim that the predator has special insight into their needs and feelings which others lack
  • Isolating the victim by creating situations where they are alone together
  • Breaking down a victim’s natural defenses until he can coerce or manipulate the victim to do his/her bidding
  • Conditioning a child to become used to various degrees of physical touch and intimacy
  • Sharing secrets with the adult victim, ie., saying that they are unhappily married and would have married the victim if they had known them sooner; claiming that God would want them to share a sexual relationship; causing them to believe that the predator has received inspiration regarding them; convincing the victim that he or she is the love of predator’s life
  • Manipulating the victim to tell no one about the abuse, ie., telling the victim that no one would believe what she said or that she could be punished for disclosing what happened
  • Maintaining control by using threats or guilt to force continued participate and silence
  • Grooming friends and family of the victim by convincing them that the perpetrator is a charming, faithful, trustworthy person to make certain that a victim’s report of abuse is discounted or ignored

No organization can prevent all incidents of sexual abuse. However, organizations, especially churches, can and should implement policies and procedures that better protect its members and promote recovery for abuse victims.  The LDS Church can reduce the prevalence of serious abuse by:

  • Providing a help line for victims of ecclesiastical abuse with skilled trauma counselors who are authorized to provide survivors with needed medical and mental health care and to hold perpetrators accountable.
  • Training members on abuse recognition and avoidance.
  • Instructing leaders that perpetrators—not victims– are responsible for abuse.
  • Discontinuing practices or teachings that blame, shame or silence victims.[5]
  • Eliminating one-on-one interviews that discuss sexually explicit questions with children.
  • Teaching members to use discernment and caution in all of their interactions in and out of the Church.
  • Preventing known perpetrators from holding Church positions where they can abuse others.
  • Requiring a leader or parent to attend bishop interviews
  •  Requiring bishops to refer all members who need psychological counseling to skilled professionals.

Most Church members and leaders are compassionate and caring. However, some use their Church positions as a means to abuse others.  We pray that the Church will make essential procedural and policy changes to better protect its members from abuse and to ensure that its leaders help—and do not harm— survivors of ecclesiastical abuse.

 

1. Ann Salter, Ph.D., Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, And Other Sex Offenders, 2004.

2. Nora Harlow, M.D., and Gene G. Abel, Stop Child Molestation Book, 2001.

3. Diane Garland, Ph.D., “The Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct with Adults: A Research Study,” Baylor University, 2008. https://www.baylor.edu/clergysexualmisconduct/index.php?id=67406

4. In the LDS Church, this is additional problematic, since members are taught that all local leaders have been called by God. For example, see President Henry B. Eyring’s October 2017, General Conference talk in which he quoted Elder James B. Faust, who said: “We … need to support and sustain our local leaders, because they … have been ‘called and chosen.’ Every member of this Church may receive counsel from a bishop or a branch president, a stake or a mission president, and the President of the Church and his associates.”

5. Examples include excommunicating victims or members who report or document ecclesiastical abuse, stating that victims are somehow responsible for the abuse they suffered, punishing the victim but not the perpetrator, forcing victims to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to receive help, and disclosing confidential Church information about victims.

RESOURCES:

Mark Scheffers, M.S.W.,  Child Trauma Assessment Center, Western Michigan University.

Joe E. Trull & James E. Carter, Ministerial Ethics: Being a Good Minister In A Not-So-Good World (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1993), 81.

Dr. Kris Helge and Bradley T. B. Toben, “Sexual Misconduct of Clergypersons with Congregants or Parishioners,” Clergy Sexual Misconduct and Prevention, Baylor University.

“Grooming Dynamic,” National Center for Prevention of Crime.

Rosemary Webb and Jennifer Mitchell, “A Profile of a Child Molester,” Child Lures Prevention, 2018.

Tim Challis, “Six Reasons Why Sexual Predators Target Churches,” 9 March 2015.

 

 

 

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How the LDS Church Can Better Protect Its Children from Sexual Perpetrators

In the book The Sins of Brother Curtis: Story of Betrayal, Conviction, and the Mormon Church, the author shows how the LDS Church lacked essential safeguards to protect children from a serial sexual predator. Because lay leaders are seldom trained about abuse prevention and detection, have access to children and youth in one-on-one interviews, and do not consistently annotate records of abusers, the Church continues to leave children vulnerable to sexual abuse.

The Church must become more proactive in implementing procedures and policies that hold offenders responsible and that exonerate victims of shame and blame. The following solutions can reduce the number of sex offenses in the Church and can make the Church a safer place for all members:

1. Problem: Predators recognize that authority is usually unquestioned in the Church. Church members are told to only speak positively about their leaders and to always obey them.

Solution:  Church must teach members that leaders are fallible. Church members should be taught how to recognize and report abuse–even if trusted leaders are the abusers.

2  Problem: Unhealthy reverence for power and authority of male priesthood leaders.

Solution: Church should teach members to worship God alone and to remember that all members of the Church are imperfect, including Church leaders.

3. Problems: Little oversight of Church leaders and priesthood holders.

Solution:  The Church needs to implement increased supervision of leaders to ensure that they are not abusing children.

4. Problem: Perpetrators have easier access to victims through ministering and church assignments.

Solution: Two -deep service must be implemented for every Church calling where members have access to children, including bishop’s interviews.

5. Problem: Victims are often shamed by Church leaders so survivors seldom report abuse.

Solution: Church leaders must be trained to eliminate any procedure or policy that shames abuse victims.

6. Problem: Perpetrators know that the Church seldom reports abuse to police.

Solution: After the Church determines that the victim is safe, abuse should be reported to police.

7. Problem: Church leaders often rationalize sex abuse or blame the victims.

Solution: Church leaders on every level need extensive training on the dynamics of sexual abuse, including grooming and how perpetrators tend to isolate and shame victims.

8. Problem: The Church does not consistently annotate records of abusers, which allows them to abuse others.

Solution: Abusers’ church records should always be tagged and ward leaders should never call perpetrators to positions where they can abuse others.

9. Problem: Priesthood leaders tend to cover up the offenses of their colleagues and friends.

Solution:  Church leaders should be appropriately monitored to make certain that they hold abusers accountable. The Church must create a hotline for abuse victims, including ecclesiastical abuse victims.

10. Problem: Perpetrators observe that victims are sometimes silenced by the Church. This increases the likelihood that they may be attracted to join the Church or become involved in Church callings that involve children.

Solution: The Church must implement policies and procedures that make certain that survivors are not silenced.

11. Problem: Since the Church does not perform background checks on members who work with children in a Church calling (except in Scouting), serial sex offenders may be baptized and moved into Church positions.

Solution: Church should perform a background check before anyone is called to serve youth or children.

12. Problem: With the Church’s emphasis on missionary work, some members invite others into their homes and lives without due diligence.

Solution: Members should receive regular training on how to protect themselves and their families from sex offenders.

13. Problem: Church leaders often deal with pedophilia as a sin and not as a crime.

Solution: Church members and leaders should be taught that abuse is a crime and that is should be reported to police.

14. Problem: Church literature asks bishops to help pedophiles turn away from their sin, something they are unqualified of doing.

Solution: Bishop should be advised to turn all counseling over to trained professionals.

15. When abuse is reported, the Church does not implement meaningful reforms to protect LDS children. Bishops, for example, can still interview children alone even though there are some bishops perpetrated on children during interviews.

Solution: Church should eliminate all one-of-one bishop interviews with children and youth.

16. LDS Church officials and its lawyers typically attempt to evade responsibility by hiding behind the “free exercise of religion” clause of the Constitution, statute of limitations technicalities and clergy-penitent privilege statutes.

Solution: Church must adhere to high ethical standards and determine than protecting its members from abuse is more important than protecting its reputation.

The Church must use its resources and practices to protect children, not to protect offenders. Over the years, too many abuse survivors were further victimized by Church leaders who refused to listen to victims or who shielded their friends who were perpetrators. Too often, the Church has hired skilled attorneys to attack victims and to defend offenders.  This is unacceptable.

The Church must implement critical safeguards to better protect its children and members.  As it does so, it will better represent the Savior who asked us to love, serve, and defend the “least among us,” who include children, the vulnerable, and the abused.