DiscussMormonism.com

Hasa Diga Eebowai wrote:Is "Forgive and Forget" the best advice to victims of sex abuse that come forward to Church leaders after years of suffering??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc0t3QtT8t0

What is the real reason that LDS Leaders don't want to report abuses to the proper authorities? Is it really out of reverence to "clergy penitent privilege or is it actually just to protect the Church from criticism?

Why is it that the advice to leaders and the Handbook of instructions is to call a hotline that is run by the legal services department rather than a hotline run by psychiatrists to assist the victims?

Why does the Church impose gagging orders attached to the million dollar payouts effectively buying the silence of victims and could it be considered as an example of further abusing the victims?

Why is the LDS Church so quick to forgive those that abuse and to place them in positions of trust while it is so hard on those who engage in consensual relationships or masturbation? Why is sexual abuse considered an example of apostasy in Catholicism but just a fact of life within their own religion?

Are there a number of beliefs that members have about their leaders and the authority structure particularly damaging, for example that there are no female leaders and so women are often misrepresented,

the belief that leaders have some form of special spiritual discernment even though those promptings can place children in extremely dangerous situations and interviews where teenagers are alone with an adult and are encouraged to talk about deeply personal and sexual issues.

Thanks,

Hasa Diga Eebowai

subgenius wrote:who says they are not reporting abuses?

ROBERT MICHAEL TUBBS, SLATERVILLE, UTAH, 1991-92 On 17 February 1994, Robert Michael Tubbs, age forty-two, of Slaterville, Utah, was sentenced to a prison term of six years to life and ordered to pay therapy costs for sixteen boys he sexually abused between June 1991 and August 1992 when he was a Boy Scout leader in his local Mormon ward. Investigation began in May 1993 when a Mormon bishop reported that he had received a letter from a boy saying Tubbs had molested him. Tubbs admitted to the deputy that he had been molesting boys since the early 1970s.

In 1985, he had been assistant Scoutmaster in 1985; he was stripped of his Scout membership after an allegation of sexual abuse in 1990. No charges were pressed for lack of evidence, but Tubbs was told "never to take part in scouting activities again and told to receive counseling by scouting officials." He transferred activities from his ward in Slaterville to nearby Harrisville; the crimes for which he was convicted occurred with Harrisville Scouts.

In 1973, shortly after returning home from an LDS Church mission to Japan, he began coaching a baseball team made up of 14- to 16-year-old boys from scattered towns in western Weber County.

He singled out a handful of players to grope and sodomize, mostly in his car after practice or games. He bought them hamburgers and took them to movies in exchange for their silence. He relied on their loyalty to keep quiet, and they apparently did.

Authorities never prosecuted Tubbs. He revealed his secret to no one except an LDS bishop whom he says told him to refrain from the conduct and advised him to see a counselor at LDS Social Services.

After he wed in an LDS temple at age 32, the church assigned him and his wife to work with children in the ward. He found himself leading a Scout troop.

Here’s the scoop: the LDS Church is a defendant in 10 cases, which have given rise to 15 written opinions. Most are outside of Utah.
The hotspot seems to be Washington State, where a Mormon scoutmaster named Jack LaHolt allegedly abused children in the 1970s. His activity alone generated a third of the written opinions in Mormon civil cases – five opinions [2]. The LDS Church heavily litigating these cases on evidentiary grounds. Also in Washington was a case by the wife of a sex abuser who sued her bishop for granting her a Temple Recommend in order to get married, despite indications that her husband had such proclivities [3], and another case against the Church filed by one of the child victims, where the Church litigated whether it had to turn over its internal report [4]. The other cases are in South Dakota [5], Kentucky [6], California [7], and two in Oregon [8]. Utah had only one civil case involving Mormon sex abuse, and it was quickly dismissed, based on the notion that the Church had no duty to warn [9].

DUCHESNE — An LDS bishop who also serves as vice president of the Duchesne County School Board is facing criminal charges for his alleged failure to report a teenage girl's disclosure that she'd been sexually assaulted.

Gordon Lamont Moon, 43, of Duchesne, was charged Monday in 8th District Court with tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony, and failure to report abuse of a child, a class B misdemeanor.

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Uintah Basin Standard file photo
Gordon Lamont Moon, an LDS bishop who also serves as vice president of the Duchesne County School Board, was charged Aug. 22, 2011, with tampering with a witness, a third-degree felony, and failure to report child abuse, a class B misdemeanor. Moon, 43, of Duchesne is accused of failing to report a teenage girl's disclosure that she'd been sexually assaulted and of telling the girl not to talk to police.
From the archive
Woman admits confining niece to tiny closet for hours on end – July 7, 2011
Daggett search and rescue member arrested in child porn investigation – May 14, 2011
Daggett search and rescue member arrested in child porn investigation – May 6, 2011
Judge gives Roosevelt man sentences for each of his 7 teen victims – Jan. 27, 2011
Myton man facing charges in abuse of 6-month-old boy – Nov. 13, 2010
The charges against Moon stem from a July meeting with a teenage member of his congregation. During the meeting, the girl revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by a teenage boy and Moon advised her not to report the assault to law enforcement, according to Duchesne County sheriff's detective Dan Bruso.

After talking to Moon, the girl told her parents about the sexual assault and her bishop's alleged advice.

“The parents weren't happy with his counsel,” Bruso said.

They contacted the sheriff's office, reported the sexual assault and claimed Moon had advised their daughter not to talk to police, Bruso said.

Moon was interviewed by detectives about the family's allegation and told them he didn't believe the girl's disclosure needed to be reported, according to Bruso.

“It was his position that he felt that church action would take care of the problem,” the detective said, adding that authorities are frustrated by Moon's alleged actions.

“The reason why the (mandatory reporting) law is there is to protect children,” Bruso said.

“We tell kids, 'If something bad happens, tell a responsible adult — your teacher, your parents, the bishop," he continued. "The victim went to a responsible adult, the way that she'd been taught to do, and that responsible adult didn't follow through.”

When he was contacted Tuesday, Moon indicated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be providing him with an attorney because the alleged offenses are related to his church calling and referred all questions about the case to that attorney.

Drifting wrote:...subgenius?

Dykes confessed his abuse in 1983 to the local Scouts co-ordinator, who also happened to be a Mormon bishop, but was allowed to continue working with the Scouts. Lewis said he was molested by Dykes over the following two years. The Mormon church settled with Lewis and seven other victims of Dykes more than a year ago.