MTC President Sexually Assaulted Sister Missionaries

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Do you remember the other girl with me?
Pardon me?
Do you remember the other girl with me? The other one you were grooming?
Her name was--
Yes, that's her last name.
l remember
Did you molest her?
Yes.
Did you [inaudible]?
Oh yes.
To her?
Yes.
Directly?
Yes.

[_Craig Paxton]

The "BIG" story here is not Bishop and what he did or did not do....like Watergate, its the cover up by the LDS church. They were made aware of the rape charge years ago and did nothing. They continued to elevate this man who they knew had been accused of rape and did nothing.

Had this charge been made against your average ward member something would have happened. An interview by priesthood leaders to assess the charge and if found credible a church court would have taken place...but with Bishop...nothing, nadda, zippo. They just allowed this predator to continue on his merry way without any church action, thus allowing him to ply is sexual deviance on other innocent women.

The church needs to be held accountable for their cover up.

[_Meadowchik]

Consig, as far as admissibility in court, I agree that this is not only useless but a good attorney could easily flip the script with it. In the court of public opinion, however, it seems pretty damning to me. To start with, how would this woman know any of these things? It's clearly not some manufactured ruse. Something happened. I can appreciate that her memory may not align with his, for various reasons. She may have perceived what he did as attempted rape. Whereas in the moment he never perceived it that way. And clearly this woman was also subject to quite a lot of other abuse which has maybe warped her perspective on all this a bit. It's also reasonable to interpret that there have been so many women he just doesn't remember. His words very much give that impression.

For me the takeaway though is this.

One, that this man was serially abusing women, even if just in the sense that he leveraged his position to lure them into inappropriate sexual situations where consent becomes dubious. And he did so while serving as MTC president and in other high ranking roles.

Two, other leaders clearly knew. Bishop claims to have confessed to them, the woman interviewing claims to have multiple times reported things to leaders herself, and so on. They swept it under the rug. Documents to prove it in court, no, but not like that's a matter which would be subject to court to begin with. This should be a public matter for the LDS community to be made aware of, leadership malfeasance.

Three, even more substantial, this incident would seem to surpass Mark Hoffman in terms of of significance and the implications for inspired church leadership.

The system is toxic, yet it props up very flawed, often abusive men and easily passes them off as inspired and godly. How? Because the narratives, cultural expectations, and institutional norms have been specifically molded to do that because the church was founded and grown in situations of widespread abuse and corruption. It flourished in it.

[_Mormonicious]

Aww, come on, as every true Christian Republican knows, this is "FAKE" News. I mean, this supposed Sex fiend is going to let his "Victim" interview him?

[_consiglieri]

Mission calls in particular are hyped up, one of the few callings that apostles are directly involved with. They choose where the kid should serve. Adds to the aura of it all. You've got the freaking MTC president, of all people, abusing sisters right there in Provo? Gee willikers. I'm honestly not sure it could get much worse than that. The only thing worse would be a sex scandal involving the president of the church. Or a murder scandal. The MTC president! Who members entrust their kids with.

I agree with much of what you have to say, Water Dog.

And you will get no argument from me that claims to revelation in missionary (and other) church calls is largely, if not completely, hyped up.

But in this particular instance, all the details I see regarding the alleged rape are coming from the woman who claims to have been raped.

She apparently has a history as a child of sexual abuse at the hands of other men.

And she apparently made a death threat to (or about) Bishop some time in 2010.

This can be interpreted in different ways.

If we take this woman at her word on all counts, then she was a sexualized young woman whom Bishop, himself a predator, took advantage of to force himself on her in a small room in the basement of the MTC in or around 1983-1984, and her 2010 death threat is a manifestation of the anger from her abuse at the hands of Bishop and the LDS Church's failure to do anything about it.

If, on the other hand, we do not assume that this woman is telling the truth on all counts, she can be seen as a person who was sexualized at an early age, and a person who made a death threat toward Bishop in 2010; all of which is not caused or associated with the abuse by Bishop, but which factors into the lady's misperceptions (or imaginings) of something Bishop did to her at the MTC.

All I am saying is that the evidence here seems reasonably subject to different interpretations.

I am hopeful that this lady is telling the truth that she does have a lawyer, and that a deposition will be done on Bishop at some point in the near future before he shuffles off this mortal coil.

Also the services of a good private investigator may be able to corroborate (or disprove) some of the allegations the lady makes.

[_consiglieri]

The "BIG" story here is not Bishop and what he did or did not do....like Watergate, its the cover up by the LDS church. They were made aware of the rape charge years ago and did nothing. They continued to elevate this man who they knew had been accused of rape and did nothing.

Had this charge been made against your average ward member something would have happened. An interview by priesthood leaders to assess the charge and if found credible a church court would have taken place...but with Bishop...nothing, nadda, zippo. They just allowed this predator to continue on his merry way without any church action, thus allowing him to ply is sexual deviance on other innocent women.

The church needs to be held accountable for their cover up.

If this is indeed the case, Craig, then I think the LDS Church may have a problem on its hands that may be on a par with the Catholic Church's issues relating to relocating child abusing priests to other positions where they could (and sometimes did) offend again.

Yes. This could be big. Very big.

[_SuperDell]

I know we don't blame victims.

But - why did none of them bit his penis off? Grab his testicles and twist and scream for help? Take a pen or pencil and drive it into his throat, eyes or scrotum to stop him?

You don't fight off a rapist? Not even try?

None of them went to the Police?

What is wrong with these women?

As for him, castration and a rope would be too easy on the rapist.

[_Meadowchik]

I know we don't blame victims.

But - why did none of them bit his penis off? Grab his testicles and twist and scream for help? Take a pen or pencil and drive it into his throat, eyes or scrotum to stop him?

You don't fight off a rapist? Not even try?

None of them went to the Police?

What is wrong with these women?

As for him, castration and a rope would be too easy on the rapist.

Read about the biology of assault. Victims can freeze. It is a very common response.

[_Water Dog]

Random shower thought, I wonder if Jeff Flake and Mitt Romney will come out in support of this woman just like they did with Roy Moore's accuser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

[_Shulem]

Yes. This could be big. Very big.

Indeed it is big. It's going to rock the church.

What's also big is the push to stop church leaders from asking children if they masturbate and making them feel guilty or dirty for having done so. That too, will rock the church.

The foundations of Mormonism are rocking now. It's about to see an overflowing of opposition against it that will shake its very foundations.