7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

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Res Ipsa
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by Res Ipsa »

drumdude wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:14 pm
Outside legal concerns, isn’t reporting abuse the obvious ethical choice?

Clearly, reporting abuse in any individual case will most often be best for the child involved. But the answer may not be as clear-cut as some think. There may be some inadvertent consequences of eliminating all prohibitions on reporting. For instance, according to one clinical psychologist, “As the boundaries of confidentiality decrease, people who need help are less likely to seek it out. Instead, they will suffer along in silence and isolation.”

Confessing instances of abuse to a clergy member can often set abusers on the path to deep changes in their behavior. Whereas if they don’t go to see a clergy member because they’re worried about being reported, their abuse will continue without anyone knowing.

Clearly, the victims need to be our top priority. But there are many victims. And some of those victims will only be helped if their abuser comes forward. And those abusers might only come forward if they trust clergy confidentiality. Some recent research suggests that mandatory reporting laws don’t always work and, in fact, can make the problem worse. A reasonable argument can be made that, in the aggregate, maintaining some degree of clergy confidentiality helps reduce child abuse over the long term.
And just as strong a case can be made that hiding abuse protects abusers and gives them a real sense of security about being able to abuse children without consequences.

Not surprising, but still disgusting, to see the church work so hard to protect their right to keep these sex scandals hidden from public scrutiny.
The person who wrote the Q&A just appears to be some guy with no experience or education relevant to the topic.
he/him
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by drumdude »

Christopher D. Cunningham is the managing editor for Public Square Magazine and contributor to Third Hour. After graduating from BYU-Idaho, he studied religion at Harvard University. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his three children. He loves emphatically celebrating the normal healthy development of his sons Albus and Whitman, writing about the Church of Jesus Christ, finding the middle ground on most controversies, and using Western Family generic brand lip balm. Christopher is a proud graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho, and previously a resident of San Antonio, Texas.
He has experience celebrating the "normal healthy development of his sons"

Is this some kind of underhanded jab at the LGBT movement?
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by Res Ipsa »

drumdude wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:00 pm
Christopher D. Cunningham is the managing editor for Public Square Magazine and contributor to Third Hour. After graduating from BYU-Idaho, he studied religion at Harvard University. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his three children. He loves emphatically celebrating the normal healthy development of his sons Albus and Whitman, writing about the Church of Jesus Christ, finding the middle ground on most controversies, and using Western Family generic brand lip balm. Christopher is a proud graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho, and previously a resident of San Antonio, Texas.
He has experience celebrating the "normal healthy development of his sons"

Is this some kind of underhanded jab at the LGBT movement?
Nice catch.
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by drumdude »

DCP wrote:I wonder if that's partly the result of the relative centralization of those three religious organizations. By contrast, whatever happens at the local Four Square Gospel Church stays at the Four Square Gospel Church. There is no overall central organization. Similarly, more or less, with the Southern Baptist Convention -- although sexual abuse in the SBC has certainly been in the news of late.
The Church of We Molest the Average Number of Children Relative to Other Religions of Latter-Day Saints.
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by toon »

drumdude wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 8:31 pm
DCP wrote:I wonder if that's partly the result of the relative centralization of those three religious organizations. By contrast, whatever happens at the local Four Square Gospel Church stays at the Four Square Gospel Church. There is no overall central organization. Similarly, more or less, with the Southern Baptist Convention -- although sexual abuse in the SBC has certainly been in the news of late.
The Church of We Molest the Average Number of Children Relative to Other Religions of Latter-Day Saints.
Lol. You’d think the centralization could be used to mitigate the problem.

And this isn’t a story of some bad apple member doing this on his own. It’s a story of the church directing its local leaders to not report it to law enforcement, the one entity that could truly stop it, even though nothing prohibited them from reporting it. And this seems to be par for the course for how they handle confessions of abuse — only report to law enforcement if legally required to do so: don’t report if it’s optional.
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by Philo Sofee »

Church responds to recent Associated Press article about the Church's abuse help line

The abuse of a child or any other individual is inexcusable. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes this, teaches this, and dedicates tremendous resources and efforts to prevent, report and address abuse. Our hearts break for these children and all victims of abuse.
Except when you tell your Stake Presidents and Bishops NOT to call law enforcement and it continues for YEARS. In other words, you spout perfect spiritual BullSh*t, but it's still BULLSH*T. On finding ANY Mormon leader sexually abusing MINORS (FOR F*Celestial Kingdom SAKE, 5 YEAR OLDS!!!!!!!!) they should have been immediately EXCOMMUNICATED ***AND*** turned into the law for criminal punishment - DUH YOU STOOPID SPIRITUALLY DEAD INSENSITIVE F*CKS.
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by toon »

Why does the church delete hotline recordings at the end of each day? What’s the legitimate policy reason for that?
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by MetaProf »

Tom wrote:
Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:35 pm
The church has responded:
Church Offers Statement on Help Line and Abuse

Church responds to recent Associated Press article about the Church's abuse help line

The abuse of a child or any other individual is inexcusable. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes this, teaches this, and dedicates tremendous resources and efforts to prevent, report and address abuse. Our hearts break for these children and all victims of abuse.

The nature and the purpose of the Church’s help line was seriously mischaracterized in a recent Associated Press article. The help line is instrumental in ensuring that all legal requirements for reporting are met. It provides a place for local leaders, who serve voluntarily, to receive direction from experts to determine who should make a report and whether they (local leaders) should play a role in that reporting. When a leader calls the help line, the conversation is about how to stop the abuse, care for the victim and ensure compliance with reporting obligations, even in cases when the law provides clergy-penitent privilege or restricts what can be shared from private ecclesiastical conversations.

The help line is just one of many safeguards put in place by the Church. Any member serving in a role with children or youth is required to complete a training every few years about how to watch for, report and address abuse. Leaders and members are offered resources on how to prevent, address and report abuse of any kind. Church teachings and handbooks are clear and unequivocal about the evils of abuse. Members who violate those teachings are disciplined by the Church and may lose their privileges or membership. These are just a few examples.

The story presented in the AP article is oversimplified and incomplete and is a serious misrepresentation of the Church and its efforts. We will continue to teach and follow Jesus Christ’s admonition to care for one another, especially in our efforts related to abuse.
The church posted a link to the statement on its Facebook page, but it turned off all comments.
not that I wanted this to be my inaugural / intro post (I'm a long-time lurker), but relevant to Tom's post is that I replied to the church today on Twitter before they shut down all replies. I (@JXBach) got the only reply in before they deleted and started over, but not before someone screenshotted it. was in a bit of a pissy mood from this AP story.

https://Twitter.com/jessiejensen/status ... 4177027072
8-)
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by Dr Moore »

toon wrote:
Sat Aug 06, 2022 12:58 am
Why does the church delete hotline recordings at the end of each day? What’s the legitimate policy reason for that?
I guess 3 reasons.
Liability.
Liability.
Liability.
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Re: 7 years sex abuse of a child covered up by LDS leaders

Post by Moksha »

MetaProf wrote:
Sat Aug 06, 2022 1:23 am
not that I wanted this to be my inaugural / intro post (I'm a long-time lurker),

https://Twitter.com/jessiejensen/status ... 4177027072
8-)
It was a good intro.
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