“You can pray for guidance about how to handle sexual abuse,” said Huizar. “But you can pray and also report it to public authorities.” Watch Next: This 12-Year-Old Girls Is Leaving Her Town Because She's Transgender - bit.ly/2NTIbV7
Every single one of you corrupt journalists will pay a heavy price for your lies and your deceptions. I could spend my time trying to correct your false narrative but I’ll leave that for someone else. I want you to know that it’s painfully obvious that the reason that so many of you lie (and this is a bigger problem than just your news organization of course) is because you have no values. You literally don’t have morals because everything you fight for and work towards is destructive towards society, destructive for your business. You’re careless about the millions of people you lie about or or lie to, and you’re all lovers of hate and haters of facts and logic. You think you’re a modern hero but the only sacrifice you’ve made was for your own gain. You literally embody every despicable characteristic from film or literature and you can’t even see it. Be better
Thank you VICE the Mormon church ward I was in has an EQP that's a registered sex offender his victim was 12 and he's around children constantly in the church
@VICE News please make a video about the physical and sexual abuse that happened across Alaska, when they beat the language out of our grandparents and molested them, they also stopped them from teaching their grandkids about our culture and how to speak in our own tongue because it brings back horrible memories. For starters the Lutheran Catholic Church and the farther you are from an old mission the smaller the impact of cultural loss
David Swanson Christianity had no morals or honor when they tortured and murdered their way across America. What are you fighting for? The bible that says a woman who was not engaged must marry the man who raped her and he cannot divorce her? That is destructive towards society
@Harry Truman I was sexually abused by a family member(2 men and I was around 7-9 years old ) and woman also sexually abused me I was 5 years old I was a child. I'm a lawyer and not any lawyer I'm a prosecutor. If my case involves child sex abuse I do anything in my power as a prosecutor to make sure this monster gets at least 100 years in jail. We have to protect our children.
Jeff Harrington This is present in every sector of life not just in churches hundreds of cases every year in every kind of church on the face of the Earth including medical doctors including all School teachers and school counselors in Boy Scout leaders and Girl Scout leaders and it certainly isn't as high in the LDS Church These occurrences are quite rare compare that to the Catholics..!
When my child was having his first physical in the doctor's office he was about 7 years old they wanted to take him in there to be alone with the doctor which I put my foot down to and said absolutely not! And went directly in there I watched that doctor's hand c Closer than a hawk...!!! These things can happen to your children when you take him to the doctor what can happen if you leave your child in the dentist chair this crap happens in every possible sector which exists and yes I hate it if I ever caught l anybody inappropriately touching my child I might just in their life right there on the spot..!!!!
@@janaprocella8268 That's absolutely no reason to justify or ignore the fact that this happened in the Mormon "church". It needs to be discussed, regardless. Just because it happens in other avenues of life, doesn't downplay that it happened at this "church". It's sick and it needs to be addressed, and they should be held accountable.
Exactly. Pointing the finger to other organizations is pathetic deflections. To me, when I see that, it really causes me to focus more on LDS because it’s an intent to diminish and distract people from judging the mormons. They just need to own it. The corporate pyramid scheme cult deserves to be investigated and judged.im friends with one of the parents involved in the civil case and it’s horrible the way the church and members treat them for telling the truth.
it's so the church can save face. threw him under the bus eventually, once it was evident enough what took place. that's what the church does. that is what all corrupt organisations do. they are experts at public relations and damage control. fake transparency. cutting losses. multiple tactics.
Spencer Smith The same thing happen to The Messiah; they tried to do damage control after finding out Christ was resurrected; they did it by sending out false witnesses claiming to have seen The disciples of Christ removing His Body from the tomb where He was laid.
@@Hpencer this is not true. The church doesn't cover stuff up. It admits that it has problems. This is why the church has changed its policy about certain things. I like how anti mormons always bring up stuff about the people. We dont believe in the people at all. We only worship 1 God.
@@Phatmatt Matt 5105 i'm not anti mormon. the church also has an expert public relations team. the church uses corporate tactics like many other corporations. pretend transparency, no apologies, etc. i know absolutely that the church has covered up and lied about things and still does today. i know this from several years of research. it's a fact. i have a strong testimony in the book of mormon and God and other things in the church. however, the church is in a state of apostasy. it was taken over by gadianton robbers, brigham young and his band.
See that's the issue, when you're a mormon your entire life is the church and you trust the bishops completely. If they tell you to do something, you will assume it's in your best interest to do so.
@@silasguzman7119 I see what you mean. We have to change that thinking, though. Catholics, Protestants, Mormons. Wherever this problem is happening. Thanks for giving me your insight on this.
egh egf believing it’s in your best interest to talk to the friends and colleagues of the pedophile is within itself supporting pedophelia, if your niave enough to not see that, that’s literally your own issue, choosing an organization over your child should have you loose your children and get the on death row.... purposely choosing to go back to a pedophile ring is assisting your child to be assaulted again
@@amarahc4351 yeah see it's not a consious decision, and you can't truly understand it if you haven't been a full fledged Mormon. I was part of it, my family still is, and believe me when I say it becomes your entire life. The religion teaches thought stopping techniques so members can stop critical thoughts, which in turn leaves them with no critical thinking skills. I agree full heartedly, it's disgusting that they go to help lines and bishops instead of law enforcement, but you have to understand that they truly don't see it that way. When you're Mormon, you trust the bishop as well as the prophets blindly. Not following their advice no matter how obviously immoral or wrong is actually seen as a sin. It's not nessacarily being naïve, many of these people were born into the religion, and it's been their entire life. They have no critical thinking skills and are taught that leaving will lead to a life full of sorrow and pain. So, it's not really these parents faults. It's the LDS church for fostering the environment and culture in which this can happen.
truthHarbinger You are always Mormon unless you go through the proper legal avenues and have your name removed from the church record - which is becoming easier because of volunteer lawyers who help people do this, but I haven’t started the process yet
@@tangerinefizz11 We as mormon contract covenants in our Temples just like Israel of old in theirs. I think the problem is that members are formatted in certain ways. It's almost cultish I think sarah@ was trying to say.
I was physically abused by one of my parents my entire life. In high school, i started suffering PTSD symptoms and finally, painfully, admitted to myself it was wrong. I needed help to make it stop. So, i went to my bishop for help. That's what i was always told to do. The bishop heard me break down, looked me dead in the face, and said "obey your mother and father." He acted like i made it up. It's one of the deepest betrayals of trust I've experienced. I left the Mormon church a few years later.
That's not cool. This sounds familiar though. My father physically and emotionally abused my mother for 5 years before she left him. She left when I was 1 month old. They were active in the church and the bishop told her that she needs to obey her husband. It was in the 70's so hopefully, things will get better.
okthennone in the 90s my mom was the relief society president. A women came to see her black and blue from her husband beatings. The bishop told her to keep forgiving him. She stayed with him till the kids grew up and left the house. Then he remarried a young girl early 20s. The church decided her a temple sealing cancellation so he’s sealed to two women.
All I'm saying is if my kid's ever said something like this happened the perpetrator better start praying the cops get to them before I do. God may have mercy but I don't.
Nicole Reilly I agree implicitly...On Child Abuse.. I'd killed too.. I had to take my child out of public school because the school counselor kept coming on to him it was only in kindergarten I homeschooled from then on out... With the weight from homeschooling a child hits the senior level of intelligence at about grade 7 ,,the tests are given and then all done ..and graduate.. public school is a waste of time !
It actually sounded like she was searching for victims for him! The victims' mothers said the molester's mother approached them, saying if they ever needed a babysitter, her son would be happy to. She knew what he was and she served these innocent children to him on a platter.
@@kathryncumberland That was the worst part for me. It's as if the abuser's mother was his pimp. Patriarchal Religions are an ideal home for paedophilia. The paedophile will be protected by the Church, with the sole intention of preserving their squeaky clean image. The LDS leaders need to wake up before it's too late. Apologies count for nothing. Words without action are pointless.
Yep. Happened to me. Got raped by a church member who confessed in great detail to the bishop. The bishop contacted me and told me what the rapist had said. I went to the police who contacted the bishop for a statement. The church’s legal team replied to the police saying the bishop would not be making a statement. The bishop said it was out of his hands. He had a first hand detailed confession which prompted him to contact me but wouldn’t make a statement to the police as advised by the church’s lawyers. They are looking after their business but allowing rapists to walk free and innocent victims to go without justice. Definitely not Christ-like. Don’t know how they can sleep at night.
I feel like it’s hard to blame the church for not breaking the confessional seal though. I’m not Mormon or Catholic but that’s what they believe and as difficult as it is to feel, I personally understand that sometimes the system has to have bad consequences in order for the good part of the system to work. But that doesn’t make it easy on you so I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. And according to people who believe in confessions, I suppose, they would say if they tell somebody’s confession in one situation then the rest of the church will never admit their sins to the bishop and that would break down morality throughout the church even more. And in theory if the predator admits to what he’s done then they can make sure he’s not alone with children in the future the best they can and counsel him to not put himself in a position well that can happen. And there’s plenty of churches that have not done this and allowed the man to go onto abuse. So in theory it could be used to do good. So the problem I see with Mormons would depend on if they’re trying to sweep it under the rug, not just because they refused to participate based on something they said to be divinely scriptural. Like when they encourage you to only go to the church and not to the police, or generally trying to sweep it under the rug like I said, or allowing the predators to still be around children.
How nice that the mother of the predator suggested him as a babysitter. She knew what her son was. She was his accomplice and she should be held accountable.
Wow. No, I would not think that was likely true. I can’t help that people want to blame the parents because then that let them believe their child could never for them because a parent would obviously no the real truth. But that’s not usually how it works.
I worked for DCFS in Utah. Bishops ignoring their duty as a mandatory reporter was a constant, common problem. Their arrogance and disregard for the children was disgusting but well-known in our field.
@Indiana Jonas in my religion when i was 14 things at home got bad im talking about leading to divorce bad so i went to the elders for help thats what they told us if we have a problem at home or in life we can turn to them. I asked them for help telling them " Im scared my mom and dad will divorse " and well they told me " keep my mouth shut " well i did and it got worse
unfortunately, many people don't realize but most religious figures are actually the opposite of a mandated reporter and can't even be called to testify in court as their communications with their parish are "privileged".
oaks is an attorney who got his position by his skills at church scandle cover-ups. i was a firebrand devotee of the church, but the minute he wa announced, 'the spirit' told me he 'was not "mine" e, Jesus' guy. things just got worse from there.
rover7377 Sadly though it's true, it is confusing... It shouldn't be. It should be clear that when anyone suspects abuse of any child, by anyone, it should be reported to the proper authorities! Church Leaders are NOT IT! I went through this as a child.
And one of them have said to pay tithing, even if it means missing bills and not caring for children. It's disgusting. My parents are completely under the impression that the 10% of income that they've been drained of by the church is for a good cause, and having it would have caused more issues than not. That 10% could have helped them so much. I love them, and it's hard to see them being held by a dark, secret organization that seems more like a shady guilt-centered mafia than anything.
I wonder why they divorced? They didn't delve into that, but I watched another documentary, about Jehovah's witnesses; they cover up sexual abuse also. Anyway it's split the families, some family members would leave the Jehovah's witnesses, some would stay. The ones that stayed, ended up shunning the victims. I wonder if that's what happened here?
It's the family's job to go to the police of they think a crime has been committed. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If this were to happen to my child, I would go straight to the police. They talk about this hotline as if members should have open access to it... Members do have a hotline: 911. The hotline that Bishops have access to is to seek guidance from the church about what to do in these sensitive situations. They are not instructed to get in the way of investigations. It's the family's responsibility to alert police if there has been a crime committed. They shouldn't rely on anybody, including their Bishop, to press charges on behalf of them.
i'm from this area. i go to this church regularly because my family are members and i grew up in the church (i'm currrently waiting until i'm old enough to get away to leave). i know the bishop mentioned in the video; i literally just talked to him yesterday at church. a few sundays ago (may 5th, i think), mothers of victims who wanted revenge on the church came in and basically halted the entire meeting to talk about this situtation and to warn the members of the protection the church gave michael jensen, while directly calling don fishel out by name. it came as a surprise to me, since the topic hasn't been talked about in a while on my end. i wasn't sure about don fishel actually protecting jensen, but after watching this, i'm confident to say he did. i feel so bad for the families that were taken advantage of throughout the years of this situation.
@@brendtbarbur2318 well I understand the sentiment pretty much every organization on the planet at one point does. Seems the best place is a lot of corporate america seems to do well these days to protect the RIGHT people now. But yeah we are not going to dissolve the public school system or every catholic charity, I'd rather add protections and policies to them that make sense
3 года назад+1
If you find out about any more abuses, or suspect them, try Thorn.
Even though I grew up LDS, there was sexual, physical, and mental abuse in my family. Yet, no one in the church did anything about it. I know they knew about because my mom would talk to the bishop about the problems. The leaders will tell the wife to stay with the husband despite the abuse because "families are forever" and are suppose to stay together. No concern for the children.
Millie Sal If your Bishop does not please you when you bring something to his attention that is this serious you're supposed to go above him to the stake president... If that doesn't receive the proper attension , your to go above him.. this is called the chain of command and not only the Latter-Day Saint Church but even in the military and in the government you rise above each person that does not 10 properly to the problem... You even write the first presidency in the Latter-Day Saint Church... Sometimes it might be better to do that first before even going to anyone else, but police. I do think that needs to have legal attention along with church attention but there are many people that do not practice their positions properly in the church that's why I would recommend writing to the prophet himself.. Which goes to his first counselor.. And remember all this time there's not just one church this happens in it's all of them every single Church in the face of this Earth including outside America.........
Indiana Inu they help because it’s good publicity lol the leaders of the Mormon church make millions of dollars, the church itself has billions, a little money for some crisis is pocket change to them.
@Indiana Inu There were reports that the shipping containers they sent over to hurricane Katrina were only a quarter full... That clearly shows they are just trying to promote their own image. Also, no matter what good they do today they can't make up for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Thats the majority of white America unfortunately. God fearing gun nuts who don't believe in climate change, anti social justice, and bigots... #minoritiesunite!
THIS. I live in Utah, unfortunately. I'm not Mormon but I told my wife that if a single one of them tries anything with one of my kids, they get to meet the hollow end of my Mossberg 930.
As a single mom put my son in a boy scout troop in 2000 when he was 10. It was ran by a Mormon couple. The husband kept telling me, "Your son doesn't respect women". I argued. I'd never seen ANY signs or got reports of disrespect from ANYONE, infact the opposite. All my friends agreed. A several weeks later, my son told me he didn't want to go anymore. He said they wanted him to undress to give him a physical. At first, I told him; "It's just a physical. They're MORMONS. I'm sure it's fine" But he said, "I don't want to go back. Please don't make me". I said, "Okay...alright..it's okay..." I let them know he wouldn't be back. The more I thought about it, the more I grew concerned for the other boys still in that den, but had nothing solid to report to the police. I remembered another time I asked the den mother what prompted her to adopt a native American girl. I asked bc I was curious why the girls birth parent(s) could no longer care for her...which is the way I should have framed the question. The answer I received was, "Because I don't want her to grow up to be a dirty indian." 😳. That should have been when I took my son out of there & never returned. I'll never forget that. Any of it.
@@loading1345 yeah for real! What do you mean it's "just a physical"?? He's not a doctor, he's a scout leader! I certainly hope she asked him more about that encounter.
@@heatherfraughton7319 And the "they're MORMONS" part. If anything, that would make me much more suspicious of them. People need to stop assuming that religious folks are all good people.
If you have a dedicated ‘hotline’ for abuse victims then you full well know you have a problem within your organisation & are complacent with it. I believe all these victims.
Mel.M. Leolahi, there should be abuse hotlines everywhere, just in case. Even if it’s not a common problem, it can happen anywhere, so wise institutions should have properly staffed hotlines to protect their members and themselves. Reporting criminal offenses to police should be their first recommendation, not discouraged! If any part of the hotline’s guidance suggests not reporting, that’s a huge red flag, and whoever’s in charge of the hotline should be reported!
I am not disputing the need of these services at all. It is a very common issue and that is my point. If the hotline is genuinely dedicated to help and support victims with their recovery, provide legal services and to report and remove the abusers then the hotline has genuine motives. This does not seem to be the case. The church knows it has a issue but instead of making it easy and transparent for victims they are shunned and no support is given. As they say you are as sick as your secrets.
Oh, I totally agree with you that their hotline is rotten as heck! I don’t think the existence of the hotline proves there’s a problem. The fact that their hotline goes directly to the lawyers, and laypeople aren’t even allowed to call it is what flags this as a huge problem! Whoever thought that was a good idea should really rethink his/her priorities and faith.
If u go 2 prison then u cant be there 2 help ur kids heal...my daughter was molested by her daycare teachers husband...they groomed me & my daughter was very young...Ur children need u 2 be there w/them after sumthng like this happens
To the people blaming the women for not immediately going to the police: Learning and understanding that your child has been abused is a horrifying shock, and I believe the first instinct is simply to protect your child in ALL avenues, including the public knowing what happened. Not specifically for shame reasons, but simply because this is such a difficult and private issue FOR THE CHILD. I was raised in a secular home, and my mum didn't call the police, either. She didn't know what to do, except to heavily protect me from that moment onward. As an adult, I could be angry with her, or I could choose to understand that she was frightened, confused and didn't know where to turn. These women turned to their church leaders, their community's authority, rather than the police. We can all wish it was different, but I don't think we can judge them for simply trying to protect their children IN THE BEST WAY THEY KNEW HOW IN THAT MOMENT. The parents in this documentary clearly stuck with their children, had their children's best interests at heart and even left the church in response to the LACK of response to this devastating issue, and we should be very thankful they supported their children so whole-heartedly. There are many parents who, frankly, would have believed the line of 'your child is lying' and given zero support. 'Helen lost her job, her marriage, and her religion. She no longer considers herself a Mormon.' This speaks volumes of her love for her children and her goals of protecting them at all costs.
And hopefully this will inspire parents struggling with this unimaginable pain to know that calling the police is a viable option, or at least is better than a system run by non authorities.
@@epicderp6167 It is not always a viable option, that is what people don't seem to understand. Sometimes your child is not emotionally in a place where they are willing or able to go to the police, to file a report, to endure a trial. The police can do nothing unless the child testifies and any good parent who sees the pain their child is already in is not going to traumatize them further by forcing them to do something they are not ready to do. People have no idea why these parents made the choices they made and they need to stop judging them for it. These parents at least tried to do something and brought it to the attention of those who could do something to protect the children they knew were at risk.
@@nostoppingit7827 By all means, I agree to what you are saying. I'm not blaming anyone for going or not going to the police. I'm not saying the police will solve everything. And by all means i am not saying "what next?" is an easy decision to make. All I meant to say was this video might help show that the church shouldn't be the ultimate support system. It will only make the situation more twisted.
your mom was an idiot if she didn't know to call the police...some people should not have children, any responsible parent would call the police if there child has been harmed..common sense.
I was sexually abused by a member. He was paid by the bishop to leave town. He gave me something I have to live with for life. I have a had time trusting people because of him.
Charles Hall I’m sorry to hear that. At least he is in prison now. It’s a very unfortunate situation, I do believe Church policy has definitely improved recently though
This breaks my heart and makes my blood boil! These poor kids and families. When will people put the most innocent among us first? Protect the children!
Better support healthcare, better support gun control, better support ending child marriage, better support the youth and their politcal choice. Because I hear think of the children, but no one helps the children.
I left the Mormon church a few years ago. I must say, you guys did your research on this report. The way you explained the bishop’s role, “spiritual gifts”, what is typical for people to do when they need council etc. was exactly correct. Even a currently practicing Mormon would agree. Most sources that don’t have a Mormon or ex Mormon on staff usually get something or a few things wrong. Please do more of these!
John's misleading headline called Mormon sexual abuse is highly misleading. There are no Sunday school lessons that teach any kind of abuse. This abomination stems from family dysfunction alone. Every religion on planet earth and every race and every ethnic group all have their own small portion of family abusers. You've heard this before, that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch, this is the statistical rule for all human groups and races and religions. Let's face it, churches are not legally capable of criminal prosecution of any man. Especially if a man is guilty of abuse, if this man never confesses his crime, no church system can legally accuse him of that crime, much less legally convict him of such. Only a court of law can legally correct this. Even If that person does confess his crime, the bishop or minister might be charged for condemning an accused criminal outside our nations legal system. A church leader can just as easily be accused of slander for taking the law into his own hands by claiming church authority alone. The above case is obviously not about a typical healthy church family and a non approach is unacceptable in any church system. Bishops are given mandatory instructions to contact local authorities to handle such abuse charges today. John and his above broadcast has wrongly misrepresented this fact as he paints the entire church with a broad brush for causing family abuse silence. Given, the way this case was handled was highly unusual and obviously only represents a very tiny number of such cases within the church system. The democrat party has rigged the modern justice system where criminals are protected having more constitutional rights than their victims. Today victims and clergy can easily be made to be the bad guys while it's actually a family problem, this is obviously not a church teaching caused issue at all. Expecting churches to act as prosecutor's or judges of crimes is nuts. The only solution is for the victim to go to the authorities and not expect a bishop to solve a legal matter at all! This hands off policy is what bishops are clearly taught today. Especially this is true outside such rare case that are now being ignored by Johns broadcast. Actually, It wouldn't make much difference if this girl and her family were in the church system or not. The tendency to become secretive and protect the mothers marriage and the father's job in order to keep the neighbors or the media from finding out is typical for abuse cases in general. It's a desperation to avoid public embarrassment that drives family survival. Church or not! Such is always the main fear to finally confront! Why? Having the family identified publicly with sexual abuse in news paper exposure potentially becoming public knowledge is the most terrifying of all. Why? Such exposure is capable of destroying your family name forever. The sworn secrecy of the abuse manifests the same way regardless if you preside in the church system or outside of that church system. Again, it's the same family issue whether the church happens to be present in your life or not. Statistically even if there is no church involvements such families will still keep sexual abuse quiet to protect the family name and reputation which automatically protects the abuser from his crime in the very same way. John with his broadcast here cannot wait to make everything into a church related problem in order to stick it to the apostles by labeling this (Mormon sexual abuse) instead of honestly identifying how the root cause of such abuse obviously concerns a personalized family dysfunction. John seems to think the church is failing to solve this criminal activity when that was never it's job in the first place. The churches job is to teach just the opposite. John's entire agenda is obviously to make everything about the church to justify his own unfinished issues. Is not this sexual crime almost as serious as murder itself, and therefore it cannot be fixed outside of involving the legal system? This women literally needs to see the father imprisoned for his crime. Perhaps only pure justice can fully restore her questioned value as a daughter of God. Forgiveness may only come when the criminal is righteously punished for a very serious crime. Jesus himself said it would be better for a man to be drowned in the depths of the sea, than to offend one of these little ones. Perhaps the victim needs to realize that a full degree of justice may not fully come from the church system alone either.
It's not just a small number of families that have been effected by the policies that the Mormon church has in place. It is an epidemic of sexual abuse, especially in Utah. My own abuser was reported to the police. I lived in Carbon County Utah, at the time it was the most religiously diverse county in the state. The police did a great job investigating my abuser and discovered he had done it to multiple other children in the past, each instance covered up by the church. By the time the case got to county attorney Gene Strate, who happened to be Mormon, my abuser had gone back to the church. My abuser and Gene Strate attended the same ward together. My abusers defense attorney, Sam Chiara, is now a judge in the 8th district court in Utah and is also Mormon. Sam Chiara was going to argue in court that I made up the allegations about what my step father did to me because he brutally beat my dog to death. Gene Strate said he did not want to put me and my friend who witnessed what my step dad did to me through the "trauma" of testifying. So he dropped the charges. The Bishop was informed of my step dads sexual abuse of many children and he still gave him a calling in the church. The stake president of the area was more concerned with the possibilty of infidelity on my ex step dads part since he remarried his new wife the same week him and my moms divorce was finalized. I can gauruntee I was not the last victim of his. The Carbon County prosecution team had failed to protect the children in that county. They need to be held accountable for their actions. Unfortunately the attorney general in Utah is also Mormon so they all feel safe that the church won't be investigated.
How horrible that this happened to you. I do hope that there will come a day that you will get your justice. Stay strong and know deep within your soul that this was not your fault...
I think abuse of power is bound to happen in any situation where you have humans in a hierarchical system. The difference with churches is that you have humans who believe they’re more than that. That god is on their side, that they are ordained with special powers like discernment. Combine that with unhealthy sexual attitudes and a hostility towards change and the outside world ( we will deny deny deny and protect our own to the end) and you have a powder keg. I’m honestly at the point where I really don’t think anyone has authority except God. I believe in the god of Abraham and that’s it. St. Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, etc are all interesting to study but it’s ridiculous that they’ve had such a huge impact on doctrine when they were all literally just humans. I don’t feel religiously obligated by any individual. I think what these bishops don’t understand is they aren’t actually helping their church. the ONLY way to keep something beautiful is through integrity. What they don’t realize is that it’s not a virtuous thing to help “our own”, because the second someone hurts a child we SHOULD be unequivocally disowning them.
I think it is a litmus test for character. Not specifically relating to this subject, but overall. The way people treat those they have some perceived power over demonstrates a great deal about the kind of person they are.
I was raised in the LDS church until I refused to go at the age 14. During the time that was involved with church I was sexually assulted by a boy. It took me till I was 35 years old to tell anyone. I couldn't even talk about it to a therapist. On top of that I was relentlessly bullied by other church members brats and any time I said anything about it to the "adults" nothing was done to correct it.
As someone who was a victim of prolonged childhood sexual abuse, that is the worst response. It's not about you, it's about your child. They need your calm love and support to feel like things can get back to normal. While it's understandable to be furious, you have to cover that up around your child. Acting out violently only threatens the child more because they are at risk of losing you. They may also feel conflicted if they cared for the abuser, such as if the abuser was a relative, friend or someone they trusted. Avoid confronting or speaking with the abuser, concentrate on the child's needs instead of your desires for vengeance.
As an ex-Mormon, I can tell you that many members will not go to the police if asked to keep it within the church. The helpline is ass! Also, they called me to be a leader through the same “Gift of Discernment” used to determine whether people are telling the truth or not. I shouldn’t have been a leader because I was breaking church “rules” and they told me that I was ”worthy” when I know I wasn’t! It’s all bull shit.
Cameron Miller I supposedly had the gift of discernment which I used to discern the church was not true after my own abuse experiences and learning the real history, the hypocrisies, the bigotry, etc.
I can't stop crying for these mothers and children. The "discernment" these men have is BS. The fact that the hotline goes to lawyers is just horrifying. I am glad that I no longer support big corporate religions like this.
Last year, when a woman on the internet wrote an article, that we need to teach babies the concept of consent and not just automatically assume, just because you're this child's mother or father you're exempt from it, even in regards to things like changing a diaper. She got a lot of hatred and ridicule for her opinion, even though this is precisely what she was actually referring to: we teach our kids to be aware of strangers once they are able to walk and talk and start playing outside on their own. But by that time, it's actually most likely already too late. In the vast vast majority of sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator isn't some stranger, it's a person of trust, most likely a (close) relative, sometimes a helpful neighbor, or somebody from a trustworthy community - which a church usually counts as. This, by the way, is why churches are so prone to this problem: it's incredibly easy to gain peoples trust if you're part of one, many people, especially in these small churches all over the new world, treat their church like their extended family, and they're expected to as well. That attracts people who require people's trust, pedophiles, fraudsters, and it makes it incredibly easy for them to hide their true intentions.
Tbh, I don't think a babe of several months old can understand what consent means. But I agree: teaching kids about sex ed is beneficial for them to identify potential sexual abuse.
@@alexanderchristopher6237 My mom was sexual abused as a small girl from the time I could talk well enough (so like 3) she would tell me over and over that no one can touch my "parts" and if they do they are being bad and I need to tell her or my dad. She didn't go into graphic detail but she did make me aware that my body was my own and people touching me in certain areas was not okay. I think more parents need to solidify this thought process with their young children.
My husband was abused by the mormans sexually and physically got beat his ENTIRE life so the second he turned 18 he went straight down to his local ward an took his name off the registry and never looked back
Matthew 18:6 "If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
@@ethangailushas4066 no you don't. Your cult's Articles of Faith say that you accept the Bible "as long as it's translated correctly." Like, WTF? Yes, there's numerous English translations of Scripture (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NIV, NLT, etc.), and my Bible is a NLT translation but it really means nothing. I read it because it's written beautifully. Not because it's "translated correctly." But if anything in the Bible contradicts Mormon teachings... "it's been corrupted"... what? And the Bible clearly warns about adding to Scripture. Joseph Smith failed to heed that.
As does scapegoating other religions. One of the reasons we here so much about the abuse in the Catholic and Mormon Churches is other denominations can use that focus to de-emphasize their abuse.
neeneko I think you’re correct. I couldn’t quite tell where you were going, but things often get misconstrued on here. Either way, what you said is true.
Lived my whole life in a community of these people. They think sexual assault is fine as long as you repent to your bishop. I actually know several of these cases. These people claim that they are perfect and amazing individuals. Without a doubt they are some of the most mentally and (sometimes physically) abusive people I have ever met. I can say that living with a concentration of 97% of the population of them for my entire life. They are evil people that stab you in the back. Not all of them are like this, but the vast majority are.
That is absolutely not LDS doctrine. If someone is a sex offender it has to be reported to the police, a permanent mark goes on their record banning them from working with children or vulnerable people and they are almost always get excommunicated.
@@williamhenley8593 Start with how the Mormon church can't keep it's meddling hands out of Utah politics. I live in Utah and this church doesn't know the meaning of separation of church and state. They're also not a church but a corporation that owns stock in large pharmaceutical companies. AND THEY PAY NO TAXES!!! Shall I continue? Because that's not even the tip of the iceberg with these yahoos. The LDS church is spooky, period. And they act as if people don't see right through it.
Zach Dancy I had to remove my child from kindergarten due to the so-called counselor coming onto him and trying to take him out onto the playground which back up to the woods alone with him. Speaking to the principal did no good. That's public school for you. So I just took him out of school and told the counselor I knew what he was up to and he was never going to see my son let alone get his hands on him!!! The sheriff let me know later because I was personal friends with the sheriff that the teacher had been God, prosecuted, permanently lost his certification as a teacher of course, and did go to prison Glory Hallelujah shout that out!!!
6:32 And this, ladies and gentleman, is precisely what your tithing is paying for. Not helping the poor, not doing social service, but paying their lawyers. Let that sink in. According to Mormon leaders, God needs money for lawyers.
Colted Reaper incorrect. The church collects billions of dollars in tithes. Most of that money goes towards temples, church missions, college, etc. lawyers are only a tiny part of the huge pool of money.
This cycle of abuse is atrocious and so damn negatively detrimental to the community as a whole. We have to protect our children and stop leaving them in the care of this narcissistic, egotistical, megalomaniacs. Prayers to all the families and especially the victims of these heinous acts.
Phoenix Raines i know right u wonder y people are turning away from organized religion this is why! They’ve lost all hope! I’m Irish and I tell you when I was growing up it was abuse case after abuse case it was horrifying I’ve seen the effect it’s had and the church should be freaking out so much so many disillusioned children with religion ...
@@shadowplanthead372 its an absolute shame. People come seeking hope and instead are made into the puppets and property of monsters. I feel you, this madness needs to come to an end
@@blairjane9228 Mormon much? Is your nonsense your ward's Family Home Evening project to say "what is posted online about the Mormons not authorized by the Q15 untrue and to defend it?" Nice try; but you failed. (Insert "The Price Is Right" loser music.) #ExMormonRestoredInChrist
WE ARE NOT A CULT. Tell me, please, why you assume this. What have we ever done to you? I am a proud mormon. I absolutely despise people that hide within our church to cover up crimes, but we are not all like this. We cover nothing up, there is no suspicious activity at all. We are taught the most beautiful things, and everyone in the church helps everyone. Through the hardest times in my life I could count on my church leaders and friends to comfort me and help me through it. I despise this idea people have, nothing we do makes us a cult. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Why, why would you assume this? Please explain. I need to understand why these horrible things are being said about me and my church.
emmanuelle garcia I’m jehovah witness and basically it happens in the same way as other religions, there is a crime and instead going to authorities people report it to the elders who several times hide the crime from authorities. Yup it’s really shameful and disgusting.
@@LusoPictures Wow it's amazing that you choose to remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses inspite of knowing that the elders are instructed to hide crimes instead of reporting them to the authorities. That's curious, might I ask why are you still one?
For Jehovas witnesses, you are shunned if you leave. Your entire family will cease to communicate with you and isolate you. Leaving is more difficult than people understand. RUclips user Telltale describes the challenges faced by leaving the Watchtower society.
*All organizations should be required to tell you to call the police if you think abuse has occurred.* My workplace has this, we also require people to be Mandated Reporters.
@@dc93 Lived in Utah for about 10 years, now I live in Pocatello Idaho, which its pretty much just like Utah, less people, less traffic, went to salt lake city last night with my wife and daughter, just to dance, my daughter is 17, in Utah there are a few places where we can go dancing and my kid can go in because there is no alcohol
you might enjoy a youtuber called Mr. Atheist! He talks a lot about his experience with the Mormon church and does a lot of commentary on current Christian religions. You might find it reassuring
Gillian Manning I’ve watched a lot of him. He hasn’t had his records removed. I’m a little more advanced of an ex mormon than he is. It’s still fun to watch him though.
Staying in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second best decision I ever made. The best decision was getting baptized in the first place. It has been an amazing Christian faith to be a part of. I love it.
Going to have to disagree with you there. Teenagers often don't have any source of income outside of babysitting and will take a job as soon as they hear of it.
Alyssa Hansen What does a teenager need with income? If they can't get a regular job or mow lawns or sonething then they should be doing chores for an allowance at home. Parents should be paying most of their expenses while they're in school. NO TEEN BABYSITTERS. NO MALE BABYSITTERS EVER! Grandmas and aunties only haha.
In so many of these horrific cases the predators strategically work their way into positions of trust and power. It seems the people who are most likely a threat to you/your family aren't a boogie man lurking in the dark, it's someone you know and trust. It is deeply unsettling to say the least.
This doesn't surprise me. I was a member of this church for a couple years and left when I realized how evil it is and how much control they have on members. It also bothered me how secretive they are about everything including their "sacred" rituals.
Congrats. I'm almost 18 now, and my parents are just now realizing the stress and anxiety it puts on me is causing a lot of mental health issues, and they've finally stopped forcing me to go to church and participate in church activities as of last night. It's great. Can't wait to have nothing to do with it at all when I move out.
This is not an isolated story. These occur constantly around Mormonism. My wife and I were members, myself for my entire life. My wife has a very good friend who left the church after she discovered that her father-in-law, a high ranking Mormon, had sexually abused her young daughters. When she reported it to her church leaders, she was told that she should not pursue it because it would destroy a "good man" who was a priesthood leader. She needed to respect his position. He completely escaped any sort of punishment. She was convinced reporting it to law enforcement would be bad as well. She eventually left the church over the guilt she felt at not reporting it to law enforcement and because the church tried to silence her.
As a survivor of child sex abuse (by a family member not by a person in my church) I have a few ideas why. 1) the act of taking the child to the police and having the child having to repeat the story of what happened over and over again can be traumatic to the child (I can attest to this), 2) a lot of the time even after going through all that it doesn’t even go to trial and even if it does, the child has the extra trauma of having to testify against the abuser with the abuser right there, and sometimes their defense attorney shredding them and their story to bits, saying that their either lying, mistaking or that they where told to say those things (i.e.- that your memories of the abuse are false) and even after all that the abuser may still even get off or have little to no jail time. 3) Even if it does go to trial it may take years before it does so and in that time the abuser could be targeting other children and/or giving “his side of the story” to the church calling the family liars and what not and thus marking the victim as such in the community for the rest of their time in the community. In contacting their church they are at least the church a chance to react and maybe lessen his access to children
my family started a lawsuit against the Mormon church more than 20 years ago. Our bishop kept sexual abuse within my family a secret from my parents. because he kept it a secret the sexual abuse continued and lead to me and some of my other siblings being abused too. We shouldn't have settled, we should have taken them for as much as possible. Im so sick of hearing these same stories from other members/ex-members.
I can’t even have anyone rude NEAR my baby, could you imagine what I’d do if someone did THIS to them?!?! Lord help them. Cause they’d be meeting him seconds afterwards.
The fact your screen name is Mary Poppins makes this 100× better. I need this in my life- the ultimate nanny destroying the shit out of low life pedos.
Well, if you're in the Mormon church, you're near them. It's one of the best known secrets around, they will totally embrace a baby/child rapist. I know too many stories.
As someone who was a victim of prolonged childhood sexual abuse, that is the worst response. It's not about you, it's about your child. They need your calm love and support to feel like things can get back to normal. While it's understandable to be furious, you have to cover that up around your child. Acting out violently only threatens the child more because they are at risk of losing you. They may also feel conflicted if they cared for the abuser, such as if the abuser was a relative, friend or someone they trusted. Avoid confronting or speaking with the abuser, concentrate on the child's needs instead of your desires for vengeance.
I think this was a good balanced piece. The Mormon church has a history of suppressing these types of things as much as possible, based on the research I've done.
@@brookewalters2998 because news reports by reputable news sources found online aren't credible in your mind? I don''t know how often it happens but I know it does happen. I have have several acquantainces, family members and friends who have first hand experience with what is being reported in this video.
@@alexanderchristopher6237 I know a lot of Mormons, they are good people who place emphasis on family, serving their community, helping their neighbors and being law abiding citizens. But there are definitely bad apples as there are in any organization. And as pointed out in this video there are definate changes that need to be made in the church with regards to handling abuse allegations.
@H No trying to cover your butt (despite the discpicable way they are doing it) is not the same as supporting something. And me pointing out that the members are good people does not make me an apologist for the church. Clearly you didn't see my multiple other posts in this comment section.
As a former Jehovas Witness everything said on this video hit home. "Getting an extended family" "everyone knows each other", "bishops aren't professionals, but members are encouraged to go to them". We are more similar than most think and I hope VICE does a segment on them. The Australian Royal Commission found 1600 cases there alone and that they also hid the cases and do not report it to the police and it is in their "elders handbook" to "leave it in Jehovas hands". My sister and cousin were both abused but due to the cult culture they have not left. I was kicked out at 17 for revealing this. The part of "it is sin, not a crime" is the most telling part but it is even worse for JW because they are more worldwide than Mormons and although that do not have as much money that have lost 20 million to Candis Conti. The official JW site is JW.org but the site where ex members expose the cases is JWfacts.com and there has already been a good documentary called NO WITNESSES.. That's my two bits here sorry for the long comment.
JWs are exactly what I was thinking about the entire time I was watching this. Sadly JWs seem even worse. I'm not positive but I don't think Mormons shun people for leaving the religion or at least not to the extent JWs do. JWs have the fear of being shunned by everyone they know if they report the abuse.
Speaking as a teacher and as a Latter Day Saint I find the Church's stance on abuse as against the rights of the child. The United Nations holds this as a rule. The response to even suspicion of abuse is very clearcut. The authorities are to be contacted. Phone 911.
This is a very sad story, but as a member of the church, I am confused as to why these people are seeking church officials to do the job of police. That is not what the church councils members to do. Go to the legal authorities to deal with crime. Again, I am so sad that this happened.
Are you missing the part about the hotline they have? Bishops call to find out whether they need to report the abuse of members that came to them as a matter of law or not. As a member, you also know when it comes to damn near anything of a sexual nature we are taught and inclined to go to the Bishop. The church officials are interfering with the job of the police, rather than aiding it.
The story is sad. I am LDS too. This video (and others) are needed. By New Mexico state law, any religious leader who learns of an alleged sexual abuse case is required to report it; if LDS church (or any religious group) wants tax-exempt status, report the alleged crime. The state police are trained and less likely to be biased for or against the accused pedophile and the accuser.
@@acronen I understand what you mean -- we are encouraged to talk to the bishop about sexual sin (i.e. pornography etc.) but if someone is touching your child, as a parent, you should also call the police. Bishops are meant to help in spiritual matters, they have no legal authority. I won't say that bishops should not report this stuff (of course they should), but the primary job of a parent is also to keep your child safe -- and I don't understand why you as the parent would not call the police as well.
@@ashleyingoldsby I agree the parents should just go to the police. The problem is indoctrination is powerful, and the system of the Mormon church is very all encompassing and trapping for many people. It does not help at all that the system is not designed to help these families and kids, it is set up to interfere with police and protect the organization first and foremost. That's not a church, or organization with people in mind. It's a business, a corporation protecting its bottom line.
Everyone involved in the cover-up of these horrific events needs to be in prison. It's sick AND evil. Who knows how many victims & survivors there actually are?! Getting to see them at LEAST be locked away (or death, either way) can't give V/S back what was taken but it's a start.
How dare people use God as a way to hide from the truth and abuse!!!! As a Indigenious Woman from Canada, whose family was kidnapped and taken to residential schools, who endured sexual , mental, physical, mental abuse in the name of God, this video hits close to home for me.
Expose these wicked false prohets.dont call hotline call the cops....video tape and record the abuse and if it seems to be true ..file charges ..that day..dont wait another min. Because another child can be abused...
@@chiconube1693 thats the problem you dont care..about the sorce of the problem is satan....how do you stop them from hurting our children death penality...
@No Dogma Mama I WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE THE DUMS. OR THE DEMS THAT WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT THE TRUTH. THE DUMS WOULD STILL HAVE PEOPLE IN COLOR ENSLAVED. THE DUMS ARE JUST AS I SAID, AND ALSO THEY ARE ON THE LEFT, THAT SHOULD TELL YOU EVERYTHING. SHEEP ON THE RIGHT AND GOATS ON THE LEFT.
Sickening.. One thing that the video didn't mention is that the Mormon church does not require background checks on its leadership positions and positions that work with children (excluding scout leadership callings because BSA requires background checks). Also not mentioned is that bishops regularly have one on one interviews with children as young as twelve behind closed doors. These interviews often ask questions of sexual nature (masturbation, pornography, chastity infractions, etc). This creates a culture that not only protects sexual predators, it makes it much easier for them. The church needs to stop one on one interviews and have mandatory background checks for leadership and any calling that work with children. Period.
I don't know where you got your information - Or maybe it's just a few decades out of date - But I definitely had a background check done on me before I was ever allowed to be a counselor in the Bishopric. One-on-one interviews are done whenever the parent/guardian thinks it is ok. They are more than welcome to join in on interviews with their children. To make a blanket statement that the church protects sexual predators is simply not accurate. I've seen cases where even the first HINT of inappropriate conduct was reported, the individual was removed from any position where he/she was in direct contact with children. As leaders, we can't do anything until something is reported. We don't go busting down doors trying to catch someone in the act. We encourage those who have been victims to come forward and when they do, they are provided more love and support than they ever knew existed. Those who take advantage of the responsibility they are given to prey on young men and women, boys and girls, are dealt with swiftly - But also respectfully. Are there "successful" predators in the church? Yes. I'll be the first to admit that. But the lengths that the church goes through to protect the children far exceed how we deal with predators. Those who think they are getting away with preying on children will be caught; they will slip up in some way; there are no successful predators.
@@tubastud06 Some wards may be different but it is most certainly NOT a church-wide policy to have background checks done for leadership. The only exception is for Scouts, because it is a mandate for BSA - not the church. "One-on-one interviews are done whenever the parent/guardian thinks it is ok. They are more than welcome to join in on interviews with their children. " This is a very recent policy change (within the last year) that explicitly allows parents to attend interviews. Parents are not required to attend. This not only puts children at risk but also puts leadership at risk. One on one interviews with an ecclesiastical leader and a child are inappropriate. There is no situation where it is okay for a 45 year old man asks a 13 year old girl how often she touches herself. Some may claim it doesn't happen, but if you google search "Sam Young protect the children", you will find hundreds and hundreds of heart-breaking stories where kids have suffered because of LDS policies. "To make a blanket statement that the church protects sexual predators is simply not accurate." Their current policies absolutely protect child predators. The fact that background checks aren't required protects them. The fact that one on one interviews are allowed protects them. The fact that it is considered okay for a 45 year old man to ask a child if they masturbate in a closed room, protects them. Look at the case of Joseph Bishop. He was the MTC president that raped McKenna Denson while she was in the MTC. She recorded an audio conversation with him where he admitted this and more. Joseph Bishop did not have ANY church discipline for his actions. And when the story broke, the church hired lawyers to dig up dirt on McKenna and handed it over to Joseph Bishop's son. All of this is well documented by Utah and national media. And this, is by definition, protecting a sexual predator. "As leaders, we can't do anything until something is reported. We don't go busting down doors trying to catch someone in the act." Nobody is asking you to do that. We're just asking you to call the police instead of a team of lawyers whose primary objective is to protect the church.
What the heck!? I’m a convert to the LDS church. This is actually believable!!! I know of women who suffered sexual abuse by fathers & grandfathers that are/were Bishops & stake President and it never got passed the ranks of the church leaders. I didn’t understand why the Bishop asked if these women who suffered sexual abuse could contact me!! This makes Me so disgusted and angry. The church is so entwined in every aspect of your lives and Mormons are from long lines of Mormons with hundreds of family members all a tightly knit group, that trying to speak out against deviant behavior goes through bishops & stake level priesthood members that all coverup these crimes and make the victim feel like they are at fault and/or forgive the abusers. These Bishops & Stake Presidents are not real clergy or are they trained to be clergy etc. They are mere men given a whole lot of power & have no problems using it as they have done often in my life & the lives my husband & children. If you try to defend yourself against anything being unrighteously forces on you or your family you are threatened with insubordination to the priesthood authority & keys of their callings. These priesthood men have the power to put your membership in question or disfellowship/excommunicate you with you having to prove your innocence against bogus claims they inflict upon you.?
Not disputing the awful experiences these poor people had, but I used to be a Mormon bishop. Crimes similar to this came to my attention several times. Sometimes I called the police first, and sometimes I called the hotline and they told me to call the police. I never tried to excuse or cover it up.
Karl von Eschenhof Thank you for commenting.. The fact is temptation is everywhere and being LDS is a way of life,not just on Sunday.The higher up in any church,widens your scope of influence..And yes following the law is what we believe unless it contradicts God or the constitution. People making law can make bad decisions too.
I think this means you were probably a good bishop. The problem is that if families went to the police first and then saught help and healing from actually trained professional counselors these issues would be better handled. Bishops are not properly trained nor do they have the authority to deal with criminal situations. This should always be taken to police, not bishops. And bishops are not qualified to deal with cases that are absolutely going to affect mental health. People need real doctors, therapists, and psychologists. In short the problem is that people go to bishops for these things at all. The church creates a culture that encourages people to go to their bishop and to rely on the church rather than seeking the help they actually need. This is just one among many unhealthy practices that cause the church to be labeled a cult by so many. There are good bishops who do the right thing. It is the structure and teachings of the organization that is failing by lending its self to foster toxic situations.
Jesus Christ. When the woman told the story about her 4 year old being made to suck the bus driver’s privates, I burst into tears. I haven’t had such a strong reaction to a video in a while. Our son just turned 6 a couple of weeks ago and when he was in preschool we let him ride the school bus for fun and to help him socialize. He’s autistic and we thought he’d be safe since there were other kids and the driver was busy driving. I drive him to and from school now because we only live a few blocks from his school, but I’m sad that I might’ve unknowingly been putting him in danger. We’ve never placed him in daycare because we want to wait until we’re certain he’s verbal enough to communicate with us if anyone ever harms him. I hate that it’s necessary to be this cautious. I was abused throughout my childhood by multiple monsters, so I’m extra protective of our son. In my opinion, child abuse is the worst crime on earth other than murder. It’s disgusting, despicable, and it kills something inside you. I’ve felt broken and worthless my entire life because of something that I never wanted and didn’t understand wasn’t my fault. I’m still not over it. My poor husband has had to help me work through so much, and he’s endlessly patient and gentle with me. To all of the others out there like me, and there are MANY, I’m sorry. I love you. You are worthy. ❤️
Oh, sista, I hear ya on that. So many other mums just say "no worries", when the reality of many is "yes, worry!". Raising a child when you're an abuse survivor, is a series of PTSD triggers that no-one warns you about. Much love to you, my sista
A very similar thing happened to me (former mormon) back in '98, that happened to these women's child. My step-mom arranged a babysitter through someone in our ward. I do not remember the kids name, but I do remember he was 17. I went to meet him at his parents house, and we hung out and played with legos and these Masters of the Universe toys. After that he started coming over a few times a week when my dad and step-mom would be at work. I don't really how it all started, but I have this vivid memory of me and him sitting on the couch talking, and him playing with himself. Things escalated from there, obviously, i'm not gonna get in to everything in a youtube comment. It happened a few times, but after a while he stopped coming by to babysit. I think my parents found out he was doing something, but I don't remember having a conversation about it other than he won't be coming back. I'm 31 now. This is the first time I've ever brought this up with any shred of detail. Things are happening in 2020 that I am having trouble comprehending, and I think with everything going on and everyone being so open and raw, it just felt good to say something.
My r*pist was helped by the church. I went to my leadership for help because of what happened and the person was a member. I was really traumatized and promised help to make the report. When I finally realized that they weren't going to help me I found out that they helped him and he was already out of the country in Italy. When I tried to make the report I was told there was nothing they could do Because he was out of the country. I know that they helped him. I've met others like me. My story isn't rare. They not only use that line to contact directly to church attorneys but they also use it to start trying to figure out how to protect the 'good name' of the church at the expense of victims of crime
I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. These mothers (where are the fathers?) we’re doing the right thing. The mothers say they felt betrayed, no support, helpless. Imagine being the one who was forced into the sex. We live with what was done to us every day of our lives. My perpetrator was never caught. I’m 70 years old now and to this day I have PTSD. Always will.
Matthew 18:6 English Standard Version (ESV) 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[a] it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
They don't care what their book says. Religion has three purposes in today's society. The first is money - gilding their house of pedophilia in gold, and hoarding it like a dragon in it's cave, where not even the governments can touch it. The second is to promote hatred, division, and violence between different groups of people. Fear and hatred keeps people coming back for "guidance." And the last purpose of religion is to act as a safe haven for organized pedophilia, free from consequences to themselves, with an endless supply of parents willingly bringing their children to "God's arms" Maybe 2000 years ago, Matthew actually believed those words, but that's ancient history. He's long dead, and so is the ideology he believed in.
@@BothHands1 But don't you agree that if someone hurts a child, his punishment should be worse than having a millstone tied to his neck and being cast into the sea? I certainly do. Side note: mormons always say, "You shall know them by their fruits." I think that pedophilia and cover-ups are some really rotten fruit there. And that's just the tip of the mormon iceberg.
Jane Berghaus I do agree, yes. There is no excuse, once someone has done something like that to a child, they are no longer human as far as I'm concerned.
“You can pray for guidance about how to handle sexual abuse,” said Huizar. “But you can pray and also report it to public authorities.”
Watch Next: This 12-Year-Old Girls Is Leaving Her Town Because She's Transgender - bit.ly/2NTIbV7
Every single one of you corrupt journalists will pay a heavy price for your lies and your deceptions. I could spend my time trying to correct your false narrative but I’ll leave that for someone else. I want you to know that it’s painfully obvious that the reason that so many of you lie (and this is a bigger problem than just your news organization of course) is because you have no values. You literally don’t have morals because everything you fight for and work towards is destructive towards society, destructive for your business. You’re careless about the millions of people you lie about or or lie to, and you’re all lovers of hate and haters of facts and logic. You think you’re a modern hero but the only sacrifice you’ve made was for your own gain. You literally embody every despicable characteristic from film or literature and you can’t even see it. Be better
@@davidswanson9606 Sounds like you're defending pedophiles
Thank you VICE the Mormon church ward I was in has an EQP that's a registered sex offender his victim was 12 and he's around children constantly in the church
@VICE News please make a video about the physical and sexual abuse that happened across Alaska, when they beat the language out of our grandparents and molested them, they also stopped them from teaching their grandkids about our culture and how to speak in our own tongue because it brings back horrible memories. For starters the Lutheran Catholic Church and the farther you are from an old mission the smaller the impact of cultural loss
David Swanson Christianity had no morals or honor when they tortured and murdered their way across America. What are you fighting for? The bible that says a woman who was not engaged must marry the man who raped her and he cannot divorce her? That is destructive towards society
This makes me sick to my stomach.
How do you get verified as Jesus Christ
Hey buddy! Hey Jesus!
sup jesus
@@vanquish_8145 he is Jesus
you condoned it tho
It takes a special kind of monster to abuse a child.
@LillacStudios yikeeesssss
He is probably on a date in prison right now! Lol
Well, seems mankind has done too good a job at covering these sick psychos so far.
@Harry Truman I was sexually abused by a family member(2 men and I was around 7-9 years old ) and woman also sexually abused me I was 5 years old I was a child. I'm a lawyer and not any lawyer I'm a prosecutor. If my case involves child sex abuse I do anything in my power as a prosecutor to make sure this monster gets at least 100 years in jail. We have to protect our children.
Very evil and brain washing monsters 🤦😒
Some of these church officials need to go to prison for enabling this
Jeff Harrington
This is present in every sector of life not just in churches hundreds of cases every year in every kind of church on the face of the Earth including medical doctors including all School teachers and school counselors in Boy Scout leaders and Girl Scout leaders and it certainly isn't as high in the LDS Church These occurrences are quite rare compare that to the Catholics..!
When my child was having his first physical in the doctor's office he was about 7 years old they wanted to take him in there to be alone with the doctor which I put my foot down to and said absolutely not! And went directly in there I watched that doctor's hand c
Closer than a hawk...!!! These things can happen to your children when you take him to the doctor what can happen if you leave your child in the dentist chair this crap happens in every possible sector which exists and yes I hate it if I ever caught l anybody inappropriately touching my child I might just in their life right there on the spot..!!!!
Jana Procella okay helicopter mom... you realize abuse typically happens from family members and friends not doctors or teachers...
@@janaprocella8268 That's absolutely no reason to justify or ignore the fact that this happened in the Mormon "church". It needs to be discussed, regardless. Just because it happens in other avenues of life, doesn't downplay that it happened at this "church". It's sick and it needs to be addressed, and they should be held accountable.
Exactly. Pointing the finger to other organizations is pathetic deflections. To me, when I see that, it really causes me to focus more on LDS because it’s an intent to diminish and distract people from judging the mormons. They just need to own it. The
corporate pyramid scheme cult deserves to be investigated and judged.im friends with one of the parents involved in the civil case and it’s horrible the way the church and members treat them for telling the truth.
He actually got some serious jail time. I never hear that.
it's so the church can save face. threw him under the bus eventually, once it was evident enough what took place. that's what the church does. that is what all corrupt organisations do. they are experts at public relations and damage control. fake transparency. cutting losses. multiple tactics.
Spencer Smith
The same thing happen to The Messiah; they tried to do damage control after finding out Christ was resurrected; they did it by sending out false witnesses claiming to have seen The disciples of Christ removing His Body from the tomb where He was laid.
@@Hpencer this is not true. The church doesn't cover stuff up. It admits that it has problems. This is why the church has changed its policy about certain things. I like how anti mormons always bring up stuff about the people. We dont believe in the people at all. We only worship 1 God.
@@Phatmatt Matt 5105 i'm not anti mormon. the church also has an expert public relations team. the church uses corporate tactics like many other corporations. pretend transparency, no apologies, etc.
i know absolutely that the church has covered up and lied about things and still does today. i know this from several years of research. it's a fact. i have a strong testimony in the book of mormon and God and other things in the church. however, the church is in a state of apostasy. it was taken over by gadianton robbers, brigham young and his band.
@@Phatmatt i still go to church every week.
Don't report claims of abuse to anybody but the police, period.
Right!!!
Not even Batman?
@@ethereumcxcx8261 Only Commissioner Gordon, and that's it.
I agree but Police drop the ball too...
Or report to other places ALONG with the police.
Ladies, go to the police, not the church.
See that's the issue, when you're a mormon your entire life is the church and you trust the bishops completely. If they tell you to do something, you will assume it's in your best interest to do so.
@@silasguzman7119 I see what you mean. We have to change that thinking, though. Catholics, Protestants, Mormons. Wherever this problem is happening. Thanks for giving me your insight on this.
egh egf believing it’s in your best interest to talk to the friends and colleagues of the pedophile is within itself supporting pedophelia, if your niave enough to not see that, that’s literally your own issue, choosing an organization over your child should have you loose your children and get the on death row.... purposely choosing to go back to a pedophile ring is assisting your child to be assaulted again
@@amarahc4351 yeah see it's not a consious decision, and you can't truly understand it if you haven't been a full fledged Mormon. I was part of it, my family still is, and believe me when I say it becomes your entire life. The religion teaches thought stopping techniques so members can stop critical thoughts, which in turn leaves them with no critical thinking skills. I agree full heartedly, it's disgusting that they go to help lines and bishops instead of law enforcement, but you have to understand that they truly don't see it that way. When you're Mormon, you trust the bishop as well as the prophets blindly. Not following their advice no matter how obviously immoral or wrong is actually seen as a sin. It's not nessacarily being naïve, many of these people were born into the religion, and it's been their entire life. They have no critical thinking skills and are taught that leaving will lead to a life full of sorrow and pain. So, it's not really these parents faults. It's the LDS church for fostering the environment and culture in which this can happen.
Get a gun and save on court costs.
I am a Mormon. Born and raised. I had to leave. We were damaged as children beyond any repair. So grateful for Vice. Please keep exposing
you are a mormon? not _were_ a mormon?
truthHarbinger You are always Mormon unless you go through the proper legal avenues and have your name removed from the church record - which is becoming easier because of volunteer lawyers who help people do this, but I haven’t started the process yet
truthHarbinger Being Mormon almost has an identity that sticks with you even if you’re not religious - hard to explain.
Sarah Wallace Kind of like being Jewish, you mean?
@@tangerinefizz11 We as mormon contract covenants in our Temples just like Israel of old in theirs.
I think the problem is that members are formatted in certain ways. It's almost cultish I think sarah@ was trying to say.
it frustrates me how people are still getting away with this
I mean he is serving 35+ years rn lmfao, his life is over
Other people are still getting away with abuse.
I was physically abused by one of my parents my entire life. In high school, i started suffering PTSD symptoms and finally, painfully, admitted to myself it was wrong. I needed help to make it stop. So, i went to my bishop for help. That's what i was always told to do.
The bishop heard me break down, looked me dead in the face, and said "obey your mother and father." He acted like i made it up.
It's one of the deepest betrayals of trust I've experienced. I left the Mormon church a few years later.
That's not cool. This sounds familiar though. My father physically and emotionally abused my mother for 5 years before she left him. She left when I was 1 month old. They were active in the church and the bishop told her that she needs to obey her husband. It was in the 70's so hopefully, things will get better.
okthennone in the 90s my mom was the relief society president. A women came to see her black and blue from her husband beatings. The bishop told her to keep forgiving him. She stayed with him till the kids grew up and left the house. Then he remarried a young girl early 20s. The church decided her a temple sealing cancellation so he’s sealed to two women.
Your story pains me! My ex-wife was abused by her father. I don't think she ever got over the trauma. good luck
My thoughts are with you and I appreciate your strength & courage for leaving.
I am so, so sorry that happened to you. No person should be told to tolerate abuse.
All I'm saying is if my kid's ever said something like this happened the perpetrator better start praying the cops get to them before I do. God may have mercy but I don't.
preach sis
Righteous comment!!
and I mean great comment . .
Yes get them
Nicole Reilly
I agree implicitly...On Child Abuse..
I'd killed too.. I had to take my child out of public school because the school counselor kept coming on to him it was only in kindergarten I homeschooled from then on out... With the weight from homeschooling a child hits the senior level of intelligence at about grade 7 ,,the tests are given and then all done ..and graduate.. public school is a waste of time !
what about the mom who told them her son could baby sit after he'd abused other children? WTF is that?
Exactly...
It actually sounded like she was searching for victims for him! The victims' mothers said the molester's mother approached them, saying if they ever needed a babysitter, her son would be happy to. She knew what he was and she served these innocent children to him on a platter.
@@kathryncumberland That was the worst part for me. It's as if the abuser's mother was his pimp. Patriarchal Religions are an ideal home for paedophilia. The paedophile will be protected by the Church, with the sole intention of preserving their squeaky clean image. The LDS leaders need to wake up before it's too late. Apologies count for nothing. Words without action are pointless.
@@kathryncumberland that's crazy ;(
what?!???!!!
Yep. Happened to me. Got raped by a church member who confessed in great detail to the bishop. The bishop contacted me and told me what the rapist had said. I went to the police who contacted the bishop for a statement. The church’s legal team replied to the police saying the bishop would not be making a statement. The bishop said it was out of his hands. He had a first hand detailed confession which prompted him to contact me but wouldn’t make a statement to the police as advised by the church’s lawyers. They are looking after their business but allowing rapists to walk free and innocent victims to go without justice. Definitely not Christ-like. Don’t know how they can sleep at night.
I am so sorry for your bad experience. Mormons are a cult. Stay away from them like the plague
so sad and heartbroken
They are threatened with being framed or blackmailed, or even worse as they are sworn to secrecy upon pain of death.
I don't know why a church would need a legal team...unless you know...they're criminals
I feel like it’s hard to blame the church for not breaking the confessional seal though. I’m not Mormon or Catholic but that’s what they believe and as difficult as it is to feel, I personally understand that sometimes the system has to have bad consequences in order for the good part of the system to work. But that doesn’t make it easy on you so I’m sorry for what you’ve been through.
And according to people who believe in confessions, I suppose, they would say if they tell somebody’s confession in one situation then the rest of the church will never admit their sins to the bishop and that would break down morality throughout the church even more. And in theory if the predator admits to what he’s done then they can make sure he’s not alone with children in the future the best they can and counsel him to not put himself in a position well that can happen. And there’s plenty of churches that have not done this and allowed the man to go onto abuse. So in theory it could be used to do good.
So the problem I see with Mormons would depend on if they’re trying to sweep it under the rug, not just because they refused to participate based on something they said to be divinely scriptural. Like when they encourage you to only go to the church and not to the police, or generally trying to sweep it under the rug like I said, or allowing the predators to still be around children.
How nice that the mother of the predator suggested him as a babysitter. She knew what her son was. She was his accomplice and she should be held accountable.
Wow. No, I would not think that was likely true. I can’t help that people want to blame the parents because then that let them believe their child could never for them because a parent would obviously no the real truth. But that’s not usually how it works.
I worked for DCFS in Utah. Bishops ignoring their duty as a mandatory reporter was a constant, common problem. Their arrogance and disregard for the children was disgusting but well-known in our field.
So odd considering their claim to put family first. The truth is, they put the church first.
@Indiana Jonas in my religion when i was 14 things at home got bad im talking about leading to divorce bad so i went to the elders for help thats what they told us if we have a problem at home or in life we can turn to them. I asked them for help telling them " Im scared my mom and dad will divorse " and well they told me " keep my mouth shut " well i did and it got worse
Interesting how you mention Utah and Catholics whereas Utah is were most morons are.
@@theodoremcklean4455 there are Bishops in both religions.
unfortunately, many people don't realize but most religious figures are actually the opposite of a mandated reporter and can't even be called to testify in court as their communications with their parish are "privileged".
“Call this helpline to ensure what you have encountered constitutes abuse”. Imagine being sexually abused and then hearing that.
BiNGÒ.
The Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks said it's wrong to criticize church leaders "even if the criticism is true". Sounds crazy and confusing.
oaks is an attorney who got his position by his skills at church scandle cover-ups. i was a firebrand devotee of the church, but the minute he wa announced, 'the spirit' told me he 'was not "mine" e, Jesus' guy. things just got worse from there.
rover7377 Sadly though it's true, it is confusing... It shouldn't be. It should be clear that when anyone suspects abuse of any child, by anyone, it should be reported to the proper authorities! Church Leaders are NOT IT! I went through this as a child.
High on crack lol. Man I was part of the group. I'm not going back there again.
And one of them have said to pay tithing, even if it means missing bills and not caring for children. It's disgusting.
My parents are completely under the impression that the 10% of income that they've been drained of by the church is for a good cause, and having it would have caused more issues than not. That 10% could have helped them so much. I love them, and it's hard to see them being held by a dark, secret organization that seems more like a shady guilt-centered mafia than anything.
No one is perfect.
Thankfully the last women actually went to the police
Wasn't it by chance? Like she called her bishop and they weren't available so she called the police. Always call the police first.
@@RobertLopez-yf8zi It was by chance, the bishop didn't answer that day
Yes and I was so happy to hear this guy was actually going to serve serious time.
@@BrooklynWalka Yep, he'll thankfully spend the rest of his life in prison
I wonder why they divorced? They didn't delve into that, but I watched another documentary, about Jehovah's witnesses; they cover up sexual abuse also. Anyway it's split the families, some family members would leave the Jehovah's witnesses, some would stay. The ones that stayed, ended up shunning the victims. I wonder if that's what happened here?
It’s really simple:
Child reports being molested?
CALL THE POLICE!
The church protocol is lawyer then cops if the bishops are warned
That's what I thought.
It’s really simple: Child reports being molested ? SET HIM TF ON FIRE!
Ricky Lake but the child shouldn’t be set on fire.
It's the family's job to go to the police of they think a crime has been committed. I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If this were to happen to my child, I would go straight to the police. They talk about this hotline as if members should have open access to it... Members do have a hotline: 911. The hotline that Bishops have access to is to seek guidance from the church about what to do in these sensitive situations. They are not instructed to get in the way of investigations. It's the family's responsibility to alert police if there has been a crime committed. They shouldn't rely on anybody, including their Bishop, to press charges on behalf of them.
i'm from this area. i go to this church regularly because my family are members and i grew up in the church (i'm currrently waiting until i'm old enough to get away to leave). i know the bishop mentioned in the video; i literally just talked to him yesterday at church.
a few sundays ago (may 5th, i think), mothers of victims who wanted revenge on the church came in and basically halted the entire meeting to talk about this situtation and to warn the members of the protection the church gave michael jensen, while directly calling don fishel out by name. it came as a surprise to me, since the topic hasn't been talked about in a while on my end. i wasn't sure about don fishel actually protecting jensen, but after watching this, i'm confident to say he did. i feel so bad for the families that were taken advantage of throughout the years of this situation.
get as far away from these people as soon as you can. any organization that enables abuse should not exist.
Run get away from this so called"organization" your safety is first and foremost!
@@brendtbarbur2318 well I understand the sentiment pretty much every organization on the planet at one point does. Seems the best place is a lot of corporate america seems to do well these days to protect the RIGHT people now. But yeah we are not going to dissolve the public school system or every catholic charity, I'd rather add protections and policies to them that make sense
If you find out about any more abuses, or suspect them, try Thorn.
I hope you have managed to escape that cult by now. Best of luck!
Even though I grew up LDS, there was sexual, physical, and mental abuse in my family. Yet, no one in the church did anything about it. I know they knew about because my mom would talk to the bishop about the problems. The leaders will tell the wife to stay with the husband despite the abuse because "families are forever" and are suppose to stay together. No concern for the children.
They're only concerned with their own power.
Millie Sal
If your Bishop does not please you when you bring something to his attention that is this serious you're supposed to go above him to the stake president... If that doesn't receive the proper attension , your to go above him.. this is called the chain of command and not only the Latter-Day Saint Church but even in the military and in the government you rise above each person that does not 10 properly to the problem...
You even write the first presidency in the Latter-Day Saint Church...
Sometimes it might be better to do that first before even going to anyone else, but police.
I do think that needs to have legal attention along with church attention but there are many people that do not practice their positions properly in the church that's why I would recommend writing to the prophet himself..
Which goes to his first counselor..
And remember all this time there's not just one church this happens in it's all of them every single Church in the face of this Earth including outside America.........
Indiana Inu they help because it’s good publicity lol the leaders of the Mormon church make millions of dollars, the church itself has billions, a little money for some crisis is pocket change to them.
@Indiana Inu There were reports that the shipping containers they sent over to hurricane Katrina were only a quarter full... That clearly shows they are just trying to promote their own image.
Also, no matter what good they do today they can't make up for Joseph Smith and Brigham Young
Millie Sal same boo I’m sorry
No sex education, no awareness of sexual predators, no clue, no power, no safety...just faith...Great way to empower the future generations🤦🏽♂️
tis dwindling away the young people will abandon it
Great way to keep 10 Billion in annual church revenue
karla perea, amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong.
Don't worry, younger more educated people are killing religion. Having actual information at your fingertips will kill faith based cults.
Thats the majority of white America unfortunately. God fearing gun nuts who don't believe in climate change, anti social justice, and bigots... #minoritiesunite!
You'd better pray the police got to you first, if it was my kid.
Amen
Real shit
We see what god watched and facilitated to happen. It's almost like prayers are worthless 🤔
THIS. I live in Utah, unfortunately. I'm not Mormon but I told my wife that if a single one of them tries anything with one of my kids, they get to meet the hollow end of my Mossberg 930.
I would mutilate any man or woman who hurt my son before I went to the police 😡
As a single mom put my son in a boy scout troop in 2000 when he was 10. It was ran by a Mormon couple. The husband kept telling me, "Your son doesn't respect women". I argued. I'd never seen ANY signs or got reports of disrespect from ANYONE, infact the opposite. All my friends agreed. A several weeks later, my son told me he didn't want to go anymore. He said they wanted him to undress to give him a physical. At first, I told him; "It's just a physical. They're MORMONS. I'm sure it's fine" But he said, "I don't want to go back. Please don't make me". I said, "Okay...alright..it's okay..." I let them know he wouldn't be back. The more I thought about it, the more I grew concerned for the other boys still in that den, but had nothing solid to report to the police. I remembered another time I asked the den mother what prompted her to adopt a native American girl. I asked bc I was curious why the girls birth parent(s) could no longer care for her...which is the way I should have framed the question. The answer I received was, "Because I don't want her to grow up to be a dirty indian." 😳. That should have been when I took my son out of there & never returned. I'll never forget that. Any of it.
Pure evil. Wolves in sheeps clothing.
I hope nothing else happened to your son!?
@@loading1345 yeah for real! What do you mean it's "just a physical"?? He's not a doctor, he's a scout leader! I certainly hope she asked him more about that encounter.
there's no iq test to have a kid@@heatherfraughton7319
@@heatherfraughton7319 And the "they're MORMONS" part. If anything, that would make me much more suspicious of them. People need to stop assuming that religious folks are all good people.
If you have a dedicated ‘hotline’ for abuse victims then you full well know you have a problem within your organisation & are complacent with it.
I believe all these victims.
Mel.M. Leolahi, there should be abuse hotlines everywhere, just in case. Even if it’s not a common problem, it can happen anywhere, so wise institutions should have properly staffed hotlines to protect their members and themselves. Reporting criminal offenses to police should be their first recommendation, not discouraged! If any part of the hotline’s guidance suggests not reporting, that’s a huge red flag, and whoever’s in charge of the hotline should be reported!
Evil Sharkey Yea but the hotline in.m the video is meant for bishops made by the organization itself
I am not disputing the need of these services at all. It is a very common issue and that is my point.
If the hotline is genuinely dedicated to help and support victims with their recovery, provide legal services and to report and remove the abusers then the hotline has genuine motives. This does not seem to be the case.
The church knows it has a issue but instead of making it easy and transparent for victims they are shunned and no support is given.
As they say you are as sick as your secrets.
You mean complicit
Oh, I totally agree with you that their hotline is rotten as heck! I don’t think the existence of the hotline proves there’s a problem. The fact that their hotline goes directly to the lawyers, and laypeople aren’t even allowed to call it is what flags this as a huge problem! Whoever thought that was a good idea should really rethink his/her priorities and faith.
If that happened to any of my kids, I would've been the one going to prison for killing the perpetrator.
Shouldn’t even get jail time for killing a pedo.
If u go 2 prison then u cant be there 2 help ur kids heal...my daughter was molested by her daycare teachers husband...they groomed me & my daughter was very young...Ur children need u 2 be there w/them after sumthng like this happens
Nah, you'd be heralded as a hero.
Don’t kill him. He will already die in jail. They kill pedophiles. Video makes me cry.
@@levimaxwell588 a lot of them go to minimum security prison and get protective custody
If your husband went to bishop instead of to the assailant's house, get another husband. That man has no spine.
On the real
Jalen Davis ☝️💯🤙THA RAPER WUDV BN A DEAD MUTHAFUCKA ASAP
Bust a cap on that foo
Mormons are brainwashed it's a Cult that's the only way you can understand why people don't call cops they call bishops
@@bobtiger3558 it's definitely a cult.
"WALKED IN ON HIM WATCHING PORNOGRAPHY" FIRST OF ALL HOW TF IS THAT OK AT ALL
Some mormon culture facts. Source: resent ex-mormon
Millions of people watch adult porn and manage not to be rapists or pedos.
@@goodgirlkay bruh you dumb asf. This mans was apparently babysitting and watching porn at the same time.
@@goodgirlkay OP meant that it wouldn't be okay for Michael Jensen to be watching pornography while taking care of the little boy either.
To the people blaming the women for not immediately going to the police:
Learning and understanding that your child has been abused is a horrifying shock, and I believe the first instinct is simply to protect your child in ALL avenues, including the public knowing what happened. Not specifically for shame reasons, but simply because this is such a difficult and private issue FOR THE CHILD.
I was raised in a secular home, and my mum didn't call the police, either. She didn't know what to do, except to heavily protect me from that moment onward.
As an adult, I could be angry with her, or I could choose to understand that she was frightened, confused and didn't know where to turn.
These women turned to their church leaders, their community's authority, rather than the police. We can all wish it was different, but I don't think we can judge them for simply trying to protect their children IN THE BEST WAY THEY KNEW HOW IN THAT MOMENT.
The parents in this documentary clearly stuck with their children, had their children's best interests at heart and even left the church in response to the LACK of response to this devastating issue, and we should be very thankful they supported their children so whole-heartedly. There are many parents who, frankly, would have believed the line of 'your child is lying' and given zero support.
'Helen lost her job, her marriage, and her religion. She no longer considers herself a Mormon.'
This speaks volumes of her love for her children and her goals of protecting them at all costs.
And hopefully this will inspire parents struggling with this unimaginable pain to know that calling the police is a viable option, or at least is better than a system run by non authorities.
@@epicderp6167 It is not always a viable option, that is what people don't seem to understand. Sometimes your child is not emotionally in a place where they are willing or able to go to the police, to file a report, to endure a trial. The police can do nothing unless the child testifies and any good parent who sees the pain their child is already in is not going to traumatize them further by forcing them to do something they are not ready to do. People have no idea why these parents made the choices they made and they need to stop judging them for it. These parents at least tried to do something and brought it to the attention of those who could do something to protect the children they knew were at risk.
@@nostoppingit7827 By all means, I agree to what you are saying. I'm not blaming anyone for going or not going to the police. I'm not saying the police will solve everything. And by all means i am not saying "what next?" is an easy decision to make. All I meant to say was this video might help show that the church shouldn't be the ultimate support system. It will only make the situation more twisted.
Stfu and just call the police to be shortened
your mom was an idiot if she didn't know to call the police...some people should not have children, any responsible parent would call the police if there child has been harmed..common sense.
I was sexually abused by a member. He was paid by the bishop to leave town. He gave me something I have to live with for life.
I have a had time trusting people because of him.
Did you report it to the police?
I was told the church would handle it.
I saw him again 5 years ago. He was back doing the same thing in another ward. He’s in jail now.
Charles Hall I’m sorry to hear that. At least he is in prison now. It’s a very unfortunate situation, I do believe Church policy has definitely improved recently though
My heart is broken for you! I’m so sorry.. 😢
I’m sorry this happened to you. I pray you’ve healed and found peace with this.
This breaks my heart and makes my blood boil! These poor kids and families. When will people put the most innocent among us first? Protect the children!
Better support healthcare, better support gun control, better support ending child marriage, better support the youth and their politcal choice. Because I hear think of the children, but no one helps the children.
I left the Mormon church a few years ago. I must say, you guys did your research on this report. The way you explained the bishop’s role, “spiritual gifts”, what is typical for people to do when they need council etc. was exactly correct. Even a currently practicing Mormon would agree. Most sources that don’t have a Mormon or ex Mormon on staff usually get something or a few things wrong. Please do more of these!
John's misleading headline called Mormon sexual abuse is highly misleading. There are no Sunday school lessons that teach any kind of abuse. This abomination stems from family dysfunction alone. Every religion on planet earth and every race and every ethnic group all have their own small portion of family abusers. You've heard this before, that one bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch, this is the statistical rule for all human groups and races and religions.
Let's face it, churches are not legally capable of criminal prosecution of any man. Especially if a man is guilty of abuse, if this man never confesses his crime, no church system can legally accuse him of that crime, much less legally convict him of such. Only a court of law can legally correct this. Even If that person does confess his crime, the bishop or minister might be charged for condemning an accused criminal outside our nations legal system. A church leader can just as easily be accused of slander for taking the law into his own hands by claiming church authority alone.
The above case is obviously not about a typical healthy church family and a non approach is unacceptable in any church system. Bishops are given mandatory instructions to contact local authorities to handle such abuse charges today. John and his above broadcast has wrongly misrepresented this fact as he paints the entire church with a broad brush for causing family abuse silence. Given, the way this case was handled was highly unusual and obviously only represents a very tiny number of such cases within the church system. The democrat party has rigged the modern justice system where criminals are protected having more constitutional rights than their victims. Today victims and clergy can easily be made to be the bad guys while it's actually a family problem, this is obviously not a church teaching caused issue at all.
Expecting churches to act as prosecutor's or judges of crimes is nuts. The only solution is for the victim to go to the authorities and not expect a bishop to solve a legal matter at all! This hands off policy is what bishops are clearly taught today. Especially this is true outside such rare case that are now being ignored by Johns broadcast. Actually, It wouldn't make much difference if this girl and her family were in the church system or not. The tendency to become secretive and protect the mothers marriage and the father's job in order to keep the neighbors or the media from finding out is typical for abuse cases in general.
It's a desperation to avoid public embarrassment that drives family survival. Church or not! Such is always the main fear to finally confront! Why? Having the family identified publicly with sexual abuse in news paper exposure potentially becoming public knowledge is the most terrifying of all. Why? Such exposure is capable of destroying your family name forever. The sworn secrecy of the abuse manifests the same way regardless if you preside in the church system or outside of that church system. Again, it's the same family issue whether the church happens to be present in your life or not. Statistically even if there is no church involvements such families will still keep sexual abuse quiet to protect the family name and reputation which automatically protects the abuser from his crime in the very same way. John with his broadcast here cannot wait
to make everything into a church related problem in order to stick it to the apostles by labeling this (Mormon sexual abuse) instead of honestly identifying how the root cause of such abuse obviously concerns a personalized family dysfunction. John seems to think the church is failing to solve this criminal activity when that was never it's job in the first place. The churches job is to teach just the opposite. John's entire agenda is obviously to make everything about the church to justify his own unfinished issues. Is not this sexual crime almost as serious as murder itself, and therefore it cannot be fixed outside of involving the legal system?
This women literally needs to see the father imprisoned for his crime. Perhaps only pure justice can fully restore her questioned value as a daughter of God. Forgiveness may only come when the criminal is righteously punished for a very serious crime. Jesus himself said it would be better for a man to be drowned in the depths of the sea, than to offend one of these little ones. Perhaps the victim needs to realize that a full degree of justice may not fully come from the church system alone either.
It's not just a small number of families that have been effected by the policies that the Mormon church has in place. It is an epidemic of sexual abuse, especially in Utah. My own abuser was reported to the police. I lived in Carbon County Utah, at the time it was the most religiously diverse county in the state. The police did a great job investigating my abuser and discovered he had done it to multiple other children in the past, each instance covered up by the church. By the time the case got to county attorney Gene Strate, who happened to be Mormon, my abuser had gone back to the church. My abuser and Gene Strate attended the same ward together. My abusers defense attorney, Sam Chiara, is now a judge in the 8th district court in Utah and is also Mormon. Sam Chiara was going to argue in court that I made up the allegations about what my step father did to me because he brutally beat my dog to death. Gene Strate said he did not want to put me and my friend who witnessed what my step dad did to me through the "trauma" of testifying. So he dropped the charges. The Bishop was informed of my step dads sexual abuse of many children and he still gave him a calling in the church. The stake president of the area was more concerned with the possibilty of infidelity on my ex step dads part since he remarried his new wife the same week him and my moms divorce was finalized. I can gauruntee I was not the last victim of his. The Carbon County prosecution team had failed to protect the children in that county. They need to be held accountable for their actions. Unfortunately the attorney general in Utah is also Mormon so they all feel safe that the church won't be investigated.
How horrible that this happened to you. I do hope that there will come a day that you will get your justice. Stay strong and know deep within your soul that this was not your fault...
Sexually assaults children and beats dogs to death. Sounds like a stellar human being (not)
Judgment Day should be interesting.
A great injustice.
Are you still mormon paige? You need to leave immediately. Leave Utah and come to Texas.
Give some people pseudo-power and authority and they are bound to abuse it!
I think abuse of power is bound to happen in any situation where you have humans in a hierarchical system. The difference with churches is that you have humans who believe they’re more than that. That god is on their side, that they are ordained with special powers like discernment. Combine that with unhealthy sexual attitudes and a hostility towards change and the outside world ( we will deny deny deny and protect our own to the end) and you have a powder keg. I’m honestly at the point where I really don’t think anyone has authority except God. I believe in the god of Abraham and that’s it. St. Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, etc are all interesting to study but it’s ridiculous that they’ve had such a huge impact on doctrine when they were all literally just humans. I don’t feel religiously obligated by any individual. I think what these bishops don’t understand is they aren’t actually helping their church. the ONLY way to keep something beautiful is through integrity. What they don’t realize is that it’s not a virtuous thing to help “our own”, because the second someone hurts a child we SHOULD be unequivocally disowning them.
There is nothing pseudo about their power.
That goes for govt as well, are you willing to admit that or only what feels good?
victor 91 ikr
I think it is a litmus test for character. Not specifically relating to this subject, but overall. The way people treat those they have some perceived power over demonstrates a great deal about the kind of person they are.
I was raised in the LDS church until I refused to go at the age 14. During the time that was involved with church I was sexually assulted by a boy. It took me till I was 35 years old to tell anyone. I couldn't even talk about it to a therapist. On top of that I was relentlessly bullied by other church members brats and any time I said anything about it to the "adults" nothing was done to correct it.
your experience is terrible. I am sorry.
I am so sorry for what you went through.
Being a parent, I would've been doing this interview from prison
As someone who was a victim of prolonged childhood sexual abuse, that is the worst response. It's not about you, it's about your child. They need your calm love and support to feel like things can get back to normal. While it's understandable to be furious, you have to cover that up around your child. Acting out violently only threatens the child more because they are at risk of losing you. They may also feel conflicted if they cared for the abuser, such as if the abuser was a relative, friend or someone they trusted. Avoid confronting or speaking with the abuser, concentrate on the child's needs instead of your desires for vengeance.
As an ex-Mormon, I can tell you that many members will not go to the police if asked to keep it within the church. The helpline is ass!
Also, they called me to be a leader through the same “Gift of Discernment” used to determine whether people are telling the truth or not. I shouldn’t have been a leader because I was breaking church “rules” and they told me that I was ”worthy” when I know I wasn’t! It’s all bull shit.
Cameron Miller if you lied to them, what keeps you from lying to us?
Manchester Cityzen bro, I didn’t lie. I was called to be a leader (simply put) because I was “worthy” and I rejected the calling because I wasn’t.
Cameron Miller I supposedly had the gift of discernment which I used to discern the church was not true after my own abuse experiences and learning the real history, the hypocrisies, the bigotry, etc.
@@cindyirene2001 hahaha sorry to laugh but they said u had a gift to call out bullshit and u called bullshit on them lol awesome🙌🏻
@@cortezyvonne Haha thank you! Bet they didn’t expect that lol. They were right about one thing. Discerned my way right out of the church 😂
I can't stop crying for these mothers and children. The "discernment" these men have is BS. The fact that the hotline goes to lawyers is just horrifying. I am glad that I no longer support big corporate religions like this.
When I have kids I am putting security cameras all over the house before I hire a babysitter.
I’m never gonna hire one
Last year, when a woman on the internet wrote an article, that we need to teach babies the concept of consent and not just automatically assume, just because you're this child's mother or father you're exempt from it, even in regards to things like changing a diaper. She got a lot of hatred and ridicule for her opinion, even though this is precisely what she was actually referring to: we teach our kids to be aware of strangers once they are able to walk and talk and start playing outside on their own. But by that time, it's actually most likely already too late. In the vast vast majority of sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator isn't some stranger, it's a person of trust, most likely a (close) relative, sometimes a helpful neighbor, or somebody from a trustworthy community - which a church usually counts as. This, by the way, is why churches are so prone to this problem: it's incredibly easy to gain peoples trust if you're part of one, many people, especially in these small churches all over the new world, treat their church like their extended family, and they're expected to as well. That attracts people who require people's trust, pedophiles, fraudsters, and it makes it incredibly easy for them to hide their true intentions.
Tbh, I don't think a babe of several months old can understand what consent means. But I agree: teaching kids about sex ed is beneficial for them to identify potential sexual abuse.
@@alexanderchristopher6237 My mom was sexual abused as a small girl from the time I could talk well enough (so like 3) she would tell me over and over that no one can touch my "parts" and if they do they are being bad and I need to tell her or my dad. She didn't go into graphic detail but she did make me aware that my body was my own and people touching me in certain areas was not okay. I think more parents need to solidify this thought process with their young children.
@@LL-el2vy sex ed still includes boundaries though. It's more than just contraceptives and the physical act
HELEN: If you haven't done so yet, formally resign from the church and have your name removed. I guarantee you will be glad you did.
Free and easy way out (because it can be difficult): Quitmormon.org
My husband was abused by the mormans sexually and physically got beat his ENTIRE life so the second he turned 18 he went straight down to his local ward an took his name off the registry and never looked back
Matthew 18:6
"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
I’m no Christian, but, Amen.
@@ethangailushas4066 Actions speak louder than words.
@@ethangailushas4066 no you don't. Your cult's Articles of Faith say that you accept the Bible "as long as it's translated correctly." Like, WTF? Yes, there's numerous English translations of Scripture (e.g., KJV, NKJV, NIV, NLT, etc.), and my Bible is a NLT translation but it really means nothing. I read it because it's written beautifully. Not because it's "translated correctly." But if anything in the Bible contradicts Mormon teachings... "it's been corrupted"... what? And the Bible clearly warns about adding to Scripture. Joseph Smith failed to heed that.
*Mormons: Always Valuing Church over Everything, Including Children's Well-being.*
NTL WU05 Yup. Adults too.
Blame it on Mormon, Mormon has nothing to do with it.
@@richardholmes7199 a lot of religion does this. that doesnt mean we cant call out individual ones tho.
@@sour_dough_bread REREAD my comment.
@@richardholmes7199 your comment made zero sense lmao u wanna clarify
Sounds about right; Religion and hiding sexual assaults go hand in hand.
As does scapegoating other religions. One of the reasons we here so much about the abuse in the Catholic and Mormon Churches is other denominations can use that focus to de-emphasize their abuse.
neeneko I said ‘religion’ as in all religion. Todos! I guess that needs to be made clear for those that think theirs is different from any others.
@@JudgeDredd_ Ah, the problem with tone and text. I was attempting to build off your comment, not criticize it.
neeneko I think you’re correct. I couldn’t quite tell where you were going, but things often get misconstrued on here. Either way, what you said is true.
@@neeneko scary
Lived my whole life in a community of these people. They think sexual assault is fine as long as you repent to your bishop. I actually know several of these cases. These people claim that they are perfect and amazing individuals. Without a doubt they are some of the most mentally and (sometimes physically) abusive people I have ever met. I can say that living with a concentration of 97% of the population of them for my entire life. They are evil people that stab you in the back. Not all of them are like this, but the vast majority are.
Yes the LDS church is filled with Pedos they feel safe there
That is absolutely not LDS doctrine. If someone is a sex offender it has to be reported to the police, a permanent mark goes on their record banning them from working with children or vulnerable people and they are almost always get excommunicated.
@@williamhenley8593 it may not be doctrine, but that is the way that things can go. There are so many issues with that church, not just this.
Steve Guacamole What are the issues then?
@@williamhenley8593 Start with how the Mormon church can't keep it's meddling hands out of Utah politics. I live in Utah and this church doesn't know the meaning of separation of church and state. They're also not a church but a corporation that owns stock in large pharmaceutical companies. AND THEY PAY NO TAXES!!! Shall I continue? Because that's not even the tip of the iceberg with these yahoos. The LDS church is spooky, period. And they act as if people don't see right through it.
I have been thru this personally. You go to the Police and file a report, not the Damned Church Leader!
I am sorry for your bad experience. It sound horrible!
ZACH DANCY
SORRY TO HEAR THAT.
I HOPE YOU HAVE RECOVERED AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.
preach, we need victims to speak up and not be afraid to go to the police.
Zach Dancy
I had to remove my child from kindergarten due to the so-called counselor coming onto him and trying to take him out onto the playground which back up to the woods alone with him. Speaking to the principal did no good. That's public school for you. So I just took him out of school and told the counselor I knew what he was up to and he was never going to see my son let alone get his hands on him!!! The sheriff let me know later because I was personal friends with the sheriff that the teacher had been God, prosecuted, permanently lost his certification as a teacher of course, and did go to prison Glory Hallelujah shout that out!!!
So … the whole purpose of that hotline is to give the church’s defence lawyers a head start?
6:32 And this, ladies and gentleman, is precisely what your tithing is paying for. Not helping the poor, not doing social service, but paying their lawyers.
Let that sink in. According to Mormon leaders, God needs money for lawyers.
Honestly churches are just a cash grab.
I'm not paying my tithing lol
This is why they need to be taxed on all donations.
Colted Reaper incorrect. The church collects billions of dollars in tithes. Most of that money goes towards temples, church missions, college, etc. lawyers are only a tiny part of the huge pool of money.
Andrick Chacon I have suspicion that you are one to use this hotline. Creeper 👀
This sucks, If that was my kid I probably would've went crazy
Yeah, they would have to lock me up too, cuse those sick fucks would all be found in a ditch.
I'm gonna call me a couple a Hard Pipe Hittin' Niggas, to go to work on the Homes here....with a pair of pliers and a blow torch.
This cycle of abuse is atrocious and so damn negatively detrimental to the community as a whole. We have to protect our children and stop leaving them in the care of this narcissistic, egotistical, megalomaniacs. Prayers to all the families and especially the victims of these heinous acts.
Phoenix Raines i know right u wonder y people are turning away from organized religion this is why! They’ve lost all hope! I’m Irish and I tell you when I was growing up it was abuse case after abuse case it was horrifying I’ve seen the effect it’s had and the church should be freaking out so much so many disillusioned children with religion ...
@@shadowplanthead372 its an absolute shame. People come seeking hope and instead are made into the puppets and property of monsters. I feel you, this madness needs to come to an end
Former BYU Student here:
Please make an investigation into the BYU Gropers who escape any and all accountability. Also look into the BYU Honor Code
Never trust a cult
ecaxtly.
Never trust what you read online about a church.
@@blairjane9228 Mormon much? Is your nonsense your ward's Family Home Evening project to say "what is posted online about the Mormons not authorized by the Q15 untrue and to defend it?" Nice try; but you failed. (Insert "The Price Is Right" loser music.) #ExMormonRestoredInChrist
Same here #exjw Jehovah’s Witnesses are hiding child sexual abuse JWfacts.com
WE ARE NOT A CULT. Tell me, please, why you assume this. What have we ever done to you? I am a proud mormon. I absolutely despise people that hide within our church to cover up crimes, but we are not all like this. We cover nothing up, there is no suspicious activity at all. We are taught the most beautiful things, and everyone in the church helps everyone. Through the hardest times in my life I could count on my church leaders and friends to comfort me and help me through it. I despise this idea people have, nothing we do makes us a cult. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Why, why would you assume this? Please explain. I need to understand why these horrible things are being said about me and my church.
I will never understand how these people take advantage of little kids and have the nerve to say gay people are going to hell.
👏👏👌👍✌
Don't talk on things you dont know about.
I do know that that’s why I said it idiot
For one, you need to chill. Secondly there's no teachings that say that.
@@jaydr16 Hit a cord here...huh?
Vice!
Next do one on the sexual abuse of Jehovah's witnesses and the watchtower.
Tell me more I didn't know this.
emmanuelle garcia I’m jehovah witness and basically it happens in the same way as other religions, there is a crime and instead going to authorities people report it to the elders who several times hide the crime from authorities. Yup it’s really shameful and disgusting.
@@LusoPictures Wow it's amazing that you choose to remain one of Jehovah's Witnesses inspite of knowing that the elders are instructed to hide crimes instead of reporting them to the authorities. That's curious, might I ask why are you still one?
Yes
For Jehovas witnesses, you are shunned if you leave. Your entire family will cease to communicate with you and isolate you. Leaving is more difficult than people understand. RUclips user Telltale describes the challenges faced by leaving the Watchtower society.
*All organizations should be required to tell you to call the police if you think abuse has occurred.* My workplace has this, we also require people to be Mandated Reporters.
I'm waiting for the Mormons to come in here and get mad about being called Mormon.
I have never met any Mormon who gets upset by being called a Mormon
@@carlosyanezaragon9725 are you in Utah?
Im upset. I’m not a Mormon anymore. Lol
@@dc93 Lived in Utah for about 10 years, now I live in Pocatello Idaho, which its pretty much just like Utah, less people, less traffic, went to salt lake city last night with my wife and daughter, just to dance, my daughter is 17, in Utah there are a few places where we can go dancing and my kid can go in because there is no alcohol
@@carlosyanezaragon9725 oh i have lol
Leaving the mormon church was the best decision I’ve ever made.
you might enjoy a youtuber called Mr. Atheist! He talks a lot about his experience with the Mormon church and does a lot of commentary on current Christian religions. You might find it reassuring
Gillian Manning I’ve watched a lot of him.
He hasn’t had his records removed.
I’m a little more advanced of an ex mormon than he is. It’s still fun to watch him though.
Me too. I can't believe I didn't see how toxic it was.
Staying in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second best decision I ever made. The best decision was getting baptized in the first place. It has been an amazing Christian faith to be a part of. I love it.
@@martinandersen9810 NOT! The LDS is EVIL! They do NOT worship the REAL Jesus Christ! #ImaRealChristian
5:00 24 hour legal Strike team for Preemptive intervention, damage control, suppression and denial...
If someone offers to babysit out of the blue it usually means they are up to something
They didn't offer to babysit out of the blue. The mom pushed her son and other children as a babysitter to everyone.
Especially a man. NO male babysitters, EVER!
Going to have to disagree with you there. Teenagers often don't have any source of income outside of babysitting and will take a job as soon as they hear of it.
Alyssa Hansen What does a teenager need with income? If they can't get a regular job or mow lawns or sonething then they should be doing chores for an allowance at home. Parents should be paying most of their expenses while they're in school. NO TEEN BABYSITTERS. NO MALE BABYSITTERS EVER! Grandmas and aunties only haha.
Oh this is shocking! ---said no one ever
Arie Fraiser as do I, friend!
And yet not much is done about it.
In so many of these horrific cases the predators strategically work their way into positions of trust and power. It seems the people who are most likely a threat to you/your family aren't a boogie man lurking in the dark, it's someone you know and trust. It is deeply unsettling to say the least.
A lot of churches don't have anything to do with god anymore
It's sad
God has a synagogue.
Satan has a church.
Beelzebub has a mosque.
@@Attmay A poem of ignorance.
RE: The Church of
J E S U S C H R I S T
of Latter-day Saints … The Church of Jesus Christ equals
= 100% God’s Gospel Truth.
@@Attmay dont worship calf's bro lmao
Tourmaline A statement of psychological projection, the operating phrase being PSYCHO.
I think we should all call the hotline.
And give them hell lol 😂
This doesn't surprise me. I was a member of this church for a couple years and left when I realized how evil it is and how much control they have on members. It also bothered me how secretive they are about everything including their "sacred" rituals.
Congrats. I'm almost 18 now, and my parents are just now realizing the stress and anxiety it puts on me is causing a lot of mental health issues, and they've finally stopped forcing me to go to church and participate in church activities as of last night. It's great.
Can't wait to have nothing to do with it at all when I move out.
Sacred rituals wtf are you talking about
Sean Wilkerson Good for you. I feel like it did me a lot of harm as well, but I left years ago, and am feeling much better. It gets better.
@@pierrecartie8745 the temples, man.
Satan means TRUTH in ancient Vedic Sanskrit, mankind's original language. Satanisgod.org
exposingchristianity.co
This is not an isolated story. These occur constantly around Mormonism. My wife and I were members, myself for my entire life. My wife has a very good friend who left the church after she discovered that her father-in-law, a high ranking Mormon, had sexually abused her young daughters. When she reported it to her church leaders, she was told that she should not pursue it because it would destroy a "good man" who was a priesthood leader. She needed to respect his position. He completely escaped any sort of punishment. She was convinced reporting it to law enforcement would be bad as well. She eventually left the church over the guilt she felt at not reporting it to law enforcement and because the church tried to silence her.
Dats a lie
@@himmyturner3923 - Keep telling yourself that. Your disbelief in an event to which you have no connection does not change what happened.
Same story here. I am no longer Mormon because of it.
Why would you go to a bishop before the police?
That hotline is creeeepy
Because they are told from the beginning that bishops are a higher authority with your interests in mind.
𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙚𝙙, 𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙤𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙚𝙥.
As a survivor of child sex abuse (by a family member not by a person in my church) I have a few ideas why. 1) the act of taking the child to the police and having the child having to repeat the story of what happened over and over again can be traumatic to the child (I can attest to this), 2) a lot of the time even after going through all that it doesn’t even go to trial and even if it does, the child has the extra trauma of having to testify against the abuser with the abuser right there, and sometimes their defense attorney shredding them and their story to bits, saying that their either lying, mistaking or that they where told to say those things (i.e.- that your memories of the abuse are false) and even after all that the abuser may still even get off or have little to no jail time. 3) Even if it does go to trial it may take years before it does so and in that time the abuser could be targeting other children and/or giving “his side of the story” to the church calling the family liars and what not and thus marking the victim as such in the community for the rest of their time in the community. In contacting their church they are at least the church a chance to react and maybe lessen his access to children
Moon actually it’s more complicated then that
I belong to a religion and I would never go to a priest or bishop or whatever first
It’s weird
my family started a lawsuit against the Mormon church more than 20 years ago. Our bishop kept sexual abuse within my family a secret from my parents. because he kept it a secret the sexual abuse continued and lead to me and some of my other siblings being abused too. We shouldn't have settled, we should have taken them for as much as possible. Im so sick of hearing these same stories from other members/ex-members.
I can’t even have anyone rude NEAR my baby, could you imagine what I’d do if someone did THIS to them?!?! Lord help them. Cause they’d be meeting him seconds afterwards.
The fact your screen name is Mary Poppins makes this 100× better. I need this in my life- the ultimate nanny destroying the shit out of low life pedos.
Well, if you're in the Mormon church, you're near them. It's one of the best known secrets around, they will totally embrace a baby/child rapist. I know too many stories.
Bro at this point if you shot the dude and got the right lawyers, you probably would be well off
As someone who was a victim of prolonged childhood sexual abuse, that is the worst response. It's not about you, it's about your child. They need your calm love and support to feel like things can get back to normal. While it's understandable to be furious, you have to cover that up around your child. Acting out violently only threatens the child more because they are at risk of losing you. They may also feel conflicted if they cared for the abuser, such as if the abuser was a relative, friend or someone they trusted. Avoid confronting or speaking with the abuser, concentrate on the child's needs instead of your desires for vengeance.
Shady things in the Mormon Church? Imagine my shock.
I think this was a good balanced piece. The Mormon church has a history of suppressing these types of things as much as possible, based on the research I've done.
lol where did you “research” online?
@@brookewalters2998 because news reports by reputable news sources found online aren't credible in your mind? I don''t know how often it happens but I know it does happen. I have have several acquantainces, family members and friends who have first hand experience with what is being reported in this video.
@@nostoppingit7827 I knew a friend who used to be raised Mormon. Didn't said much, but he just said the church is kinda wack.
@@alexanderchristopher6237 I know a lot of Mormons, they are good people who place emphasis on family, serving their community, helping their neighbors and being law abiding citizens. But there are definitely bad apples as there are in any organization. And as pointed out in this video there are definate changes that need to be made in the church with regards to handling abuse allegations.
@H No trying to cover your butt (despite the discpicable way they are doing it) is not the same as supporting something. And me pointing out that the members are good people does not make me an apologist for the church. Clearly you didn't see my multiple other posts in this comment section.
As a former Jehovas Witness everything said on this video hit home. "Getting an extended family" "everyone knows each other", "bishops aren't professionals, but members are encouraged to go to them". We are more similar than most think and I hope VICE does a segment on them. The Australian Royal Commission found 1600 cases there alone and that they also hid the cases and do not report it to the police and it is in their "elders handbook" to "leave it in Jehovas hands". My sister and cousin were both abused but due to the cult culture they have not left. I was kicked out at 17 for revealing this. The part of "it is sin, not a crime" is the most telling part but it is even worse for JW because they are more worldwide than Mormons and although that do not have as much money that have lost 20 million to Candis Conti. The official JW site is JW.org but the site where ex members expose the cases is JWfacts.com and there has already been a good documentary called NO WITNESSES.. That's my two bits here sorry for the long comment.
JWs are exactly what I was thinking about the entire time I was watching this.
Sadly JWs seem even worse. I'm not positive but I don't think Mormons shun people for leaving the religion or at least not to the extent JWs do. JWs have the fear of being shunned by everyone they know if they report the abuse.
“Pedophiles ‘R’ Us” is a terrible “joke,” bro.
While he is in his expensive ass yacht
Just another nail in the coffin of religion. The funeral will be secular.
Hopefully soon
For 'church' morality and honesty seems very low.
ruzzell907 what makes you think “church” or religion equals morality in the first place?
Dekisha Jones Whoa! Slow down! It was just describing the current moment, not asking an existentialistic question.
whathell6t umm RUclips is an open forum! My statement was a rebuttal to the op, as you felt the need to reply/ rebut my statement!
Dekisha Jones But you jumped over the Socratic steps of a forum. Thus, creating a different context of the topic at hand.
whathell6t once again RUclips is an open forum! You don’t get to decide my intensity!
I wad raised mormon. I remeber in seminary being told that bishops can comment on any subject. Even as a Jr. High kid I knew that sounded crazy.
Jesus lawyered up. No, wait, let me clarify, mormon jesus lawyered up.
Uhhhhh..... What?
Mormon Jesus and his brother, Satan. And their pops, Elohim. Gotta secure that tithing $$$$&
EXACTLY LIKE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
@@ethangailushas4066do your research bro
donyboy73 we celebrate 🎉 holidays
5:45 I'm sorry, I didn't expect that. I can't stop laughing.
This lawyer is savage.
Speaking as a teacher and as a Latter Day Saint I find the Church's stance on abuse as against the rights of the child. The United Nations holds this as a rule. The response to even suspicion of abuse is very clearcut. The authorities are to be contacted. Phone 911.
Record everything they do and install cctv in ur house with audio recording
This is a very sad story, but as a member of the church, I am confused as to why these people are seeking church officials to do the job of police. That is not what the church councils members to do. Go to the legal authorities to deal with crime. Again, I am so sad that this happened.
Are you missing the part about the hotline they have? Bishops call to find out whether they need to report the abuse of members that came to them as a matter of law or not. As a member, you also know when it comes to damn near anything of a sexual nature we are taught and inclined to go to the Bishop.
The church officials are interfering with the job of the police, rather than aiding it.
The story is sad. I am LDS too. This video (and others) are needed. By New Mexico state law, any religious leader who learns of an alleged sexual abuse case is required to report it; if LDS church (or any religious group) wants tax-exempt status, report the alleged crime. The state police are trained and less likely to be biased for or against the accused pedophile and the accuser.
@@acronen I understand what you mean -- we are encouraged to talk to the bishop about sexual sin (i.e. pornography etc.) but if someone is touching your child, as a parent, you should also call the police. Bishops are meant to help in spiritual matters, they have no legal authority. I won't say that bishops should not report this stuff (of course they should), but the primary job of a parent is also to keep your child safe -- and I don't understand why you as the parent would not call the police as well.
@@ashleyingoldsby I agree the parents should just go to the police. The problem is indoctrination is powerful, and the system of the Mormon church is very all encompassing and trapping for many people. It does not help at all that the system is not designed to help these families and kids, it is set up to interfere with police and protect the organization first and foremost. That's not a church, or organization with people in mind. It's a business, a corporation protecting its bottom line.
Everyone involved in the cover-up of these horrific events needs to be in prison. It's sick AND evil. Who knows how many victims & survivors there actually are?! Getting to see them at LEAST be locked away (or death, either way) can't give V/S back what was taken but it's a start.
How dare people use God as a way to hide from the truth and abuse!!!! As a Indigenious Woman from Canada, whose family was kidnapped and taken to residential schools, who endured sexual , mental, physical, mental abuse in the name of God, this video hits close to home for me.
organized religion has been used this way for millenia
pretty sure jesus of nazareth wouldn't even agree with what is written in the bible
Expose these wicked false prohets.dont call hotline call the cops....video tape and record the abuse and if it seems to be true ..file charges ..that day..dont wait another min. Because another child can be abused...
And find a better lawyer
I don’t care if they believe in modern prophets and other crazy shit. I just want them to stop hurting children :(
@@chiconube1693 thats the problem you dont care..about the sorce of the problem is satan....how do you stop them from hurting our children death penality...
Stone them unironically.
Vice. You keep getting better and better. I love your evolution in doing amazing investigative journalism.
@No Dogma Mama I WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE THE DUMS. OR THE DEMS THAT WOULD COMPLAIN ABOUT THE TRUTH. THE DUMS WOULD STILL HAVE PEOPLE IN COLOR ENSLAVED. THE DUMS ARE JUST AS I SAID, AND ALSO THEY ARE ON THE LEFT, THAT SHOULD TELL YOU EVERYTHING. SHEEP ON THE RIGHT AND GOATS ON THE LEFT.
@No Dogma Mama NO DRUGS. NO ALCOHOL. NO TOBACCO. NO UNCLEAN FOODS. NOR ANYTHING ELSE... COMRADE#AWARE
Sickening.. One thing that the video didn't mention is that the Mormon church does not require background checks on its leadership positions and positions that work with children (excluding scout leadership callings because BSA requires background checks). Also not mentioned is that bishops regularly have one on one interviews with children as young as twelve behind closed doors. These interviews often ask questions of sexual nature (masturbation, pornography, chastity infractions, etc). This creates a culture that not only protects sexual predators, it makes it much easier for them. The church needs to stop one on one interviews and have mandatory background checks for leadership and any calling that work with children. Period.
I don't know where you got your information - Or maybe it's just a few decades out of date - But I definitely had a background check done on me before I was ever allowed to be a counselor in the Bishopric.
One-on-one interviews are done whenever the parent/guardian thinks it is ok. They are more than welcome to join in on interviews with their children.
To make a blanket statement that the church protects sexual predators is simply not accurate. I've seen cases where even the first HINT of inappropriate conduct was reported, the individual was removed from any position where he/she was in direct contact with children. As leaders, we can't do anything until something is reported. We don't go busting down doors trying to catch someone in the act. We encourage those who have been victims to come forward and when they do, they are provided more love and support than they ever knew existed. Those who take advantage of the responsibility they are given to prey on young men and women, boys and girls, are dealt with swiftly - But also respectfully.
Are there "successful" predators in the church? Yes. I'll be the first to admit that. But the lengths that the church goes through to protect the children far exceed how we deal with predators. Those who think they are getting away with preying on children will be caught; they will slip up in some way; there are no successful predators.
@@tubastud06 Some wards may be different but it is most certainly NOT a church-wide policy to have background checks done for leadership. The only exception is for Scouts, because it is a mandate for BSA - not the church.
"One-on-one interviews are done whenever the parent/guardian thinks it is ok. They are more than welcome to join in on interviews with their children. "
This is a very recent policy change (within the last year) that explicitly allows parents to attend interviews. Parents are not required to attend. This not only puts children at risk but also puts leadership at risk. One on one interviews with an ecclesiastical leader and a child are inappropriate. There is no situation where it is okay for a 45 year old man asks a 13 year old girl how often she touches herself. Some may claim it doesn't happen, but if you google search "Sam Young protect the children", you will find hundreds and hundreds of heart-breaking stories where kids have suffered because of LDS policies.
"To make a blanket statement that the church protects sexual predators is simply not accurate."
Their current policies absolutely protect child predators. The fact that background checks aren't required protects them. The fact that one on one interviews are allowed protects them. The fact that it is considered okay for a 45 year old man to ask a child if they masturbate in a closed room, protects them. Look at the case of Joseph Bishop. He was the MTC president that raped McKenna Denson while she was in the MTC. She recorded an audio conversation with him where he admitted this and more. Joseph Bishop did not have ANY church discipline for his actions. And when the story broke, the church hired lawyers to dig up dirt on McKenna and handed it over to Joseph Bishop's son. All of this is well documented by Utah and national media. And this, is by definition, protecting a sexual predator.
"As leaders, we can't do anything until something is reported. We don't go busting down doors trying to catch someone in the act."
Nobody is asking you to do that. We're just asking you to call the police instead of a team of lawyers whose primary objective is to protect the church.
What the heck!? I’m a convert to the LDS church. This is actually believable!!! I know of women who suffered sexual abuse by fathers & grandfathers that are/were Bishops & stake President and it never got passed the ranks of the church leaders. I didn’t understand why the Bishop asked if these women who suffered sexual abuse could contact me!! This makes Me so disgusted and angry. The church is so entwined in every aspect of your lives and Mormons are from long lines of Mormons with hundreds of family members all a tightly knit group, that trying to speak out against deviant behavior goes through bishops & stake level priesthood members that all coverup these crimes and make the victim feel like they are at fault and/or forgive the abusers. These Bishops & Stake Presidents are not real clergy or are they trained to be clergy etc. They are mere men given a whole lot of power & have no problems using it as they have done often in my life & the lives my husband & children. If you try to defend yourself against anything being unrighteously forces on you or your family you are threatened with insubordination to the priesthood authority & keys of their callings. These priesthood men have the power to put your membership in question or disfellowship/excommunicate you with you having to prove your innocence against bogus claims they inflict upon you.?
Not disputing the awful experiences these poor people had, but I used to be a Mormon bishop. Crimes similar to this came to my attention several times. Sometimes I called the police first, and sometimes I called the hotline and they told me to call the police. I never tried to excuse or cover it up.
Karl von Eschenhof Thank you for commenting.. The fact is temptation is everywhere and being LDS is a way of life,not just on Sunday.The higher up in any church,widens your scope of influence..And yes following the law is what we believe unless it contradicts God or the constitution. People making law can make bad decisions too.
I think this means you were probably a good bishop. The problem is that if families went to the police first and then saught help and healing from actually trained professional counselors these issues would be better handled.
Bishops are not properly trained nor do they have the authority to deal with criminal situations. This should always be taken to police, not bishops. And bishops are not qualified to deal with cases that are absolutely going to affect mental health. People need real doctors, therapists, and psychologists.
In short the problem is that people go to bishops for these things at all. The church creates a culture that encourages people to go to their bishop and to rely on the church rather than seeking the help they actually need.
This is just one among many unhealthy practices that cause the church to be labeled a cult by so many.
There are good bishops who do the right thing. It is the structure and teachings of the organization that is failing by lending its self to foster toxic situations.
BTW Michael jensens dad is MArlin Jensen the historical recorder for the lds church he's a big shot thats why his son was so protected
this information should have been in the Vice story!
So your child is being abused, they've got a hot line but it's for the bishop to call to talk to their( church) attorney ......DIRTY 😏😏
It's an environment where predators and abusers are allowed to thrive. It needs to change.
Jesus Christ. When the woman told the story about her 4 year old being made to suck the bus driver’s privates, I burst into tears. I haven’t had such a strong reaction to a video in a while. Our son just turned 6 a couple of weeks ago and when he was in preschool we let him ride the school bus for fun and to help him socialize. He’s autistic and we thought he’d be safe since there were other kids and the driver was busy driving. I drive him to and from school now because we only live a few blocks from his school, but I’m sad that I might’ve unknowingly been putting him in danger. We’ve never placed him in daycare because we want to wait until we’re certain he’s verbal enough to communicate with us if anyone ever harms him. I hate that it’s necessary to be this cautious. I was abused throughout my childhood by multiple monsters, so I’m extra protective of our son. In my opinion, child abuse is the worst crime on earth other than murder. It’s disgusting, despicable, and it kills something inside you. I’ve felt broken and worthless my entire life because of something that I never wanted and didn’t understand wasn’t my fault. I’m still not over it. My poor husband has had to help me work through so much, and he’s endlessly patient and gentle with me. To all of the others out there like me, and there are MANY, I’m sorry. I love you. You are worthy. ❤️
Oh, sista, I hear ya on that.
So many other mums just say "no worries", when the reality of many is "yes, worry!".
Raising a child when you're an abuse survivor, is a series of PTSD triggers that no-one warns you about.
Much love to you, my sista
A very similar thing happened to me (former mormon) back in '98, that happened to these women's child. My step-mom arranged a babysitter through someone in our ward. I do not remember the kids name, but I do remember he was 17. I went to meet him at his parents house, and we hung out and played with legos and these Masters of the Universe toys. After that he started coming over a few times a week when my dad and step-mom would be at work. I don't really how it all started, but I have this vivid memory of me and him sitting on the couch talking, and him playing with himself. Things escalated from there, obviously, i'm not gonna get in to everything in a youtube comment. It happened a few times, but after a while he stopped coming by to babysit. I think my parents found out he was doing something, but I don't remember having a conversation about it other than he won't be coming back. I'm 31 now. This is the first time I've ever brought this up with any shred of detail. Things are happening in 2020 that I am having trouble comprehending, and I think with everything going on and everyone being so open and raw, it just felt good to say something.
Contact Mental Health and you will get help to move past this and the perpetrator will be investigated. Please do this for yourself.
This church hates it when you leave, they try and get you to go back cause they don't want to lose that 10% in tithing's
@Bee Kay Its more like man is all about that earthly material interest and will use the name of Jesus to deceive
My r*pist was helped by the church. I went to my leadership for help because of what happened and the person was a member. I was really traumatized and promised help to make the report. When I finally realized that they weren't going to help me I found out that they helped him and he was already out of the country in Italy. When I tried to make the report I was told there was nothing they could do Because he was out of the country. I know that they helped him. I've met others like me. My story isn't rare. They not only use that line to contact directly to church attorneys but they also use it to start trying to figure out how to protect the 'good name' of the church at the expense of victims of crime
Deeply disturbing! My heart aches for the families who suffered at the hands of the Mormon church.
“Religion don’t mean shii there’s too much ego in the way” J COLE
47 seconds and 1 dislike lmfao it must be the Mormons
Yeah and white people.
fornite sux i am white but I didn’t dislike and heavily against the church. What is your point?
Yeah and black people
The Emperor maybe even Asians
Sondre Johansen he’s some dumb black guy who thinks white people are holding him down because his food stamps went from 180 to 100
I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. These mothers (where are the fathers?) we’re doing the right thing.
The mothers say they felt betrayed, no support, helpless. Imagine being the one who was forced into the sex. We live with what was done to us every day of our lives. My perpetrator was never caught. I’m 70 years old now and to this day I have PTSD. Always will.
Matthew 18:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[a] it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
They don't care what their book says. Religion has three purposes in today's society. The first is money - gilding their house of pedophilia in gold, and hoarding it like a dragon in it's cave, where not even the governments can touch it. The second is to promote hatred, division, and violence between different groups of people. Fear and hatred keeps people coming back for "guidance." And the last purpose of religion is to act as a safe haven for organized pedophilia, free from consequences to themselves, with an endless supply of parents willingly bringing their children to "God's arms"
Maybe 2000 years ago, Matthew actually believed those words, but that's ancient history. He's long dead, and so is the ideology he believed in.
oh look the church of "God" commit crimes against humanity? im not surprised honestly? what now are they going to give more useless money to israel?
@@BothHands1 But don't you agree that if someone hurts a child, his punishment should be worse than having a millstone tied to his neck and being cast into the sea? I certainly do. Side note: mormons always say, "You shall know them by their fruits." I think that pedophilia and cover-ups are some really rotten fruit there. And that's just the tip of the mormon iceberg.
Jane Berghaus
I do agree, yes. There is no excuse, once someone has done something like that to a child, they are no longer human as far as I'm concerned.