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http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=16939956

the girl revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by a teenage boy and Moon advised her not to report the assault to law enforcement.




Guy looks like a Warren Jeff;s in the making!

bout goddamn time we see a headline like that. Its but a drop in the bucket... happens a lot. once is too much.

How many like this have gone unreported, hundreds, thousands? So sad. I hope this girl gets justice.

Justice

FINALLY!!!! Couldn't believe the article said the lds church has zero tolerance for abuse. Yeah,zero tolerance,but don't you damn better tell anyone.

In a way I feel bad for this guy. He was called and lead to believe he has special powers from god and responsible for his wards salvation. He is not a professional. He is asked to do a job that should be a full time responsibility with professional training and may face jail. I think they should go after the church and not this poor sap who probably was trying to do his best even though misguided.

who is also a teen, will likely face less punishment than the hapless bishop who made the wrong call. I would hesitate to reach any conclusion without knowing what the actual nature of the sexual assault was (which can include unwanted kissing). But I suspect this was just another clueless overworked bishop who wasn't thinking clearly. The Church is at fault for encouraging people, like the girl and her parents, to think that the bishop is the most appropriate person to go to with issues like this.

I tend to agree that we should wait and see what the circumstances were. There are all sorts of sexual assault from forcible rape to an unwanted kiss. Regardless, he gave the wrong advice, but I would like to know what the boy supposedly did.It is also possible that he had reason to think that the girl made it up or embellished what happened. Not saying that is why he told her not to go to the police, but it is possible he had reasons that we don't know about.Regardless, he should let the police sort it out and the church and school districts need to make it clear what the procedure is and what responsiblities a bishop or board member has.I just believe in hearing both sides before I advocate locking someone up and throwing away the key.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2011 04:56AM by bona dea.

+1

Wow, no bitterness or hatred among the posters in this blog, at all. I'm always amazed at the comments made by people who have made mistakes in their lives and then blame their troubles on others. I'm also amazed at the "throw him in prison before the trial" mentality of our citizens. Not one of us knows the full story, so we should hold off on judgment until the facts are revealed. I was twice brought in on sexual harrassment as a teacher/coach, which were the worst times of my families lives, only to find that the girls made it up because they didn't get the grade they wanted or didn't make the team. Bet you can guess who got crucified in the media and school of public opinion prior to the facts coming out....yep, me. Folks, let's let the truth come out before we go hating. Just my opinion, one with experience.

The issue at hand is the fact that the BISHOP (who is not accused of any sexual misconduct) failed to report suspected child abuse. As a Bishop and a member of the school board he is expected to do so and yet he decided that his personal judgement could supercede the law. No one has said anything about throwing anyone in jail.

He's a mandatory reporter who did not make a report of suspected child abuse (and you can tell from the article that the police were NOT happy about that) AND he told the girl not to go to the authorities -- which is considered witness tampering. Frankly, I think he deserves the trouble he's in because he appears to be both arrogant and stupid.

+1

will the cult help him out though? i mean, with money for attorneys or to support his lovely wife?

if this was in joseph smith's time, i'd say he was framed by the profit because he wanted to denounce js for harassing the little girl. now js engaged in character assassination, trying to get rid of him, and sleep with his wife of course.

you'd think they'd know that as "clergy", they are mandated reporters for any type of abuse. then again, they don't quite get the whole clergy role.

They are only "clergy" when it's most beneficial (gets them out of hot water).

Knowing a bit of the family, I'm not surprised that he couldn't see the distinction between the church's procedures and the law of the land. Thinking that it should be handled within the church and that somehow this would cover it in a broad sense is a frightening mentality. Utah is a theocracy.

Thus spake Mujun.

this should have happened a LONG time ago!! they are protecting TSCC just like others have done! not good!

Keep in mind people that Mr. Moon has not spoken a thing. All of the quotes in the newspaper are from a third party. Let's not make judgements without the facts.

It appears, "notafool", that Mr. Moon is the fool, if he thinks that LDS Corp is going to spend a penny "defending" him in this case. We'll find out for sure at his "first court appearance" this next week.

The church has a disease, an infectious disease that seems to permeate all wards in the LDS church. It appears that if something goes wrong in any ward, it is simply NOT dealt with. It is left up to the victim to deal with it or ignore it and just move on.

My friend's daughter was sexually abused by a married man in an LDS ward in the Palmyra Stake of NY. It came out that this man did it before and the church as in the bishop and others did not stand with the woman or her daughter when they pressed charges against the man. The bishop at the time told the mother of the girl when they were all in the court room NOT to sit by him.

Even to other less serious issues, the bishop and the counselors do nothing. They do nothing but give you a bunch of platitudes and slogans and try to sweep the whole issue under the carpet. They put the responsibility of the whole issue on the shoulders of the victim.

You have to wonder about a church that will take you to task over having a cup of coffee or tea, you can lose your temple recommend but be a bastard or bitch to people and they sweep that under the carpet. It seems that they are concerned over the wrong things.

I am making an understatement you know.

If that is what happened, I agree, but let's hear both sides before we make a judgement.

The Bishop will be judged if condemnation (looking bad) flows from his jurisdiction to the whole church. he is highly motivated to keep shit quiet.

NOt only that, he is now supposed to answer doctrinal questions!!!!!

The bishops may as well wear a sandwich board sign that says "Scapegoat" because that's what they are. They are there to absorb the blame. How many times have you heard "the bishop should have nipped that in the bud" or some such.

And still they trumpet the goodness of themselves that they have a volunteer clergy while they pay millions in settlement money on courthouse steps to pay off claimants.

When I reported sexual abuse to my bishop, he said, "We'll take care of it." I assumed that meant they would report it to the proper authorities. (I was a new member). Instead, it means "I'll make sure your report is properly stifled."

Anagrammy

It speaks volumes to a young girl when she goes to a protecter who doesn't take a stand for her. I am sure it would be a little difficult, maybe he was in process of trying to figure out what to do with the information he received. Who knows? He could be a nice guy who made a huge mistake.

suckafoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Who knows? He could
> be a nice guy who made a huge mistake.

or it could be that being from a prominent large land owning LDS family (moons) that pioneered the Tabiona valley, he was following the gospel to the letter.

More than likely you are correct.

Yes, it does, and that is why I left the church. When I was abused, and my parents forced me into the bishop's office, rather than support and assistance, I was disciplined via bishop's court.

Nice, eh?

Well, they (the bishopric and my parents) did me a big, huge favor. They showed me what a lie all the promises were and how NONE of those people had my best interests at heart. And they taught me that the only person who can or will protect me is me. If I ever see that bishop again, I might have to thank him for being such a douchebag... :>)

The news story said this:

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

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

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

The parents did not support and sustain the bishop or his inspired counsel. Imagine that!

...for failing to sustain the Lord's anointed of course.

Will the bishop be called to a church court and face excomunication?

Will there be talks in General Conference about reporting sex abuse?

Will there be a World Wide Training on reporting sex abuse.

The church does NOT have a zero tolerance policy.

That would go a long way towards getting me to believe the LDS Church actually means it when they say they have a zero tolerance policy.

It is interesting, though predictable to read the comments on this story. People are so brainwashed.....I have gone through this type of thing with dire consequences later on, and it sucks. It sounds like she reported it right away, so good for her.

I can't tell you how many times I told a bishop stuff I would never have told my parents, so she was good to have gone home and talked to them though it must have been difficult.

I agree it may be that this bp just made a mistake. But most of us here have experienced things like this, where someone has made a mistake, that clearly should have been obvious.

I am just a STUDENT of social work and am legally madated to report any abuse I suspect or know of. What would happen to me if I knew something, and I am not even anybody of any authority...it should be obvious.

I have been talking to my 14 year old son for a few years about "No means NO!!" when it comes to girls. So I pray he hears me when he gets to that point. Quite frankly it is awful to hear the way he and his friends talk about girls, and the rest are good sacrament-passing mormons.

I got told the other day that moms are supposed to keep the house clean....ah hem.....

Just the attitude that is still going around with these kids. Makes me angry.

I hope the boy gets his punishment, I would hate to see this man go to jail, unless it is a pattern. But he should at least lose the bp job, and it should affect his position with school board. I am sure that they are also mandated to report anything.

It seems so clear to me, I don't understand why others can't get it. It's also about CYA. My family and their livelyhood comes first, so I do what I'm supposed to. Duh.

get's his punishment.

The Chuch may claim to have a zero tolerance policy, however we all know that the good name of the church is more important than anything. I think the church will reprimend this bishop in public but help him privately.

I say good for the parents for standing up for their daughter on this alleged incident.

D

Reporting abuse is the least of the issues. If he told her not to talk to police, because the church system is the best way to deal with this, he is tampering with a witness to a crime.

Police must be able to conduct investigations without obstruction. I feel sorry for him because he's probably over his head as a bishop. But you can only legally advise a person whose a suspect not to talk to police--to not incriminate themselves. You can't advise anyone else not to cooperate or cover up a possible crime. I feel sorry for him--it's a mistake anyone could make.

But he can enter a plea to a misdemeanor--and the church will learn it's lesson, other bishops will learn their lesson and progress will be made, hopefully.

Now if they would only apply it to confessed domestic violence...

Well since he's a judge in Israel, he should have checked on reciprocity with Utah. I'm sure that is a concept that Israel is just thrilled about.

One time a female relative of mine went to the bishop. She took a female friend with her for moral support. The girls asked the bishop about boys.

He leaned forward on his hardwood desk. Then he asked, "Are you two girls having a lesbian affair?"

The girls were shocked and the meeting failed (a lot of them do).

My point is, what the hell is a Mormon bishop? He's untrained in every way that matters. He's likely weak in critical thinking. Bishops are unpaid and highly stressed. They screw up a lot, I'll wager.

I'm not trying to defend men who are bishops. A grown man should know better than to play priest. But I think the church should answer for the abusive practices of its bishops.

Most are decent, well-intentioned guys. But are in waaaay over their heads. They all have demanding full-time jobs and there's no way that they can really handle all of the crazy stuff that comes into their office in any competent way. The can do the formal church stuff like giving callings and releasing people. But there' no way that they should be counseling people on complicated personal and social issues--and definitely no way that they should be counseling people on criminal and legal issues.

I suspect that most of them have no idea what kind of legal liability they are exposing themselves to. The legal environment has changed drastically in just the past few years. I'm sure the Brethren won't clue them in because that will make it harder to staff these ridiculously burdensome positions with free labor.

"A grown man should know better than to play priest."

Is it okay if a grown man decides to play apostle instead? I've been thinking it could be very lucrative to get in the top level.. I mean, the leadership of a church.

Raptor Jesus, can I be your 2nd counselor? Pleaaaaase??? I bet we could make a fortune off of all the suckers.. err, members of the religion of the Raptor.. we could call them 'hatchlings'!