"A former LDS bishop has started a petition to stop sexually oriented interviews for Mormon youth. Sam Young is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served as a bishop in Houston, Texas from 1991 to 1996. He’s in Salt Lake City shedding light on something that happens behind closed doors."

http://fox13now.com/2017/12/01/former-lds-bishop-calls-for-church-leaders-to-stop-interviewing-teens-about-sexual-practices/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2017 02:38PM by summer.

What an encouraging voice.
My bishops growing up varied widely in their approaches. Some asked graphically. Some asked very grudgingly, like they really didn't want to and didn't push it. Others were like nazi's and laid down the law. Others were like, Don't mention it, that's your business.

My brother is in a bishopric and he approached me about this recently and I told him to do everything he can to just don't invade and try to get all his bishop/stake colleagues to do the same. I think he listened.

10, 9, 8, 7 . . .

Yes- the bishop interviews are creepy. But, modern day mormons need to understand that Joe Smith never envisioned the church lasting this long. It's a cult that was started by greed and hornyness. Smith just figured out a way to get rubes to donate money while they gave up their daughters. I detest Joseph Smith. But, you have to admit the genius of his con game.

I certainly think this is commendable. Sexually oriented interviews in the LDS church should absolutely stop. However, I believe this petition doesn't go far enough. I think that Bishop's interviews with children shouldn't be allowed at all, even if no questions of a sexual nature are being asked. The bottom line is that most Mormon bishops have no training in the areas that they offer advice and counsel members. Their lack of experience and training can do great damage to children.

Two stories:

I struggled with depression when I was a young teen. Instead of finding professional help for me, my parents insisted that I meet with our stock broker bishop several times who warned me that my depression was from Satan. I was told that if I worked on my testimony more and truly became converted to the church, the depression would go away. I worked hard on my testimony, but the depression didn't go away. But after that, I was afraid to tell anyone. I worried that if I told someone, they would think that I had done something to allow Satan into my life. I won't go into more detail, but this experience caused emotional damage that I've carried far into adulthood.

My daughter was questioned about her testimony during a routine youth birthday interview. She told the bishop that she felt her testimony needed improvement. He gave her a list of certain things that she needed to do to improve her testimony. In order to check on her progress, the bishop called her into his office for interviews every few weeks for almost a year without my knowledge This caused her great stress and anxiety. At the time, I could tell that she wasn't herself and that something was wrong, but I had no idea what was happening. She finally told me after the interviews stopped. I was furious that the bishop believed that it was appropriate to interview my child without my consent.

The bottom line is that LDS bishops are untrained clergy and many bishops lack appropriate boundaries because they rely on "inspiration" and "the spirit" to determine them. If adults want to submit themselves to interviews by bishops and stake presidents, so be it. But the practice of untrained bishops routinely interviewing children alone behind closed doors offers is potentially damaging even when questions about sexuality aren't be asked.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2017 11:10AM by want2bx.

You make an excellent point.

Speak of the devil, just finished reading an essay of a woman who'd been molested as a young girl by her bishop in closed door interviews time and again, over the space of several years. It's horrific. Years later the cult aka Mormon church sought to pay her off to be silent about her years of abuse by the Mormon bishop pedophile. She turned down the offer, believing that is how the church manages to make many other such stories "go away."

"Amy Hall’s Story–In Her Own Unedited Words

Trigger Warning * Sexual assault involving a bishop*.... "

https://invisiblescubit.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/pedophiles-in-priesthood-power-amys-story/

Thank you summer, I have signed the petition. When I was about 16 or 17 years old I had a bishop who accused me of having sex because I did not wanted to go on a temple trip. It was aweful. all I wanted to do is stay home and do homework for school. I had no boyfriend and no sex.

Thanks for the support to protect our children.

You are welcome.

I wonder if the GAs allow themselves to listen, I haven't seen evidence that they do.

Taken as a totality, TSCC is POISON; to stop that there Isn't any cure or resolution other than abandonment.

I'm on board.

This is great. I love Sam. Doing GREAT THINGS in his community and maybe soon, even within the 'church' itself. They survived the flooding BTW. He began this petition this summer and it's been gathering steam ever since. It's an interesting movie, in reality, to be sure.

Nice to see him take it to Utah - they've been watching, and are afraid of this [doing the right thing (choose the right my ass)] "publicity" - so they can take their lashes, and I don't mean eyes.

Will SY join the ranks of JR or JD by being axed for asking for honesty, equanimity, fairness and/or equality?

He is SERIOUS and he's Not backing down. He knows it's WRONG (and so do they) and SO DOES THE WORLD.

M@t

Most likely, we see the tip of a very large problem. I too signed the petition.

Thanks for taking a stand to protect the children.

Thanks for your support. I'm loving ya'll.

Always nice to have you here. :)

Sam Young (aforementioned former LDS bishop) is working with a Houston news source to cover this story, and looking for Houston residents who want to be included - if any of you have stories, get in touch with him!

Mr Young, meet Mr. Dehlin and Ms. Kelly, I'm sure you have a lot in commmon...

Worthiness interviews should be stopped for everyone. Period. If a member feels the need to talk to his Bishop about some action that is bothering him let him make an appointment with the Bishop and talk to him. This includes how much a member donates to the church. Stopping these inquiries will go a long way towards changing the church into something other than a controlling cult.

In a current post on the r/exmo board, Sam (Invisibles_Cubit) indicates that he might be facing church discipline for his support of the cessation of sexually explicit interviews with Mormon youth.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/7kgpdr/excommunication/?st=jbbexyfp&sh=27bf76fa

Sam, I just want you to know that this board stands with you. You are working for a noble cause.

What kind of PR will The Cult get when it hits national/international media that they excommunicated somebody for objecting to asking sexually explicit questions of minors?

Do the leaders even to stop to think about the bigger picture?

Good for him!

That's taking a stand for the moral right.

Thanks summer, for posting this.

Amen.

I agree, this needs to stop. But on the other hand, it's what first taught me to question, and lie to, authority. Your mileage may vary.

Worthiness interviews are probably the A#1 example of the Stolkholm Syndrome that so many Mormons suffer from.

It never occured to me as a shy awkward teenager that such interviews were anything but normal. It is similar to how it never occurred to me that there was something odd or unacceptable about going to a foreign country, surrendering your passport, and being cut off from contact with all your friends and family with the exception of a weekly hand written letter. When you are raised with the idea that certain behaviors and expectations are normal, you don't see it as something invasive or unacceptable until much later.

I never realized as a teenager that the appropriate answer to probing interviews from a virtual stranger, particularly about matters of sex and sexuality is, "none of your fucking business!"

I am very happy to see this shameful practice beginning to get the attention that it deserves. For the sake of generations of LDS youth to come, I hope the cult is shamed into altering its practices.

#NotACult

I wonder if there's any way to add the horrifying new practice of allowing teenaged boys to "baptize" 12-18year old girls in thin white jumpsuits. That's a recipe for disaster right there.

Although, my daughter did leave the church within a year after her horrible baptisms for the dead experience. It's the only good thing I've heard of coming out of that creepy, useless practice.