From Sam Young's post.

"At the news conference I'm going to call for the top leaders of the church to resign. That may sound crazy to Mormons. But, that is exactly what is happening in the wake of the Larry Nazzar conviction. The entire US Gymnastics board is resigning.
Here's my reasoning.
I recently met with the official representatives of the church. My agenda was to discuss changes to interview procedures in order to protect our children.
I presented the following
1) Changes that all other churches in America have already implemented.
2) 12,800 signatures of people requesting these changes be made.
3) A book containing 250 Victim Impact Statements.
The church responded that:
1) No changes to policy would be made. This, in the face of hundreds of heart-wrenching testimonials.
2) I was to shut up.
3) I was in apostasy, which is a threat of excommunication.
4) I was sullying the good name of the church.
Really!!!!
You harmed our children. You continue the same dangerous and damaging practices. Then you have the audacity to respond without one wit of concern or compassion.
Larry Nassar sexually assaulted hundreds of innocent children. The Mormon church has sexually injured hundreds of thousand of innocent children.
Larry Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in jail.
No one is being held accountable for the massive damage inflicted on Mormon children.
All members of the US Gymnastics Board resigned.
I call on all apostles to resign.
They have been in power for decades. They implemented, promulgated and pushed the very policies that allowed Nassarlike horrors to happen to our our children.
If the apostles are clueless of what is happening as a result of behind-closed-doors sexual interviews....then they are incompetent and should resign.
If the apostles ARE aware of what is happening to our children...THEY ARE COMPLICIT and must resign.
Whether clueless of complicit, they have no business keeping the positions that we entrusted them with.
This will be front and center in the news conference in Houston on Feb 6. It should be on my blog tomorrow. This movement WIL go to the national media.
12,835 of us are calling for an immediate cessation of the current interview protocol. They are NOT calling for the apostles to resign.
Only 1 of us is calling for the resignation of the leaders who have been either clueless or complicit.
If this makes you too uncomfortable for your name to be on the petition, their is no shame in that. Just send me a message."

I second the motion.

When I was 12, really bad things happened in scouts. There was no one there. Not just me, others. No one to tell. After all, they were called of gawd to lead scouts. Right? So it must be ok. Right? Part of the initiation. Right? Gawd’s church. Right? Gawd wants this for you. Right? Just shut up and earn a merit badge. Three of the boys in scouting with me are in prison for murder.

Didn’t mean to jack this. Somehow I’ve got to get past this. Everytime I think I have...Damnit. Damnit.

It's all part of tscc's dysfunctional attitudes and activities about anything sexual: Lies, shame, control, abuse, gossip, cheating, secrets, fear, guilt, power, perversion.

I’m so sorry you went through something awful.

You didn't. The culture of asking a 12 year old boy if he masturbates by a middle aged man is the culture that will tacitly look the other way when another middle aged man molests this same boy. They will refuse to believe the boy.

I blamed myself for years. In my middle age I realized I didn't do anything wrong. My abuser groomed me and abused me in scouts. I grew up in a culture of not telling and claiming perfection. I was a victim and so were you.

When sufficient heat is applied and the pressure in their spiritual steam bath rises to an intolerable level, ghawd will cave in, just like he did with the Blacks and the uncomfortable temple rites.

Ghawd doesn't like people to critize him; makes him unhappy and makes him feel unloved. If there's anything ghawd wants, it's adulation.

They'll claim they never sanctioned that and it was just rogue bishops who asked those unholy questions.

Can you say, "John D. Lee"?

This issue has been systemic in church for long long time. If you want to be further sickened by this read “The sins of brother Curtis” by Lisa Davis. An account that goes back to the 70’s.

I think one place that may have an effect is states outside of Mordor where mandatory reporting laws may extent to conduct observed outside of the employment context - where lay ministry may not be protected. My reading of the law in my state, where I am a college professor and as such am a mandatory reporter, is that it does. So if I observe sexual abuse I am required by law to report it. So if I was in a bishopric and a person confessed sexual conduct with a minor I’d have to report it to the state first. I think sexually invasive questions by an adult in an position of authority may be considered sexual abuse as well.

Any Lawyers out there who can shed further light on this.

Btw, my understanding Mormon church leaders in UT are exempt from mandatory reporting laws.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 02:50PM by mannaz.

They are not exempt in the state of Utah. They are required to report suspected child abuse(some do protect their buddies however that have actually done so) .I know I was accused falsely of sexually abusing one of my children by the Stake President and the Bishop.
They turned my life and the life of my family upside down, including my other children.
I will not get into the details at this time( It is a very long story).
Some people are falsely accused, it does happen more often than you may think, be that as it may I do support the petition and fully agree with it.

It still haunts me to this day and as a victim of this Psycho-Sexual abuse while growing up Mormon I have signed this petition:

https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protect-the-children-stop-mormon-masturbation-interviews.html

He is also taking the petition to Salt Lake City to march, in March, with hundreds - and the media - to deliver it to the temple squares.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 04:53PM by readwrite.

He isn't backing down.

He said yesterday an entire stake is doing away with the sexually invasive and perverted interview questions.

It's getting traction. He is determined. Has JD, of mormon stories, interviewed him yet?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 04:58PM by readwrite.

For some reason - probably an important one - it isn't listed in Mormon Stories.

It's been covered extensively in a series of episodes beginning last Fall:

http://www.mormonstories.org/mormon-interviews-part-1/

http://www.mormonstories.org/bishop-interviews-4-6/

http://www.mormonstories.org/clergy-interview-panel/

This is so exciting.... I'm overwhelmed . The possibility that the
church should be put on public notice that they have been abusing
their children is wonderful.... Hopefully the outcome will be
positive and the world will know the evil that the mormon church
has perpetrated.

I agree. I was traumatized in a sex interview with a bishop I'd never met before. I'll never forget the humiliation. I signed the petition against pedophile grooming in church.

It just has to bubble to the top of the public consciousness: masturbation is not a sin, and certainly comes no where near murder in degree of harm. The church needs to be laughed into the 21st century and reality.

Minor children, out of the presence of their parents or guardians, are not to be questioned, much less judged and censured, by an adult male who sues insurance companies or runs a furniture store the other six days of the week.

I repeat, ghawd hates it when people think he's an idiot, or worse, harms people or society.

Just like dead-dunking of holocaust victims, they claim it's "Out of our control", but .... they either intimate manipulate Control so many other aspects of member's lives...

Pattern Here(?)

i AGREE BUT YOUR CHANCES ARE SLIM AND NONE

The evidence shows that the church will change almost all of its doctrines and policies in reaction to public criticism It doesn't happen at once, and there are always sacrificial victims, but whether it is an independent kingdom in the West, polygamy, the priesthood ban, long garments, one-piece garments, etc., the church ultimately capitulates.

Right now the battle is over sexuality: the rights of gay people, the rights of children, the rights of women. The church will fight against progress on all these scores, but ultimately it will change--probably long after hundreds of thousands of members have already left.

If Young is bringing this issue to the attention of parents in the church and encouraging them to stop the interviews for their own children, that's more than earned my respect and gratitude. But I think he is additionally generating pressures that will ultimately compel a change in the interview policy.

Over time the church is anything but firm in the face of public criticism.

At all.

Parents need to say NO to their own intrusive interviews.
Parents need to say NO to allowing their children to be interviewed unless a parent is present.
Parents need to say NO if their child is asked an inappropriate question.
Parents need to say NO to paying ANYTHING period unless the issue is addressed.

NOTHING will ever change, why the hell would it, unless the PARENTS of these children stand up and protect them. Anything done by anyone else may get some TV time but it will not change the way LDSInc works. Parents need to get through their heads that THEY are in charge of THEIR children (and themselves). Not LDSInc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2018 05:44PM by Susan I/S.

You are so right Susan... its really good to see you here.

That is correct. Parents are complicit.

Quick story-- parents found out I was living a less than chaste life in high school. Won't go into details, but essentially they forced me into talking with my bishop by telling threatening to tell him first if I didn't set a meeting up by myself.

Yes I was asked about specifics regarding sex and masturbation and pornography etc. No other abuse.

Can't believe how many parents are probably like my own, HUGE ADVOCATES FOR YOUNG KIDS AND TEENS GETTING ONE ON ONE SEX TALKS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WITH AN OLD MAN.

Yes parents are complicit-- but they're brainwashed too and need to see the GA's make a move before they'll realize it! (some of them hopefully see through it already)

The problem is that if the parents refuse then they are not in accordance with the LDS leadership and will be ostracized. It is sickening.

"The problem is that if the parents refuse then they are not in accordance with the LDS leadership and will be ostracized."

And parents are not willing to take the hit. Till PARENTS are willing to stand up and say NO and vote with their dollars it is not going to change. There can be no class action suit when the legal guardians not only allow but encourage and demand. They are THEIR children. They need to stop being scared sheeple and start being responsible PARENTS.

The bishop is God's local representative - hence his questioning of someone's children is God-authorized and not to be second-guessed by mere mortals - even parents. This kind of thinking serves to reinforce the parent's testimony - hence the children & the bishop's interview are incorporated into the parents faith-reinforcement mechanism.


Perfectly diabolical - and few parents will "take the hit".

What level of abuse needs to be in place before this becomes a class action law suit? I would gladly sign up. I suffered at the hands of Bishops on behalf of the LDS leadership.

I wonder about that as well. If a school principal asked a child about his or her masturbation habits, the principal would lose his job. Why is it okay for a bishop to do that? If a child were being questioned on a sensitive matter by a physician or a police officer, a parent or advocate for that child would be present. Children do not abandon all rights due to their status as minors.

The Salt Lake Tribune (Ethan Dodge) points out the contrast in numbers of petition signers: 120,000 Mos in 24 hrs to amend Monson's obit vs roughly 1/10 that number for Sam's Stop Abusing Children petition.
Shows where true priorities lie.
Human tithe.

I bet some Bishops in Houston, Texas, and elsewhere, have stopped or are rethinking the issue after being contacted by concerned-member-parents who have brought it up, after he brought it up and shed light on it.

I brought it up to a friend today and he told of his terrible youth experiences on the matter. He also mentioned a boy he knew killing himself over the church's GAY bashing, guilt trips and humiliating torture in interviews and in the pews.

Sam is doing it for the kids (his grandkids namely). His children must be grateful. His grandchildren will someday thank him.

Mormon leaders - and [clueless] members - are asking him to stop, saying he is trying to tarnish the ’church's' reputation (and he is saying to the church to stop, that it is the one causing harm by allowing this archaic and perverted practice to continue) -Joseph Smith did that ALL BY HIMSELF.

ALL TOO COMMON in Mormonism, the parents are complicit, as has been mentioned already.

This concept of tarnishing the name of the church needs to stop.

If what the church is doing is good, right, and moral then they should applaud and celebrate that it is being shared with the world.

The only way this tarnishes the name of the church is if the church and their bishops are doing shady, dirty, immoral things. On second thought, that is probably why they are so upset.

TSCC, whether purposefully or not, undermines parents' confidence in their own ability to parent. That lack of confidence allows parents to comfortably abdicate their responsibility to someone whom they feel has greater knowledge and spiritual power. This is one of the pernicious effects of religion.

So true auntsukey

Sam is therefore helping the children AND the parents, whether they know it (now) or not.

I'm trying to figure out why so many Mormon parents are in favor of the interviews and it must be that they want to scare their kids into 'being good' by the wrath of God. They must think (they are brainwashed) that being held accountable in bishop interviews will be more effective than parenting alone.

I really hope more parents can snap out of it. But that would take realizing the church is a sham altogether.

I applaud Sam Young and I signed the petition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF8BYINOny0&feature=youtu.be

3:40 Sam reads a letter from a father whose son took his own life due to struggles with being "worthy".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2018 07:31PM by auntsukey.

Full steam ahead!

I know I am a little late to this whole discussion and confess I do not know all the details - to that I apologize for my potential ignorant question.

That being said -- I admire the OP for his efforts, but question why he remains a member of this horrible church. Can someone enlighten me?

Just curious how far and wide his campaign is getting disseminated?

Not sure.

Here is his blog:

https://invisiblescubit.wordpress.com/author/invisiblesam4/

I get the whole premise of youths getting weird-ed out by intimate sexual questions asked by their Bishop, but you parents better think again if you think your young daughter or son is going to come to you and talk about their sexual "sins", aint gona happen and most of you know it

Why would I want them to talk to me about their "sins?" I'd rather have a frank conversation with them about how I can help them be safe and what they are struggling with in their life that bothers them regardless of anything they consider "sins."

The whole concept of this is abhorrent to me and makes me think being a parent is like being a prison guard and enforcer instead of loving supporter for my children.

Why is sexuality sinful?

I hate that word, "sin". It's a word that someone else uses to shame you, embarrass you, guilt you, control you.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as "sin".

There are mistakes, choices that aren't in one's own best interest, thoughtlessness, cruelty, inconsideration for others.

But "sin" is an archaic concept that ought to be stricken from our language.

most of my children no longer attend church because of the guilt that they felt as children due to interviews.

It really was my last straw. I vowed to myself to never sit through another Sunday meeting. I got up and walked out every time until my father gave up.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2018 06:55PM by donbagley.

Good for Sam.
He's so going to be ex'd, though. :(

All I was saying is most kids aint going to their parents to fess up to having sex. I didnt mean to say it was sinful, I quoted "sins" because this whole conversation is about confessing to the Bishop

I get your point. Few kids are going to talk to their parents about sexual things.

But that doesn't mean they should talk to their bishop. I know that's not what you meant but if they can't talk to parents they certainly ought not talk to the bishop - unless he was someone the child trusted and sought out on his or her own.

I guess it all comes down to what Heavenly Father wants. Does he want us to have a Church where perverts can become licensed predators to pounce on vulnerable children by continuing these 1:1 adult:children interviews where questions about sex come up? Or do we have a Church where the children are protected? I don't know what the future holds on this. But what I do know is that the answer on what happens will become an important part of our glorious missionary message.

I'd write more on this except for the fact I need to go out and do some contacting of neighbors to try to get them interested in taking the missionary lessons. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm well-indoctrinated by the glorious Correlation program to eschew all Doubts, I would be embarrassed to tell them that our Church is a safe place for perverts to be licensed predators to destroy the lives of children because that's how Heavenly Father wants it. But because I'm incapable of allowing any Doubts to seriously enter my mind its all wondrously lovely.

NEWS CONFERENCE in Houston tomorrow. Many inside the church are siding with him (doing the right thing) and defending his position.

He may be exxxed and he knows that but he is sticking up for the youth. At least SOMEONE is!

God

M@t