I doubt repression CAUSES pedophilia, but it doesn't prevent it or cure it.

Repression of any kind just leads to more secretive or imaginative ways around the repression.

Unnatural repression is going to cause SOMETHING - an out of control porn habit, excessive preoccupation with sexuality, neurosis, anxiety, any one of a variety of unhealthy behaviors.

Agreed. But I think most pedophiles would still be pedophiles without repression. I think you have to be inclined that way from the start in order for the repression to push you that way instead of some other.

I'll be he stops smiling and smirking once he goes to prison.

You get this with untrained clergy. People rely on “discernment” to detect perverts. At the same time, the church is a feeding ground for predators. This guy should feel right at home in prison. There are predators there too.

My understanding is that sexual predators are despised by many of their fellow prisoners. I'm remembering that Father John Gahney (maybe I have the spelling of his last name wrong?), a Catholic priest accused of pedophilia, was killed in prison by some of his fellow inmates.

A grandfather, Bro. Murff, died in St. George in 2019, after a long life, much of it devoted to Mormonism. He was credited with leading over 100 people into the waters of baptism.

He had 13 children, one of whom was named Jesse. No middle name.

https://www.mcmillanmortuary.com/obituary/Jerry-Murff



Coincidence? Sure, why not?

Odds are that it's the guy, but those same odds point to him having become inactive, if not a resigned member.

Further inquiry shows the arrestee and the surviving son (both with the same name) have some of the same-named relatives in common, so we are approaching certainty. But again, I have found nothing indicative of his level of belief or participation in mormonism.

Just my opinion, but I think the longer Mormons stifle sexuality, the worse it explodes. Although there is the having many wives thing too.

A comment on the idea that this is because of lay-clergy.

I doubt it. This happens is churches with professional clergy too--and in families, among scout leaders, school teachers, family friends.

Having some training about how one should handle it when it comes to light would be nice for church leaders at the local level.

Even what is and isn't legal to reveal if told in confidence to a church leader such as Mormon Bishop would be good.

This did happen years ago when my husband was a bishop. He immediately hired a lawyer out of his own pocket to find out what was legal for him to do---when he reported the situation to the stake president, the lawyer was retained and my husband's expense reimbursed by the church. Apparently the confession he had heard could not be revealed by him---but this was a long time ago---so what is currently legal may have changed. However, he succeeded in talking the boy who had confessed into turning himself in. The girls he'd been molesting were protected by the mother, the boy ended up growing up and living a decent life, as far as we know.

So I gather sometimes it is covered up, swept under the rug, etc. and sometimes handled with sensitivity and responsiblity. I think that is probably true in every kind of situation where this does occur. Not just a Mormon thing. A people thing.

> A people thing.


For some reason, this popped into my mind: "Soylent Green is a people thing!"