I know most faithful Mormons would never sue their bishop but what if a bishop told a man to leave his wife because she resigned from the church? Could he be sued for alienation of affection? What about my nephew's bishop who was asking the nephew to text him every evening about whether or not the kid had masturbated that day? What if a nevermo dad found out the bishop was alone with his teen daughter, asking her very specific, sexually specific questions about her relationship with her boyfriend? What if a bishop fell asleep at the wheel driving youth home from a trek? (this happened in a friend's ward - thankfully the man woke up when the kids began to scream as he slid off the side of the pavement.) If someone had been hurt, could that bishop personally have lost his home and savings in a civil lawsuit?

What are the laws that protect lay clergy and what sort of risks does a man potentially take on when he becomes bishop - or takes any major ward calling? P.S. Just curious about this one, based on a comment about the scouting program made on another thread.

The leadership of the LDS church is not above the law, even though some may think so. It is evident through their nonrecognition of social boundaries that they consider themselves to be almost godlike.

Of course they could be sued personally. The problem is they would never tell the truth (such things as they may have made pastoral 'suggestions') and there would be claims of anonymity (I cant or wont remember because of confidentiality privledges)

Additionally there are problems with LDS witnesses (no pun intended) as they would say they did not see or hear something to protect LDS Inc.

These people could be sued, however IMO it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances.

Anyone can sue at anytime. The church may go to bat for you, but there isn't any promises made.

The last time they called my hubby to be scout leader he turned it down for that reason.

The previous scout leader had a boy who accidentally broke his leg when he fell off of a log. He was a non member. His parents sued the scout master. The church didn't help him out until late into the suit. In the meantime he lost his home, his car, and his wife.

There are people suing bishops. It wasn't long ago I was reading about one that was sued for not reporting a sex assault. These are untrained clergy. They don't know what they are doing most of the time. It's a law suit waiting to happen.

Who needs that kind of grief in your life?

I have no answers but could this be why the CHI is off limits and so damn secretive because it coaches leaders how to handle situations such as a man being encouraged to leave his apostate wife? Or what the asterisk on your church membership record means? The church NEVER takes responsibility for any of its damaging effects. My husband was contemplating attending law school at one time, and was told how important lawyers would be in the last days in saving the constitution, etc. To hell with them all! After being lawyered by my SP (who happens to litigate and defend the church professionally), I lost all respect for the church PERIOD. If I had an appendage, I would like to tell them what they could do to it.

When I was in YW we had to have our parents sign release forms when we went to off-site Mutual activities and camps, stating that the church and our ward leaders weren't accountable if we were injured or killed. I don't think they were very strict about it - I don't remember anyone being told they couldn't go ice skating with the rest of the Mia Maids if they didn't have their form - but they handed them out.

They were really strict about whose cars we could travel in, though. We could drive ourselves and our siblings in our own cars if we had a license, but we couldn't drive any of our friends unless we were 18.

I don't know if this was just something my ward took upon themselves to do or what. Anyone else know of something like this?