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...yeah...nothing..like say..calling the police and CPS? Instead, the Bishop will possibly hear horrible details of sexual abuse visited upon an innocent child...and then watch as the perpetrator gets in his car and drives home..to give his victim a bath and a cuddle!As a Mormon, I have never been in the position of having to seek religious counsel with regard to a sin that involves serious illegality, so I can only speak in fairly abstract terms.
The Mormon view of repentance and salvation requires one to turn away from the sin, and to make every reasonable effort to make amends. It is not at all like how I perceive (possibly incorrectly) the Catholic idea that you can be absolved of a sin merely by confessing it to a priest and doing some minor penance. The Mormon needs for confidentiality between a confessed sinner and a clergyman is probably somewhat different than the Catholic version, but no less valid.
With regard to something as serious as sexual child abuse, this is not a matter over which a Mormon is going to find any easy absolution. The Bishop, in dealing with such a sin, will certainly offer what hep he can in helping the sinner to overcome it, to make whatever amends need to be made, and to prevent it from being repeated. It is very likely that this will require the offender to turn himself in to legal authorities, and face whatever legal consequence will result from his behavior. But that is his place to do, not the Bishop's.
And for a sin this serious, failure to fully repent, (which, again, may require submitting to legal justice) will very likely result in excommunication.
There's really not much more than that that the church can do, or should rationally be expected to do.
The confessional (anonymity/confidentiality) cannot be violated. If a priest reported a penitent, he would be defrockedI'm all for confessions being kept private. But I think even Jesus would be willing to forgive a priest reporting someone diddling kids to the cops. I would imagine a priest would be morally compelled to do it regardless of his faith because that is one inexcusable crime.
Any of them. One can confess to murder..to a Priest..and he cannot be compelled to testify. What is interesting about this is that in the LDS church..all men are priests. Thus, if one confesses to another...the guy cannot be compelled to testify?
The Mormon church has been corrupt for decades.... where do you think they got their power? In the 70s and 80s by overseeing Vegas .
They ALLOWED the mob to come in and do their thing.
But until the FBI finally infiltrated with Howard Hughes buying up casinos....etc.. the State of Nevada commissioners and other officials.... they were OWNED by the Mormons....they made billions....then branched off to real estate, healthcare and everything else.
While the mafia was literally laundering their money straight to the Vatican and kick back to Chicago and New York of course the Mormons were building a huge church of their own tax free empire .
Its a religious exemption from state law. Its bullshit.
You are not displaying common sense, and you do not know science, apparently. No drag queen will shoot a child in school today.A drag show is about sex.
And if it is not about sex, it would not be about a man dressing as a woman
Children are not developed well enough to take sexual development, that comes later
They don't need to have a lap dance done by a man with an mustache dressed in a flimsy dress
Wait.................why am I even wasting my time here? This is just common sense and facts of science.
I'm talking to lunatics.
Never mind.
So you slander Decker. Every LDS Bishop I have known would have called the police immediately, as this Bishop should have.I hadn't read the actual article, until just now. This jumped out at me, about the lower ruling which was just overturned…
Cochise County Superior Court Judge Laura Cardinal ruled on August 8 that Adams had waived his right to keep a 2010 confession to Bishop John Herrod secret.“Taken together, Adams’ overt acts demonstrate a lack of repentance and a profound disregard,” Cardinal said in her ruling. “His acts can only be characterized as a waiver of the clergy penitent privilege.”In Arizona, the clergy is required to report any information about child sexual abuse or neglect to law enforcement or child welfare authorities.The only exception to the law is a loophole known as the “clergy-penitent privilege.” This allows members of a church who learn of abuse through spiritual confessions to keep it secret to enable followers to confess their sins without fear of perjury.
It seems to me, here, that Judge Cardinal made a big error, in second-guessing the Bishops, and in presuming to make a call that was not hers to make. It is the place of the Bishop dealing with a sinner to judge whether the sinner is truly repentant, and on that basis, to make the determination as to how church policy will be applied. Now, granted, some more recent behavior on the part of the sinner seems to very well support the premise on which Judge Cardinal made this ruling, but still, however blatant, that simply wasn't her call to make.
Adams posted videos of himself sexually abusing his daughters online and boasted about his crimes on social media. He confessed to federal law enforcement officers in 2017, revealing that the church had known about the abuse for years.
I think it is a safe bet that Mr. Adam either has already been, or very soon will be, excommunicated from the church. Perhaps he already knew that this outcome was going to happen, having resisted every effort by his Bishops to help him to repent. He would certainly not be the first instance of a severe, unrepentant sinner, excommunicated from the church, who tried to blame the church for the consequences, and made efforts to retaliate against the church in some way or another.
Ed Decker comes immediately to mind. A man who has made a successful profession and career out of slandering Mormonism. As a matter of policy, the church rarely reveals the reason for an excommunication, but the public records of Decker's divorce around that time established, as legal fact, his pattern of abusing and neglecting his wife and children, in a manner that would certainly lead to excommunication.
Ok, I do have words. And im sure many of you know what they are..
On April 7, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can refuse to report child sex abuse if the abuser confesses to the crime in a confessional setting.
This is one big load of BS. This is nothing more than special rights for the religious. AZ law requires you to report child abuse. Unless you tell a man in a robe in a church. SMH
Thank you for such a reasoned response. I do think the policy for the LDS sinner is (1) that you do have to confess to your Bishop, and (2) that he will inform the police.I should disclaim, here, that although I am a Mormon, and have been so all my life, my knowledge of these sort of details about the church's policies are not all that solid. I've never had occasion to be involved in such matters of such seriousness.
Also, I am not authorized nor qualified to act as a spokesman for my church.
I understand, about the Catholics, that they regard the confessional as absolutely sacred, and that it is considered a very severe sin for a priest to ever reveal what has been confessed no matter what circumstances.
I don't know that we are that strict, and I rather doubt that we are, but I can certainly understand, within the scope of what I do know and understand, why the church would not want to surrender this discretion to the state. If it is ever acceptable, within church policy, for a Bishop to inform law enforcement about matters that have been confessed to him (and I do not know if it ever is or not) I can see why the church would take the position that this is a call to be made at that Bishop's discretion, and not by that of any outside authority.
I don't know about Arizona, but in my state all counselors and clergy are mandatory reporters. If they are made aware of any abuse or of a pending crime, even in a confidential setting, they are required by law to report it to the authorities.I think I've pretty much established my utter contempt for the LDS cult.
But there's nothing wrong with this ruling. The Clergy-Penitent privilege is FIRMLY ESTABLISHED black letter law.
If you confess to a priest in confession that you are going to murder someone, they are required to report it in those states where they are mandatory reporters.Any of them. One can confess to murder..to a Priest..and he cannot be compelled to testify. What is interesting about this is that in the LDS church..all men are priests. Thus, if one confesses to another...the guy cannot be compelled to testify?
How con-venient for pedo priests.The confessional (anonymity/confidentiality) cannot be violated. If a priest reported a penitent, he would be defrocked
At least that is the way the REAL Catholic Church does it. Who knows what the chaotic heretic Francis has his clergy do....
