In this weeks episode of Mormonism LIVE, RFM and Bill Reel delve into some debauchery among past Mission Presidents. What they find is a common theme creating a pattern of bad behavior learning once again that unethical behavior can be made righteous within Mormonism.
RESOURCES:
https://byteline.blogspot.com/2007/09/sects-and-violence-part-5-continued.html
https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V21N03_29.pdf
https://www.exmormon.org/d6/drupal/France-and-Polygamous-Mormon-Missionaries
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/8fbs7u/1980s_australia_sydney_mission_prez_was_aspiring/
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/deseretnews/name/orson-wright-obituary?pid=186032306
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/8f98mh/philander_knox_smartt_the_excommunicated_puerto/
https://voices.uchicago.edu/religionculture/2018/05/20/1522/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/04/26/the-case-of-puerto-rico-when-the-mormon-church-promptly-removed-a-mission-president-who-deceived-and-victimized-young-female-missionaries/
https://universe.byu.edu/2018/04/27/mormon-church-kicks-out-man-who-supervised-young-women/
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See this great article for why abusers get away with it– and why it is they appear as good people. It’s their currency; it’s what they do. So of course they fool us.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/09/24/in-plain-view
The church does protect leaders who are super supportive and uber-mormon for the church. After 8 years of marriage my wife at the time told me that her father had sexually molested her when she was 18. He had served as bishop several times and in at least one stake presidency. I told her we should tell her mom and the church leaders. The way her dad explained it to her mom, he made it sound like it was my wife’s fault. When we told the church leaders, they held a disciplinary council but there was no discipline whatsoever. They said because he has done “so much good” in the 10 years since it happened (serving as a high councilman, helping establish a new ward, etc), they felt he was repentant and there was no need for discipline. My ex-father in law is always concerned with how he and his family are viewed in the church and what others would think of him. He has since served as bishop and is now in a bishopric I think.
There’s a damaging deference to authority taught and ingrained (dare I say indoctrinated) into the membership.
One need only look at the journals and letters of the early polygamist women to see how badly victimized they were and yet how defensive they were of the church, its leaders and even their abusers.
Its Mormonism’s own version of Stockholm Syndrome.
Mormon women are eternal virgins/eternally innocent. If they get “seduced” its always some evil male. Poor little girls. They just couldn’t fight off these old dirty men.
RFM! After listening to your episode on 2nd Annointing as well as podcasts within the community about senior leaders like Pres Bishop that receive no punishment for behaving badly, I’m wondering if it can be tied to being untouchable because their Calling and Election was made sure.
Would you be willing to talk about this sometime?
Ohhh…Philander (or is it Philander..er..now?)…I haven’t heard that name in years or that family…his Papa, was my SP for a very short time…and he was…well…an acquired taste. Typical product of 1950’s ideals on women as property, in the kitchen, kids obey the daddy or else, ERA is evil, etc…somehow I am not surprised by Philander III, though I did not meet him…I did however meet some of the younger siblings…two were pretty cool, one was completely full of himself…but yeah, my experiences as a whole with this family, was enough to keep me away from them….