Most men who are called to positions of authority in the Church are kind, caring individuals. I have seen miracles performed by Church leaders who served members with love and compassion. Many bishops and branch presidents serve faithfully and tirelessly. They reach out to the elderly, sick, widowed, poor, and needy. Faith-filled Church leaders—and members—become instruments in God’s hands when they serve others.
Unfortunately, some leaders misuse the authority they receive. Some bully members into compliance. Others lure members into dishonest financial schemes. Some are physically or sexually abusive. Studies demonstrate that faith communities are even more vulnerable to abuse than secular environments since 93% of sex offenders describe themselves as “religious” and they tend to have more victims and younger victims.[1]
Studies indicate that up to 38% of women and 16% of men were molested before turning 18 years old.[2] In an extensive research study of many religious denominations that included Latter-day Saints, Dr. Diane R. Garland found that 32 members of congregations that average 400 members have experienced clergy sexual misconduct.[3]
Sexual predators often target churches because the church provides them with easy access to victims, because members tend to trust their leaders and to assume that the church is a safe place, and because perpetrators are often supported or quickly forgiven by the Church when victims report abuse.
Current LDS policies create a culture that encourages and protects ecclesiastical abusers. Some include:
- Teaching members that they should trust their leaders explicitly
- Dismissing reports of ecclesiastical sexual and physical abuse
- Assuming that some abuse victims are responsible for being abused
- Punishing those who report abuse by blaming, silencing or shaming them
- Presuming that abusers are not guilty unless convicted in a court
- Failing to adequately train leaders and members on abuse recognition, avoidance, reporting, and treatment.
When an abuser is called as a church leader—or when a church leader becomes an abuser— they can use their position to groom victims. Predators can target people of any age and tend to seek out those who are vulnerable, trusting, and naïve. Child, youth, and adults can be more easily abused since many believe that their leaders and teachers are trustworthy.
Some ways that some ecclesiastical predators groom victims include:
- Paying special attempt to the victim and making him or her feel special
- Convincing the victim that the predator can be trusted[4]
- Asking the victim to share concerns, fears and even details of sexual trauma which should only be revealed in a professional counseling setting
- Telling the victim that the predator has special insight into their needs and feelings which others lack
- Isolating the victim by creating situations where they are alone together
- Breaking down a victim’s natural defenses until he can coerce or manipulate the victim to do his/her bidding
- Conditioning a child to become used to various degrees of physical touch and intimacy
- Sharing secrets with the adult victim, ie., saying that they are unhappily married and would have married the victim if they had known them sooner; claiming that God would want them to share a sexual relationship; causing them to believe that the predator has received inspiration regarding them; convincing the victim that he or she is the love of predator’s life
- Manipulating the victim to tell no one about the abuse, ie., telling the victim that no one would believe what she said or that she could be punished for disclosing what happened
- Maintaining control by using threats or guilt to force continued participate and silence
- Grooming friends and family of the victim by convincing them that the perpetrator is a charming, faithful, trustworthy person to make certain that a victim’s report of abuse is discounted or ignored
No organization can prevent all incidents of sexual abuse. However, organizations, especially churches, can and should implement policies and procedures that better protect its members and promote recovery for abuse victims. The LDS Church can reduce the prevalence of serious abuse by:
- Providing a help line for victims of ecclesiastical abuse with skilled trauma counselors who are authorized to provide survivors with needed medical and mental health care and to hold perpetrators accountable.
- Training members on abuse recognition and avoidance.
- Instructing leaders that perpetrators—not victims– are responsible for abuse.
- Discontinuing practices or teachings that blame, shame or silence victims.[5]
- Eliminating one-on-one interviews that discuss sexually explicit questions with children.
- Teaching members to use discernment and caution in all of their interactions in and out of the Church.
- Preventing known perpetrators from holding Church positions where they can abuse others.
- Requiring a leader or parent to attend bishop interviews
- Requiring bishops to refer all members who need psychological counseling to skilled professionals.
Most Church members and leaders are compassionate and caring. However, some use their Church positions as a means to abuse others. We pray that the Church will make essential procedural and policy changes to better protect its members from abuse and to ensure that its leaders help—and do not harm— survivors of ecclesiastical abuse.
1. Ann Salter, Ph.D., Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, And Other Sex Offenders, 2004.
2. Nora Harlow, M.D., and Gene G. Abel, Stop Child Molestation Book, 2001.
3. Diane Garland, Ph.D., “The Prevalence of Clergy Sexual Misconduct with Adults: A Research Study,” Baylor University, 2008. https://www.baylor.edu/clergysexualmisconduct/index.php?id=67406
4. In the LDS Church, this is additional problematic, since members are taught that all local leaders have been called by God. For example, see President Henry B. Eyring’s October 2017, General Conference talk in which he quoted Elder James B. Faust, who said: “We … need to support and sustain our local leaders, because they … have been ‘called and chosen.’ Every member of this Church may receive counsel from a bishop or a branch president, a stake or a mission president, and the President of the Church and his associates.”
5. Examples include excommunicating victims or members who report or document ecclesiastical abuse, stating that victims are somehow responsible for the abuse they suffered, punishing the victim but not the perpetrator, forcing victims to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to receive help, and disclosing confidential Church information about victims.
Mark Scheffers, M.S.W., Child Trauma Assessment Center, Western Michigan University.
Joe E. Trull & James E. Carter, Ministerial Ethics: Being a Good Minister In A Not-So-Good World (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1993), 81.
Dr. Kris Helge and Bradley T. B. Toben, “Sexual Misconduct of Clergypersons with Congregants or Parishioners,” Clergy Sexual Misconduct and Prevention, Baylor University.
“Grooming Dynamic,” National Center for Prevention of Crime.
Rosemary Webb and Jennifer Mitchell, “A Profile of a Child Molester,” Child Lures Prevention, 2018.
Tim Challis, “Six Reasons Why Sexual Predators Target Churches,” 9 March 2015.