Last week, Bishop Sam Young was summoned to a “Court of Love” by his local Mormon Priesthood leaders. This was after his hunger strike to try and convince the 15 apostles, prophets, seers, and revelators, who lead the church, that allowing a grown man to ask children about sexually explicit topics in a closed room during “Worthiness Interviews” is harmful and dangerous.
Yesterday, during the monthly Fast and Testimony meeting, when members are invited to stand up and bear their testimony of the gospel, one member was speaking in support of Bishop Young’s message to Protect LDS Children. Local authorities stopped the speaker and physically removed him from the building.
Another speaker, McKenna Denson, rose to address the local congregation of Joseph Bishop, the man who, allegedly (and admitted on tape), sexually assaulted her at the Mission Training Center, when the man was the MTC president. She called for Mr. Bishop to be held accountable and for The Church to stop protecting sexual predators like Joseph Bishop. She was also stopped and physically removed from the building.
To members of the church, I am sure this seems like an inappropriate method and time to share these thoughts. To outsiders like myself, however, who follow these stories, it seems that Bishop Young and Ms. Denson have done their best to go through “approved” channels and have been rebuked with dismissal and silence at every turn.
To outsiders, that a man who admitted on tape to assaulting multiple women, Joseph Bishop, is allowed to keep his membership, his Priesthood, his covenants, and blessings while Sam Young is facing spiritual execution for doing everything he can to simply Protect LDS Children is grossly offensive. That this man is allowed to sit peacefully as a member in good standing and take the sacrament is repugnant and repulsive hypocrisy.
That when someone stands to speak up for the victims, they are silenced and removed.
What do you have to fear? Will you stand for the victims, or for their protectors?
“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.