this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
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Paul Rytting listened as a woman, voice quavering, told him her story.

When she was a child, her father, a former bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had routinely slipped into bed with her while he was aroused, she said.

It was March 2017 and Rytting offered his sympathies as 31-year-old Chelsea Goodrich spoke. A Utah attorney and head of the church’s Risk Management Division, Rytting had spent about 15 years protecting the organization, widely known as the Mormon church, from costly claims, including sexual abuse lawsuits.

Audio recordings of the meetings over the next four months, obtained by The Associated Press, show how Rytting, despite expressing concern for what he called John’s “significant sexual transgression,” would employ the risk management playbook that has helped the church keep child sexual abuse cases secret. In particular, the church would discourage Miller from testifying, citing a law that exempts clergy from having to divulge information about child sex abuse that is gleaned in a confession. Without Miller’s testimony, prosecutors dropped the charges, telling Lorraine that her impending divorce and the years that had passed since Chelsea’s alleged abuse might prejudice jurors.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 85 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And the same is likely true with virtually every other large denomination and probably a lot of small ones too, because those who preach morality the loudest are often the most hypocritical.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 30 points 11 months ago (13 children)

The point of any church is to centralize wealth and power. Otherwise why bother with the bureaucracy, the buildings, and the mandatory meetings?

The problem with centralizing wealth and power is that it attracts people who prioritize wealth and power. The problem compounds itself by making it ridiculously easy for basically any man (men, usually and specifically) to become leaders with basically no qualifications necessary other than claims of faith and a little bit of charisma.

People who wish to abuse power (e.g. for personal sexual satisfaction) will seek institutions that already have power that readily and easily allow it to be abused. Churches have always been their perfect home, always ready and willing to accept new abusers into their flock.

Religion and piety are the easiest things to lie about. No qualifications necessary! In fact, you can work your way all the way to the top of any religion and count on it to protect your abuse at every step of the way because publicly acknowledging that abuse happens is really bad for any religion or religious institution.

Once you get higher into the organization you'll learn about other bad things the church and its people have done and be able to use that knowledge to blackmail others and maybe even hold the entire institution hostage! It's how big, rich church leaders are made!

I don't know what the solution is but I can say that so far the best defense against sexual abuse in general is to avoid church and religious institutions.

[–] AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Do you really think that church and religion is the primary source of child abuse? You sweet summer child.

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[–] Jonny@kbin.social 75 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You gotta be pretty evil to need a law that protects you from having to divulge child sexual abuse (or any serious crime).

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 70 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The Mormon church is not setup into separate regional entities like that catholics have done. Their billions are all vulnerable to lawsuits. Instead they have a pet lawfirm that often recommends illegal and unethical practices to squash lawsuits. If the case looks to be going badly they toss higher and higher settlement numbers to get out of it. They do not want to go through discovery and have to disclose exactly how much money they have (est. several hundred billion)It's been an extremely effective solution so far.

For example: At one point they made up more than 50% of the boyscouts. They had less checks and protocols for keeping pedophile's out. They completely dodged all the large lawsuits because they were much better at hiding the horrendous amount of abuse.

The Mormon owned universities have rampant sexual assault issues. You rarely see them reported because the victims are punished for coming forward. The university police force is used to suppress these reports as well.

[–] twisted28@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

These religious zealots only desire the right to have sex with children.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well the founder of the religion raped a 14 year old. Subsequent leaders raped 14-15 year olds routinely. They didn't stop officially until the early 1900's when the federal government stepped in. Splinter groups continue to rape teens and children today (Warren Jeff's is in jail for it today.)

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

No, dude, but she wasn't 14, she was a few months shy of her 15th birthday. It's totally okay, that was normal at the time, c'mon, give Brother Joe a break!

[–] alienanimals@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

Churches need to start paying taxes. They regularly commit crimes, influence politics, and make absurd amounts of money.

[–] mydude@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Every structure that is based on authority will have abuse on various levels of it's structure. Be it church, police, politicians, secret societies, etc. This is because some people trust others, some people have power over others. This relationship will always be abused.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Yes, all of those things need to be either demolished or significantly overhauled. Especially, organized religions, and mostly in the former category.

[–] trackcharlie@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 11 months ago

Mormons abusing children just like every other religion? Wow, shocker, I'm so surprised that an organization specifically created to dupe and control people would abuse their authority to hurt children.

So shocking.

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