I will begin by saying: The existence of sex abuse is not evidence of an untrue Church. It is the existence of Church-sanctioned coverups which proves the Church untrue.
There are many examples.
The Church’s handbook has a guide for Bishops and Stake Presidents to whom abuse is reported. It goes like this:
A member of the Church goes to his bishop. Feeling guilty, he admits to sexually abusing his child. The Bishop follows the guide. The handbook requires the bishop to call the helpline. Not the authorities.
What is the helpline? Who answers the call?
Attorneys for the Church’s law firm, Kirton & McConkie, answer the phone, instructing leaders to keep the abuse quiet. Do not report the abuse to any authorities.
In 2013, Paul Douglas Adams was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His fellow members didn’t know why. Only his bishop knew.
His daughter, M.J., was five years old when Adams revealed to his bishop that he was routinely sexually abusing her. The bishop followed his priesthood orders: he called the helpline. The Church’s lawyers answered the call. They forbade him from reporting the abuse to authorities. Bishop Herrod was told that he could “absolutely [could] do nothing.” [1]
For seven more years, Paul Douglas Adams raped his daughter. During those seven years, another child was born. He raped her too. He recorded the abuse and posted it on the internet.
In 2017, Homeland Security, after discovering the recorded abuse, arrested Adams. They did so with absolutely no assistance from the LDS Church. Adams committed suicide in custody some time afterwards.
For seven years, Church leaders knew about the rapes and did nothing.
For seven years, Church’s lawyers knew about the rapes, and commanded Adams’ leaders to do nothing.
Three of Adams’ six children filed suit against the Church. In response to the lawsuit, William Maledon, Arizona attorney representing the bishops involved and the Church, denied any wrongdoing.
“These bishops did nothing wrong. They didn’t violate the law, and therefore they can’t be held liable.” [2]
He went even further, calling the case a “money grab.”
This case is not a unique one. Floodlit.org, an organization which seeks to shine a light on covered-up sexual abuse cases in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has published over 170 cases of sexual abuse which the Church has failed to report to police. In these cases, abuse was allowed to continue, under the direction of Church leaders and lawyers.
For an organization run by Christ Himself, there is a suspicious amount of covered-up sexual abuse. Why should Christ allow His Church leaders to hide abuse? Why would He command them to report abuse to His lawyers, if that abuse was still ongoing?
A true Church of Jesus Christ would not do that.
A true Church of Jesus Christ would value the life of a five year old child above its public image. A true Church of Jesus Christ would stop abuse the second it’s discovered. No later. No exceptions.
The Spirit of Discernment
The men of the Church, convicted of these crimes, are in positions of leadership. They hold callings. They attend the temple.
They’ve sat in meetings with the Bishop, the Stake President, High Councilors, and no one, not a single one of those men, noticed anything. No one, not a single one of them, discerned the abuse which the men were hiding.
The Spirit of Discernment is a common belief among Mormons. Bishops and Stake Presidents can tell if a person is lying. They can “discern” the inner person.
The scriptures talk about the “discerning of spirits” as a gift of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10; D&C 46:23). It means “to understand or know something through the power of the Spirit. … It includes perceiving the true character of people and the source and meaning of spiritual manifestations” (Guide to the Scriptures, “Discernment, Gift of,” scriptures.lds.org).
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught that the gift of discernment can help us (1) “detect hidden error and evil in others,” (2) “detect hidden errors and evil in ourselves,” (3) “find and bring forth the good that may be concealed in others,” and (4) “find and bring forth the good that may be concealed in us” (“Quick to Observe,” Liahona, Dec. 2006, 19).[3]
The Gift of Discernment is the primary reason for worthiness councils with the Bishop and Stake President. It’s the reason for temple recommend interviews. The leaders of the Church are supposed to be able to know if the member in front of them is doing something wrong.
They are not so good at doing that.
Of the hundreds of men who were found guilty of abusing children in their wards and stakes, not one leader took notice. The gift of discernment was turned off.
I will cite two other extreme examples.
Mark Hofmann:
Mark Hofmann, the forger, the murderer, met with Church leaders on several occasions. Never once did they discern his lies, his murders, or his forgeries, and, they even purchased several of his forgeries.
On the very same day that Hofmann bombed and killed two innocent people, he met privately with Dallin H. Oaks just two hours later. Oaks knew nothing of the incident. He continued to know nothing of the incident until Hofmann was arrested.
“Mark W. Hofmann was a rare documents dealer and skilled forger who exploited public interest in Latter-day Saint and American history by selling authentic, altered, and forged historical documents in the early 1980s. In 1985, apparently worried his fraud might be detected, Hofmann used homemade bombs to murder two people, including one of his clients.”[4]
We know this, now, but not because of the righteous discernment of the Lord’s chosen servants.
Ted Bundy
Ted Bundy was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1975. He’d already killed at least 5 women. [5]
His missionaries, his ward Bishop, his Stake President, his area’s mission president, his Elder’s quorum president—none of them—not a single one of them—knew about his crimes. The spirit of God was absent that year.
These may be major examples, but the point is clear: there is no Spirit of Discernment in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are told to trust their judgements. When a person is called to teach a primary class, we know that he or she is the right person for the job: they can’t be creepy. They’re certainly not attracted to children. They don’t have a secret perversion. We know that, not because of a background check or a polygraph. We know that, because the men interviewing them say so! And they should know. They have the Spirit of Discernment. The same Spirit of Discernment that didn’t recognize Ted Bundy’s crimes. That didn’t recognize Mark Hofmann’s lies and murders.
We have no reason, no responsibility, to trust the judgments of the leaders of the Church, for the Spirit of Discernment does not exist in the Church of Jesus Christ.
[1] Herrod recounted this event during an interview with law enforcement, which was subsequently published by Michael Rezendes in the Associated Press on Aug. 4, 2022.
[2] Michael Rezendes, “Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen,” Associated Press, 4 Aug. 2022
[3] Liahona, “What is the gift of discernment,” 2018
[4] Church History Topics, “Hofmann Forgeries”
[5] Stephen G. Michaud, Hugh Aynesworth, The Only Living Witness, 1999
