No Findings of Abuse

[Anonymous]

Jeff Barryman.  Since you are very involved with PURE, I assume you are not concerned about the same type of programs that PURE refers to? I've read allegations of abuse at different times in regards to the Programs that pay this referral company.

[Anonymous]

I think what happens, from talking to Mormon friends, is that Mormons are used to a certain amount of discrimination and prejudice from the outside world, it makes them a bit clannish (understandably), and it makes them inclined to over-estimate the likelihood that bad accusations against a fellow "Saint" are born out of prejudice rather than out of the genuine bad acts of some bad person(s) using the Mormon religion as protective camouflage to get away with stuff.

As a Wiccan, I can understand that.  You experience a certain amount of discrimination, and when someone of your religion claims discrimination, your initial tendency is to believe them.  And a lot of times that initial tendency is right.

I don't think it's that most Mormons think child abuse is okay.  I think it's that they don't believe the allegations, for the reasons I just stated, and that the public awareness campaign is the most likely thing to change that over the long term---it's just taking longer to get through the fog.

A good Mormon wouldn't do some of the terrible things some of these places do anymore than a good Christian, a good Buddhist, or a good Wiccan would.

Bad Mormons are cynically playing the Good Mormons like a fiddle.  Keep hammering at the truth and sooner or later the Good Mormons will wake up to it.

Timoclea

[spirithelps]

I'm not against Mormons, I live amongst them.  As you say, some are good and some are bad just like in any group.  So, what the Mormons here have said is that sexual abuse of young girls is just a fact of life, not that some condone it, it just seems to happen to all of them, so why shouldn't it happen to the girls in the schools in Utah.

However, the Mormons are inter-connected through years of marriages in a closed state.  This directly reflects on their investigations 'cause they might be investigating a cousin, uncle, etc.  When one of theirs is suspect, they stand with the suspect due to bloodlines.

Toni

[Deborah]

The only thing I'd add to that is that there is a concern, even among some Mormons who are researching this, that child abuse is consistently higher in Utah than in the nation as a whole. There are many links in this thread:

http://www.fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.ph ... 25&forum=9

[Jeff_Berryman]

On 2004-09-26 20:40:00, Anonymous wrote:

"Jeff Barryman.  Since you are very involved with PURE, I assume you are not concerned about the same type of programs that PURE refers to? I've read allegations of abuse at different times in regards to the Programs that pay this referral company.  "

I'm not going to answer this posting as long as it's anonymous.  Identify yourself and maybe I'll reply.

[kcadams1980]

Now, I don't have anything against Mormons per se, but  I can't honestly say that I haven't become a little bit wary of them - inadvertantly - from being at Cross Creek.  I was raised in a very Irish Catholic family - I had never even been to a Baptist service (let alone a Mormon one) - so the religious aspect of CCM was also a major culture shock for me.  I don't know about the other programs, but at Cross Creek a lot of the staff/therapists were this weird brand of Mormon, it seemed like.... I can tell you that I learned more about Joseph Smith & Brigham Young than I ever would have otherwise! There were several girls (who didn't have strong religious backgrounds like me) who became LDS "converts" while in the program - as innocuous as this may seems to someone else, it made me very paranoid! The female staff were the strangest, I think - there was this overriding notion among them that if you weren't married & popped out 6 kids, then you weren't really *worth* anything as a woman.  They were always making comments and such alluding to this.  What kind of example is that to set for a bunch of impressionable teenage girls?

[Deborah]

http://amazingforums.com/forum/BS4/243.html

Matt Marsh  posted 9/27/04 10:42 PM        
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Yep, its true! Casa is going to reopen in a few weeks. The employees who were left and didn't move or go to new jobs are being called back to clean the place up and Mexico has allowed them to reopen the program. They already have a list of about 80 parents who will either be sending their kids or resending their kids back down there. If you want more info or have any more, please contact me through email, or my AIM... chickenfeet37. Thanks. Keep it posted!

[Anonymous]

Well, lets wait and see. Narvin has been re-opening Dundee for some two years now.