worthiness interview - wasmormon.org

Mormon Abuse Helpline

The LDS Church claims its abuse helpline instructs bishops to follow reporting laws, yet in Arizona, while clergy may keep abuse confessions confidential, they are not required to, and are even legally protected if they report. Despite this, the helpline advised the bishop not to report the abuse. In practice, the helpline serves less to protect victims and more to shield the institution, keeping abuse cases “in-house.” This approach effectively circumvents law enforcement, protecting the church rather than the victims. | wasmormon.org

In 2022, an Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed that officials of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints failed to prevent or report the sexual abuse of children by a church member in Arizona over seven years. The report detailed how church leaders were informed of the abuse but did not notify law enforcement, …

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Sam Young Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

Sam Young discovered that his children had been asked sexually explicit questions by Bishops in worthiness interviews. This troubled him and he discovered that it is commonplace among Mormon Bishops to ask these questions, which lead to real harm. He advocated for protecting children from this harm and campaigned for church leaders to stop the …

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John Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

John was a golden convert. He found comfort in the certainty. He also found the authority of the church exacerbated his anxiety into a real OCD and religious scrupulosity. The high-control authoritarian system was incredibly unhealthy for him throughout adolescence and a mission. John acknowledges that some may blame his OCD, but he knows it …

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Apostles Discuss Reasons For Lifting the Priesthood Ban

Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine? "I don't know that it's possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet... I'm not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood." - Elder Dallin H Oaks, AP interview. Provo Daily Herald June 5 1988 | wasmormon.org

There has been a lot of discussion in Mormondom regarding race and the priesthood. The church denied the priesthood from black members (specifically those of African descent) from the 1850s until 1978. They did not relent through the end of slavery, through the proposed State of Deseret joining the United States as Utah, and through …

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Byron Marchant, Accused Dissident, Unjustifiably Excommunicated for Opposing Priesthood Ban in 1977

Byron Marchant, opposed the church policy of withholding the priesthood from blacks, and voted opposed in General Conference, October 1977. He was quickly excommunicated. The priesthood ban was lifted in June 1978 and the Official Declaration 2 was canonized in the next General Conference, October 1978. | wasmormon.org

Among the first votes of dissent in the modern Mormon church occurred in 1977, in opposition to the church doctrine banning blacks from any priesthood ordination and temple endowment. A member voted opposed to sustaining church leadership in General Conference 1977 and was subsequently excommunicated. Then less than 1 year later the church downgraded the …

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