Category: Abuse

Whack-a-Doodle Timelines, the Death of a Prophet, and a Massacre or Two

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse, Inclusion, Outreach, Politics, RaceLeave a comment

DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL STUCK on a timeline that is too confounding for words? Everything around me feels shoved into reverse as it stutters forward. Can a crab walk in two directions at the same time? Because it seems like anything can happen, especially if it makes no sense. And what does it signify when the people you’ve always known best are people you feel you don’t know at all? Is it only me? I doubt it. And that feels like the point. I need to slow down, start somewhere, so, because I’m the center of my own universe, let me start with Sunday morning, Sept. 28, 2025. I know what happened then. Not really. Oh, and it might be important to know (if you didn’t already) that I’m a Latter-day Saint. A Mormon. (Can I say that again?) Or it might not matter at all.

So here it is. On Sunday morning, a 40 year old man – a veteran who decorates his pick up truck with US flags and his home with a Trump sign – plowed into a Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and then rained terror in the form of gunfire and improvised explosive devises on a congregation that included scores of children. He killed four people and wounded eight. To his mind, each victim, whether killed, wounded or traumatized, is or was, an “antiChrist” (his word), a Mormon, someone like me. The word he used – “antiChrist” – is decidedly Christian, but the actions he committed are not. 

Continue reading “Whack-a-Doodle Timelines, the Death of a Prophet, and a Massacre or Two” →

Cartoon “Plural Marriage” Destabilizes Family Life for Children

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse, authority, Children, faith transition, faith crisis, Mormon Feminism, Polygamy, Polygamy Culture10 Comments

IF YOU NEED MORE EVIDENCE that polygamy culture is alive and well in the contemporary sphere of the LDS, look no further than your gospel library app, specifically at the new picture story published in the Doctrine and Covenants Stories for Children, titled “Plural Marriage: Faith to Obey a Law from the Lord Even When It’s Hard.” (Find it here.***) It provides a carefully curated cartoon version of early Mormon polygamy, stretching from its beginnings with Joseph Smith to its mythologized ending with Wilford Woodruff’s Manifesto, all in just eight panels. To say much is omitted is an understatement. However, its purpose isn’t to teach history but to use well-washed nuggets of fact to tightly define faith as obedience to God through obedience to priesthood authority. That may be the intent, but it seems destined to undermine the mental health (aka the emotional and spiritual well-being) of the children of devout Latter-day Saints, including those in the most secure of homes, by destabilizing their concept of marital boundaries. 

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LDS Men, No More Passes for Your Wrong-headed Obedience

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse, authority, Children, ecclesiastical abuse, Mormon Feminism13 Comments

TODAY I DIRECT MY THOUGHTS primarily towards the men who hold the LDS priesthood because two recent events have garnered my attention, in part for the way each involves decisions made by LDS men. The first is the child sex abuse civil lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which was just dismissed by an Arizona judge, and the second is the sudden ending of a San Francisco Bay Area tradition that had Relief Society (RS) presidents sitting beside bishoprics during Sacrament meetings. The decisions I’d like to focus on are not those made by the men considered to have high authority in the Church (or their attorneys), but the decisions of the local leaders to obey them, even in situations where they know obeying them is not only wrong but could bring harm to others. 

Continue reading “LDS Men, No More Passes for Your Wrong-headed Obedience” →

LDS Church Should Throw Its Resources into Making Mandated Reporting Universal in US

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse, LGBT8 Comments

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially lost its temper. Yesterday, the Church’s Newsroom released a strongly worded rebuff of the Aug. 2nd AP article titled “Seven years of sex abuse: How the Mormon officials let it happen,” written by Michael Rezendes. Its initial statement (offered last week) asserted the article misrepresented the help line which bishops and stake presidents are required to call upon learning of abuse, hoping to recast it as a tool to end abuse without addressing why the help line is staffed through its legal-centric risk management office. Many, myself included, were stunned by the inhumanity of the initial response if not by its legalistic hedging of responsibility. But this second response makes the first PR failure look tame, not only because of its continued defensiveness, but also for its misrepresentation of the article. I won’t rehash that. Follow the links above to read each for yourself. Instead, let’s chat a bit about this line from the second official response:

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Unpacking the Polygamy Wound

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse, authority, Polygamy Culture, Uncategorized6 Comments

Most families (and most individuals) lug a couple of proverbial storage trunks around with them. Into these, we pack the unpleasantries. The first trunk hides away the things we hope go unnoticed, often facts about our history we’d rather no one realize or things we’d like to forget. In the second trunk, we store our unexamined behavior and ignorance because out of sight and out of mind seem to belong together. We don’t reach into the first often, but we reach into the other too often. It shouldn’t surprise us that Mormonism also hauls around the same two trunks; after all, Mormonism is a collection of human beings, each linked as family in the way of strong cultures. The existence of these two storage trunks in Mormonism doesn’t diminish the many wonderful things each openly displays, like our love for God and one another. Yet, we can’t fully know ourselves unless we examine the things we’d prefer not to look at, nor can we grow fully. Continue reading “Unpacking the Polygamy Wound” →

Protect LDS Children with Reason, Not Hunger

On By lisatorcassodowningIn Abuse3 Comments

The Protect LDS Children movement aspires to eliminate closed-door, one-on-one interviews between LDS lay leaders and the under-aged members within their stewardship. The movement is led by Sam Young, a former Mormon bishop, who rightly asserts that closed-door interviews may groom young members for abuse by adults because of the way it normalizes sexual subjects in adult/child relationship. Young has collected thousands of survivor stories and garnered 56,000 signatures on a petition which asks the Brethren to end the practice. This week, Young launched a new initiative, which he told Mormon Happy Hour (MHH) is titled “Hunger Strike and Spotlight.” It is three-pronged, incorporating a hunger strike, an effort to focus attention on the hunger strike, and, lastly, temple-side chats with individuals of the Brethren about the pitfalls of closed-door, one-on-one interviews. He is also asking the 56,000 petition signees to join him by fasting during his hunger strike. (Pls see Correction)

I support the goals of Protect LDS Children. I signed the petition, and, in the vein of “there’s no such things as bad publicity,” I will do as Young asks by shining a light on his effort right here, right now.  What I won’t do is pretend to like Young’s hunger strike. Continue reading “Protect LDS Children with Reason, Not Hunger” →