| Burrell Mohler Jr. |
The piece begins with Burrell Sr. delivering a father's day sermon at the Community of Christ Church in Bates City, where he was a lay "priest," or deacon. His sons and co-defendants David and Jared were deacons at Community of Christ churches in Lamoni, Iowa, and Columbia, Missouri, respectively.
Burrell Mohler Jr. left the Community of Christ in 1982 and joined Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), or Mormon church. Burrell Jr.'s former wife, we've learned, took her children's complaints that they were being abused to the church. But a church bishop, Paul Tonga, made the idiotic decision to investigate the matter himself. (The Star reported that Burrell Jr. was excommunicated from the LDS church in 2007 for personal conduct unrelated to child sexual abuse.)
The Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are similar but different. The Community of Christ reacted quickly when the story broke. The church said it took the allegations seriously and stripped the three Mohlers of their licenses. The church also held a prayer vigil. In a Fox 4 report about Tonga's inaction, Community of Christ officials made a point to distance themselves from the Mormon church.
For its part, the Mormon church has said Tonga should have consulted with church leaders, who would have told him to notify the authorities.
To be sure, there were churchgoing readers who were offended that religious affiliations played such a prominent part in Sunday's story. But fair's fair. The Mormon church, after all, played a high-profile role in the effort to ban gay marriage in California. A church that inserts itself in the lives of others can expect scrutiny when it deigns to elevate men capable of Tonga's catastrophic stupidity.
If a church can't protect the children who sit in its pews, who is it to tell us about anything?
Showing 1-16 of 16
Except that until all the evidence is heard in a Court of Law these folk are innocent. The basic principle of modern law is that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty and so far that certainly has not been done.
We need to leave trial by newspaper out of these kinds of crimes.
Eh? Again... , I think I can answer your concern as to why SNAP is involved with this.
Most often, when someone is deeply involved with their church and their beliefs, they tend to go to the church leaders for help.
In turn, it is very common that church leaders do not want any scandal, they will dismiss the victim, sometimes blame them for being abused, and cover it up.
Many times those who are being sexually abused have been groomed from a very young age to submit to their abuser, and they do not even realize they are a victim of a crime.
So, we have extensive experience with this huge problem, so we called a press event in front of this church, to reach out to any other possible victims of the Mohlers.
Because we had that press event in front of COC church, 2 victims have contacted SNAP.
They were not treated good by the church.
So... that is our concern, there may be more victims who are just too scared to speak up. SNAP consists of victims who have been sexually abused by clergy and re abused by church leaders.
The victims are NOT to blame, it was not their fault, even if they think it is...
we urge anyone who has been harmed to contact law enforcement, get help, call 911, talk to someone whom they can trust.
There is way too much at stake, the safety of innocent precious kids !!!
tks, Judy Jones, SNAP..636-433-2511
Dear Big D,
I think your comment speaks for itself. I also think that those with much contact and experience with Mormons (and, probably, Community of Christ as well, though I can't say I have much experience there) would report that they are generally far above societal norms in terms of "sexual discretion" (aka: morality). As a matter of fact, there are plenty of studies to prove it.
But that is beside the point. The fact of the matter is that "Mormon" is a non-favored minority, which means that it is socially acceptable to marginalize and unfairly stereotype them as a group. What, pray tell, would be the response if I were to claim that the Shaniya Davis (NC 5yo sold by her mom to a rapist) case is emblematic of African Americans? I could even cite anecdotal and statistical evidence to support the idea that sexual deviance is higher among blacks than other racial groups. Such an argument would be worse than absurd, but it would hold water better than yours.
The fact of the matter is that if these Neanderthals were Baptists, Atheists, Muslims or Hare Krishnas, their religion wouldn't even have been mentioned at this point. You perceive sexual deviance as having a higher incidence among mormons because any time a Mormon does something wrong, his religous affiliation is not just in the story, it's in the headline. Few religions could withstand that level of scrutiny and survive. That the Mormons withstand it and thrive is quite a testament to their overall moral rectitude.
Have a nice day.
How come is it that the Book of Mormon (a.k.a, the Book for Morons) and sexual indiscretion are often found in bed together? The Independence organization is doing all it can to dig out of smothering debt and declining membership. Happily, most thinking people who look past the first few pages of the BoM realize what a sham it is and find spiritual sustenance elsewhere.
Judy, it wounds me deeply that children could be harmed by anyone, whether by a religious authority or not. I think it is the most heinous crime imaginable. To harm a child in such a deep way to satisfy the basest of urges is unthinkable to me. I think any child abuser should simply be put to death because no earthly court is capable of weighing justice on crimes so heinous.
That said, I find your post a bit reactionary and hysterical. I don't think anybody argues the fact that "it is a CRIME" to abuse children from any position of authority (and remember that to a child, *all* adults are coming from a position of authority). If indeed these men did what they are accused of (and the evidence looks increasingly damning, though they have not yet had their day in court), then I don't think anyone would defend them or try to downplay their crimes in any way.
However, I really don't see how your organization has become involved in this. None of these men seem to have been ecclesiastical authorities of much consequence. We have yet to see any evidence that there were any "priestly powers of god" leveraged here to obtain the object of their demented desires.
I don't see that these men occupied stations of much significance in the Community of Christ (the highest position I have seen attributed to them is Deacon: a low-level functionary at best in the CoC, hardly a position of authority in a congregation). Burrel Mohler Sr. hasn't been reported to have held a position of any significance at all in the Mormon Church for the time that he was a member.
I don't see their crimes in any way reflective of their religious communities (past or present) any more than an atheist pedophile would be emblematic of all atheists (or a Jewish pedophile emblematic of all Jews, etc.).
In short, I'm not sure what there is to see here, other than an extended family that is *allegedly* sick, twisted, incestuous, and managed to fool all their neighbors about it. It's shocking, it's sad, and unfortunately it is neither the first time nor the last. All that remains is for us to be watchful, be supportive, and deliver swift and complete justice to perpetrators.
To anyone who has been harmed by the Mohlers or by the newly arrested sexual abuser Paul Cool, (who have used their so called ' priestly powers of god' to sexually abuse, threaten and silence innocent kids and vulnerable adults) please speak up and start to heal.
The victims of all these men are very brave.. they and "SNAP" are worried there may be others who have been abused by the Mohlers and by Cool. If anyone has witnessed, suspected or been harmed by any of these men, please contact law enforcement. Do not report your abuse to the church leaders.
It is a CRIME...
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/n...
Judy Jones, of St Louis, SNAP "Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest" and all clergy.
636-433-2411
David Martin, you are a contemptible front-runner and second-guesser. You weren't walking in Bishop Tonga's shoes, so it is not your place to impose your self-righteous judgment upon him.
If you had bothered to do your homework, you would know that if it happened today, the outcome would have been much different. The LDS Church has formal instructions in place now which specifically direct bishops on how to handle such accusations. But apparently all you were interested in doing was taking a couple of cheap shots at the LDS Church rather than inform and educate the public. You gave away your true motive when you unnecessarily brought Prop 8 into the discussion.
It is because of hacks like you masquerading as "journalists" that the newspaper industry is in a well-deserved free fall.
the wife should go to the police to launch her complaint to come and use DNA investigation BIShop Tonga is not a Police
Alex, I think you're a bit off base here. Firstly, you're conflating Mormons and Catholics, which is an odd pairing at best. What do the Catholic pedophilia scandals have to do with the Mormon Church?
Secondly, "the leader and multiple members":
WRONG and WRONG.
Burris Mohler Sr. is the only one of the men implicated in this story who was ever a member of the Mormon Church. The others were members of the Community of Christ, where Mohler had previously been a member during part of this period of abuse. He changed religions. At no point was he or anybody else implicated here a "leader" in the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
Mr. Tonga was a Bishop (a type of lay minister) at the time Mrs. Mohler expressed misgivings that her husband might be engaged in sexual abuse. LDS Church policy states that any time there is an actual allegation of sexual abuse, it MUST be reported to authorities. Whether the misgivings she expressed amounted to an actual allegation is something we do not know at this point. If she was actually making an allegation and Mr. Tonga chose not to report the matter to authorities, then he broke with Church policy to do so.
How any of this relates to Mormon Church's stand on Gay Marriage is beyond my comprehension. This family had only the very most tenuous link to the Church at all. The family was historically in the Community of Christ and most of those implicated are lifelong members of that church. If I were a betting man, which granted I am not, I would bet that the reason Mr. Mohler was excommunicated in 2007 was continuing allegiances to the Community of Christ. This family had a massive history with that church with only an interlude of membership in the Mormon Church for Mohler Sr. and wife. For the record, Mr. Martin, the Community of Christ supports and solemnizes Gay Marriages.
Alex,
I was merely carrying the author's logic (or lack thereof) to the next step.
I do not deny that the problem is bigger than one person, one leader, or one congregation. But that doesn't change the fact that the author's conclusion about the rights of religious groups to express their opinion is wrong and logically flawed.
"one member of an organization" you idiot this was the leader and multiple members. how many acts of pedophilia have to come about the Mormons and Catholics for people to realize that organized religion is just a form of control or before members of these religions stop teaching their children complete and utter naive "blind" faith when it comes to God.
So if even one member of an organization is a victim of the terrible acts of _individuals_, that organization loses its right to express a viewpoint on an unrelated issue?
Huge dearth of logic here.
"But a church bishop, Paul Tonga, made the idiotic decision to investigate the matter himself."
Or, Tonga looked into it and saw that the suspicions were unsubstantiated. There still isn't a shred of physical evidence to back-up any of these allegations, so I don't understand how David Martin has already found these men guilty.
like
dislike
