Today I'm going to be talking a little bit about the Mormon Church. Now those of you that listen to

the show often know that I come from the independent fundamental Baptist movement and that now

as a former fundamentalist, I'm shedding light on the dark side of the church from the pulpits to the pews.

And typically I stay within my realm of experience. I've talked about the independent fundamental

Baptist movement primarily. I've

also talked about things like the Southern Baptist Convention or strange offshoots like the new

independent fundamental Baptist movement. But today I need to talk about the Mormon Church because

there is crossover between this story and so many stories that I've covered on this show. Again, if you're a regular

listener, you know that there's nothing that makes me more upset than when there are legal

loopholes that allow predators to go free for longer than they should, especially when those

loopholes are related to the clergy's need to report child sexual abuse. And that's exactly what today's story is about.

Let's go to give some context really quickly about the Mormon Church. The Mormon Church is a

multi-billion dollar organization. It's essentially a gigantic business. And because of that,

one of the big priorities of the Mormon Church is to protect its

assets. This desire is so strong that the Mormon Church has a 24-7 hotline that is manned by

attorneys. Its purpose is for bishops to be able to call for advice with situations inside

their churches. The Associated Press reported in 2022 that the hotline

received a call from Bishop John Herod. Herod was counseling a man in his church, a father

of a five-year-old little girl. The man was a self-proclaimed pornography addict and told the bishop

he was abusing his daughter. So Bishop Herod called the hotline and the lawyers

gave clear advice. You can do absolutely nothing. Herod told a second bishop who was also

instructed by church officials that, quote, bishops were excused from reporting the abuse to police

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