Is it just Catholics, or are Mormons (LDS) and Jehova's Witnesses having trouble with pedophilia too?

Question

ERICA RODRIGUEZ, now 23, was 4 years old when her Eastern Washington church leader, Manuel Beliz, began abusing her...

When a teenage girl asked her bishop to stop her stepfather's sexual attacks, the church in Federal Way allegedly refused to help or call police...

Jeremiah Scott was in grade school when he was first molested by Franklin Curtis, an elderly man placed in his home by a Portland church despite allegations that he was a pedophile.

None of the above is Roman Catholic.

"It's not just the Catholic Church in crisis," says attorney Timothy Kosnoff, who represents the aforementioned claimants in their lawsuits—Rodriguez's is against the Brooklyn-based Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc. (Jehovah's Witnesses) and both Jane Doe's and Scott's are against the Salt Lake City- based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church)."

from http://www.seattleweekly.com/2002-04-24/news/skeletons-in-the-closet.php

Answer 1

Pedophilia, sadly, affects various religions, businesses, families, even politicians.
Not that those sources cause it, they are simply affected by it from those who come in from outside.
Those who hide it are to be ashamed.
Those who try to deal with it, are to be commended.

Answer 2

Pedophiles are popping up everywhere, long time ago pedophilia was not really a major issue, or it was kept hush hush. My Mother was raped when she was 12 by an older man who was later found out to also be raping his niece, my Mother told her parents and at first they did not even believe her, then she was taken to the hospital where they confirmed her allegations. Nothing was done about it, my grandparents did not talk to my Mother about it or anything, it was all kepy hush hush and never spoken again. Nowadays people are starting to come out and talk about being sexually abused, and trying to give advice to those young children who might be in a similar situation. Also there are more tougher laws, not tough enough I believe, are you aware of how many convicted pedophiles there are? How many children go missing not by a relative? How many online sickos are on chatlines? My friend works at a hosital and does the intital interview of a child from the age of 2 and up, these children have been sexually abused, in my county she has over 600 cases/interviews a year. Mostly three a day, sometimes 5 a day. The conviction rate is extremely low. There are pedophiles all over, in every religion, country, ect. There are thousands of pedophiles in the USA who have been convicted, there are thousands more who have not been convicted, then there are who knows who have not yet been caught. Pedophilia is becoming a major issue, it seems like it is on the rise, we should be trying to stop this, end this, fight for tougher laws, protect our children as well as others, instead of talking about which religion has more pedophiles or something. If we had tougher laws, those specific church members who do nothing will be held accountable, instead of hiding.

Answer 3

It's everywhere in all religions.

Part of the problem is that these churches don't want bad publicity so they quietly transfer a priest to another parish. Or in the case of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Associated Press recently reported that 16 cases had been settled with members, but only on the condition that the plaintiffs accept a gag order which prevents them from discussing anything about the case. More secrecy.

I'm sure there are pedophiles in Methodist, Baptist, and all other churches, also. Possibly we don't hear much about that because, like the others, they try to keep it quiet.

Answer 4

If it's just as prevalant in Protestant churches as well as the Catholic church, then why did this paper choose to do a story on two of the most "notorious" of the "cults", the JW's and the Mormons, and not word one about the Methodists, the Lutherans, the pentecostal/evangelical, etc.

Answer 5

One of the serious imperfections in mormon church hierarchy is the 'less important' status of women and children. If a woman or child brings the subject of parental abuse to the bishop, the 'suspect' is consoled, but in many cases, goes unpunished and the victims are considered acting against the 'priesthood'.

Also, because the local mormon church authorities are always a lay clergy, they have NO training whatsoever in abuse consoling and prevention, psychological training or other professional training in handling difficult and sensitive issues. Their 'counsel' is always the 'pray and study the scriptures' as if that will solve everything and the problem will go away. They are totally unprepared for personal disasters, as that smears the name of the church.

Answer 6

Pedophilia affects other churches too. There is a lot of press recently about some cases among JW's where the leadership were told and yet did nothing about it.

Answer 7

Actually, EVERY Christian sect has convicted pedophile religious leaders and ALL pay for the 'sins' committed by their administrators of the 'Faith'. Why do ya think that they need TITHE? Heheheee just an example of how christians are like the 'sons of ephraim' in Hosea and Habakuk...

Hos 4:6-8 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. The more the priests increased, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful. They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.

And in Light of the 'teaching of Christ'---'no good tree can produce bad fruit', yet ANOTHER example why Christianity is an Abominaiton to the Spirit.

In hosea and Habakkuk, we learn of the 'sons of ephraim'--the Canaanites, they venerated a stick of wood, offered up human sacrifice upon high places--like MT Calvary, used human sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin, and relished in their sin, just as Christians do.

Answer 8

A pedophile can come is all colors and religious flavors. Unfortunately the catholic church protects theirs from the law when they can. They still consider a priest a priest, pervert or not.

Answer 9

my father was a Mormon pedophile. My mom was too depressed to even notice, I guess or she just made things worse by testing me to try to blame the situation on me, and then a seminary teacher made ti worse by telling our class that Mary was married to God in the pre-existence and they consimated the marriage when the Holy ghost came over Mary. This let me know that the Mormon churhc only give Mormons a reason to hide and be a pedophile and adopt their daughters as a second wife.
Pedophile will hide in any religion, There was also a pedophile in our neighborhood that was Mormon, I was told to stay away from him.

Answer 10

Read the paper. This is and has been going on everywhere for centuries. It is not just religious leaders but people from all walks of life.