LDS Freedom Forum

Niemand wrote: ↑September 19th, 2023, 4:42 am https://www.christianpost.com/news/boy- ... laims.html

Whistleblower alleges Boy Scouts of America blocked child protection measure due to fear of Mormons

Michael Johnson, a former police detective in Plano, Texas, who served as the youth protection director at the Boy Scouts of America, says the embattled youth organization blocked his efforts to institute child protection measures due to fear of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Johnson made the claim in a new Netflix documentary released Wednesday called "Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America," which recounts the Boy Scouts of America's decadeslong cover-up of sexual abuse cases and chilling accounts from several now-adult men on the abuse they suffered as minors while they were a part of the organization.

"As the new youth protection director, as I was starting to wanting to do some what I thought were very medium-level policies and content training, upgrades for youth protection. I kept getting told [by a BSA executive] that the Mormons may not like that, the Mormons don't like that," Johnson recalled.

"I said, I came to work for the Boy Scouts of America. I came here to protect the kids, the boys and girls of the Boy Scouts of America. I am not working for the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church. And I remember, I'll never forget this: Jim Terry, assistant chief scout executive, told me, 'Mike, you need to understand something.' I'm like, 'What is that, sir?' He says, 'The Mormons are sacrosanct.'"

At the end of 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cut all ties with the BSA, noting that they were shifting toward a more globally focused youth leadership and development program, ending their 105-year relationship. About 20% of the BSA's members were practicing Mormons at the time, and the youth organization lost some 400,000 troops from the LDS.

Neither the BSA nor the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded to requests for comment from The Christian Post Friday. But in an earlier statement to Axios, the youth organization said they were disappointed by Johnson's comments.

"We cannot speak to the many instances of hearsay and personal opinions expressed by Michael Johnson. We are disappointed to hear Mr. Johnson's characterization of the program he spearheaded and the concerns he raised, especially given his past public support for the robust measures the BSA instituted at his recommendation," the BSA said.

The documentary comes just two weeks after the Boy Scouts of America began processing claims under a $2.4 billion bankruptcy plan for more than 80,000 victims who say they were abused while they were a part of the scouting program.

"Sexual abuse. Those two words are kind of PG. It's easy to say. People are uncomfortable with sexual abuse; people don't want to visualize that these young men and now men that are on this lawsuit, were having sex with men in their cars, in tents, at their house," explained Johnson, who spent 16 years investigating crimes against children as part of the Plano Police Department in Texas before going to work for the BSA in 2010.

"I say these things, and I'm not trying to say them to incite you. But that's what sexual abuse is. We're talking about these men who have experienced or suffered X-rated activities as children in the scouting program, and who are they going to talk to about it? They're still grappling with their own internal experiences, demons, some of them with what happened," Johnson said.

Documents kept by the BSA for nearly a century, known as the "perversion files," highlighted a "sordid history of child sexual abuse," previously reported by CP. The narratives of the men featured in the Netflix documentary paint a compelling picture of the abuse.

One victim recalled how he was part of a scouting group whose leaders targeted single mothers and convinced them that their sons would be safe with them.

Instead of being good role models for the young boys, the scout leaders were accused of trafficking them to men from around the world who subjected them to repeated acts of rape and other abuse until police eventually broke up the ring.

Despite the thousands of abuse claims against the BSA, Steve McGowan, former general counsel for the BSA, framed the abuse as a societal problem, not an organizational one.

"I will tell you that we're a microcosm of our entire society. If we had a problem, our society had a problem; many other institutions had the problem. We just happen to be the one with the deep pocket right now and the one that's willing to make the social commitment to try to make it right and to try to apologize, to try to do everything we can to keep it safe, and try to compensate for these victims, but then continue the mission," McGowan said. "And many of the survivors are very clear. They want scouting to continue because of the good it did. We want to continue to do that."

Johnson insists that McGowan is being deceptive.

"The messaging he wants out there is that Boy Scouts is like any other organization in America and that these guys could come from anywhere, and there's nothing we can do to prevent them. All of that is not true," said the former detective.

"Boy Scouts is exceptional in the opportunities that it presents to perpetrators to access children and no to very low supervised situations. Name another youth-serving organization that has overnight access to kids over multiple days. Name another organization that a scoutmaster has the power over whether or not this youth can become an Eagle Scout," he said.

"Now you back up a little bit, and you think to yourself, how easy is it to get into scouting? And so now you start to see where those weaknesses are. It's removing those risk areas, known risk areas that helps you create this safer environment for kids who participate in scouting programs," he added. "You talk to a lot of these young men; they'll tell you, 'My parents dropped me off at his house.' We've had cases where the adult stayed the night at the kid's house."

Teancum1 wrote: ↑September 19th, 2023, 5:08 pm The church should have done away with the scouting program years ago. All of the problems that Johnson listed above were known by the church for decades and still they sponsored these troops, paying the fees for all the young men in the church.
After Monson died they finally got out. IMO the church leadership received awards and accolades for all they did to build scouting. The leadership craved this recognition all while knowing children were being violated. (Edit)The institutional pride regarding being an Eagle Scout and earning a silver Beaver award etc, perpetuated the problem for many decades.
Once the church knew of even one instance of child rape they should have discontinued ties with the organization. Pedophiles are liars and seek every opportunity to “serve” the youth. The church in too many cases facilitated this even while knowing thousands were being raped and sodomized. It’s disturbing. And the church considers the matter closed.

I wonder how many youth were molested in the year after Monson died before the church finally got out.

blitzinstripes wrote: ↑September 19th, 2023, 6:28 pm I spent a large portion of the front half of my life, very heavily involved in scouting. From the age of 8...earned my eagle at 14. Spent all of my summers at camp, active in the Order of the Arrow. Served as assistant scoutmaster and a scoutmaster. My father and grandfather were scoutmasters. Both of my brothers are Eagles and were as active in the program as I was.

We began to see signs of trouble in the early 90s. A few women had joined the ranks of scout leaders, and locally there were a few extramarital affairs that happened among some of the troops. Quite a small town scandal. (These were non LDS troops.) These left a bitter taste among my family and we began taking a less active role in the local council. Eventually I cut all ties with the OA, over the co-ed issue, which was painful because as a youth the organization had meant very much to me.
We began to "hear things" around the same time, mostly concerning older boys (camp staff age) and younger boys. The local council seemed to try to cover it up as rumors, but I think eventually a couple young men were charged with sexual assault. One of them, charges were dropped and he later became a pastor and then eventually openly gay, only to be convicted later in life for repeated acts of pedophilia.
But the one that hit the closest to home eventually happened in our own ward, somehow right under the noses of our entire org. A member of the Bishopric and assistant scoutmaster had apparently been abusing a young man over the span of a couple of years. The boy was in our troop and also the best friend of his own son, the same age. But it gets worse. Apparently the boy told his father. The father wanted to kill the pedo, but the church intervened. (Enter Kirton McConkie?) Convinced the family to handle this matter privately and avoid unnecessary publicity. Somewhere along the way, there was a story concocted that the man had an extramarital affairs with a young female coworker. This was the story that was given to the ward members. (Supposedly to protect the victim and also the offender's wife and children from shame ) The man pled guilty to unlawful contact with a minor, etc and actually served approximately 5 years in prison and was released as a registered offender on probation. There was no public trial and almost no media coverage other than a vague story with his mugshot, nothing about the actual details. The victim's family moved away from the area not long after the incident.

The only way we found out the actual truth was a lady in our Ward who was a close friend of my wife works as a parole officer for the county. She read the entire case file. She told us and a few others that she confided in. We now live in a neighboring ward, but this man continues to attend the same ward, and I believe that eventually he regained his membership status, etc. To this day, very few people know that what actually transpired was nothing like the lie they were fed by the church and BSA to hide his crimes and save their own sorry reputations. A few of us that were involved in the troop at the time and found out the truth, really struggle with a degree of guilt, still wondering how we didn't see the warning signs. I probably would have beaten the man to death, had I walked in on something happening.

The last few years have really shown us how these are not isolated incidents, but part of a much larger, and long lasting pattern of abuse that we are barely scratching the surface of. And the church and BSA worked together to cover it up for decades, if not MUCH longer.