{"id":112161,"date":"2020-12-30T03:50:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T01:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefreethinker\/?p=112161"},"modified":"2020-12-30T15:16:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T13:16:04","slug":"mormons-being-sued-over-boys-scouts-abuse-cover-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thefreethinker\/2020\/12\/mormons-being-sued-over-boys-scouts-abuse-cover-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Mormons being sued over Boy Scouts abuse cover-up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

FOR almost 100 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> (LDS) was an ardent supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, but broke ties with the organisation at the beginning of 2020 over its \u2018sinful\u2019 acceptance of gay youth members and adult volunteers as well as girls and transgender boys. It pulled more than 400,000 young people from the BSA.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

But during the time it supported the BSA it brushed aside allegations made by Mormon scouts that they had been abused \u2013 and the church was yesterday (Monday) hit with several lawsuits alleging that it covered up \u201cdecades of sexual abuse among Boy Scout troops in Arizona.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
Image via YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Church spokesman Sam Penrod, above,\u00a0 said in a statement that the LDS has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and that the serious allegations require thorough investigation.<\/p>\n

He called it inaccurate to say the faith had access to files that had names of banned Scout leaders and said the church hasn\u2019t seen the records that allegedly back the accusations.<\/p>\n

The claim that the church has had access to the BSA ineligible volunteer files for many decades is simply false.<\/em><\/p>\n

The church learned about the details of those files at the same time as the general public. These claims will be carefully evaluated and appropriately addressed.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hurley McKenna & Mertz, a law firm that focuses on church sex abuse, said in a statement that the LDS:<\/p>\n

Must be held accountable in order to bring healing and closure to Mormon victims of childhood sexual abuse.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the seven lawsuits each representing seven different male victims, attorneys say church officials never notified authorities about abuse allegations. Public records show members of church-sponsored Boy Scout troops who were abused would tell church bishops about what they had experienced.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits allege bishops would then tell the victims to keep quiet so the church could conduct its own investigation. In the meantime, troop leaders and volunteers accused of sex abuse would be allowed to continue in their roles or be assigned to another troop, the suits say.<\/p>\n

All seven victims are asking for a jury to award an unspecified sum for medical expenses, pain and suffering. They are also seeking punitive damages for the \u201coutrageous conduct\u201d of church officials.<\/p>\n

The church sponsored at least seven troops in Arizona in metro Phoenix and Tucson, according to attorneys. The suits were all filed earlier this month \u2013 six in Maricopa County Superior Court and one in Pima County Superior Court.<\/p>\n

The allegations of sexual abuse involve all troops between 1972 and 2009. After breaking with the BSA, the church moved its youngsters into its own global youth programme that \u201cfocuses on religion and spiritual development,\u201d while weaving in camping and other outdoor activities in parts of the world where that\u2019s feasible.<\/p>\n

In its first step toward creating a compensation fund for men who were abused as youngsters years ago by scoutmasters or other leaders, the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection in February.<\/a> Around 90,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the organisation. It was the latest major American institution to seek bankruptcy protection amid mounting legal pressures over allegations of sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

Roman Catholic dioceses across the country and some universities have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years. These suits come as a window to pursue litigation for some victims of childhood sexual abuse in Arizona is about to close. The state joined several others last year in extending the rights of now-adult victims to sue their alleged assailants and any churches, youth groups or other institutions that turned a blind eye at the time of the abuse.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers gave victims until their 30th birthday to sue \u2014 a decade longer than before. Victims who missed the cutoff have a one-time opportunity to file suit before the end of the year. Arizona has no deadline for criminal charges in child sexual abuse cases.<\/p>\n

Andrew Van Arsdale, a lawyer with Abused in Scouting<\/a>, says the legal network is filing 261 sex abuse lawsuits in Arizona on Monday against various local Scout councils.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Please report any typos\/errors to barry@freethinker.co.uk<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019d like to buy me a cup of coffee \u2013 and boy, do I get through a LOT<\/em> of coffee keeping this site active \u2013 please click the link below.<\/h3>\n

\"I'dI\u2019d love a cup of coffee<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR almost 100 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was an ardent supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, but broke ties with the organisation at the beginning of 2020 over its \u2018sinful\u2019 acceptance of gay youth members and adult volunteers as well as girls and transgender boys. It pulled more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3705,"featured_media":112173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7254,7263,7260,7257],"class_list":["post-112161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-boy-scouts-of-america","tag-sam-penrod","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nMormons being sued over Boy Scouts abuse cover-up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FOR almost 100 years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) was an ardent supporter of the Boy Scouts of America, but broke ties with the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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