Today, this message showed up in my inbox:
Hi Sam – I wanted to reach out personally and thank you for what you’re doing. My wife has struggled with my evolution of beliefs over the past year. So, I’ve been reluctant to bring up church stuff with her. Yesterday, out of the blue, she said to me, “Have you heard about that petition?”
That kick-started a conversation during which she openly and passionately agreed with your message and proclaimed how she won’t allow our daughters to be questioned alone with a Bishop and not at all on worthiness and sexuality.
My oldest daughter is a few months away from youth interviews and I had been worried about how to handle the desire to protect my children, while also not harming the very fragile relationship I have with my wife in relation to the church. It couldn’t have gone better.
She’s considering sharing the petition on her facebook timeline. Her mama bear has come out.
Thank you. Sincerely.
The petition is now at 6,010 signatures.
However…..this is NOT the most important statistic. The real significance is what’s happening in homes and families. Several members have now resolved to protect their children from being taken behind closed doors, all alone, with an untrained older man. And then probed about masturbation and other sexually oriented matters.
Stand Up to Protect Our Vulnerable Children
Help me and 6,000 other thundering voices to eradicate this dangerous and damaging practice.
Sign the Petition. Share the Petition.
Tocubit Is Invisible's Cubit 
God bless and Godspeed, Sam Young!
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Thanks, my friend. May God bless you, too.
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You are making a difference
❤️
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6,000 of us are making a difference.
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Simple fix is to record these interviews. Openly place your device on the desk, ask if my mom/dad can listen to this if I want them to? Open or secret recording works. No offense bishop, let’s start, O. K.
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Shares in my blog. This needs to be really big!!!
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Good work!
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That you my friend. You don’t know how much your words mean to me.
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Great work, Sam. Thank you for your perseverance.
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Every child that is saved from these inappropriate interviews is a victory! And this is very inspiring that a mom in the church has seen the petition and able to have that conversation with her husband because of it.
I recently met with a new psychologist and was talking about the trauma I experienced because of these interview. As a non-Mormon therapist, she was SHOCKED to hear that these inappropriate interviews are common practice within Mormism. I showed her some of the responses people have written about being asked about masturbating -and the trauma it has caused them… and she was literally appalled that the Mormon church does this. And when I explained that there really is nothing in their manual about these questions –and that bishops are left to do this by creating their own line of questioning about the details of children touching themselves was especially disturbing.
Shame on the LDS Church for creating a shaming Cult-ure wherein all of this is passed down in a way that is can be hidden from the public.
Can you imagine how SHOCKED the “world” outside of Mormonism will be to hear about this whole thing! It is particularly worrisome, for children who are much more vulnerable than adults, that the hierarchy of the LDS Church has
1)a sort of secretive aspect around these interviews,
2) no training for the adults men who question children, and
3) bishops and those asking the questions have no written guidelines about asking children about “touching themselves” -mastubation… and yet it is a regular practice -with children one-on-one behind closed doors.
It is my opinion that the hierarchy of the Mormon church will not stop these interviews UNTIL the general public is made aware on a grander scale that this is a sort of “secret” thing and even a dark-under-belly of Mormonism that has never before been exposed publicly. Hopefully, as it is now!
Here is a very possible scenario to think about:
Let’s say a family is investigating the church. They really enjoy the message that those nice boys in white shirts and name tags share with them. They get love-bombed by the ward members and welcomed into the loving ward family.
It is COMPLETELY possible that they could join the church WITHOUT ever knowing that other young children in their new church family are subjected to these interviews. And it is a likely possibility that their own children could be sequestered alone in their Bishops office and asked about masturbation without the parents ever even hearing that this is something commonly done (all be quite secretlively) within Mormonism.
Once the reality of these interviews becomes “public knowledge”…. and the convert numbers are affected by it… well, maybe then… just maybe then the LDS hierarchy will publicly acknowledge that they will stop this hideous sexual shaming and covert sexual control over children!
My bishop ended up being a pedophile. He molested me. And I know of another person that this happened to in a bishops office.
This proves that there simply is not the “discernment” necessary to NOT put pedophile bishops in Priesthood authority -where innocent children are made to go behind a locked bishop’s office door and questioned about “touching themselves”… with the possible consequence of being molested –as I was!
I stand with Sam Young demanding that the LDS Church publicly acknowledge that they will discontinue this horrible shaming and abuse of children!
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Right on, my friend!
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Can we be honest? I totally get the need for shock to get attention but “sign the petition to stop Masterbation interviews by pedophile bishops”???
Why not be honest and say, “sign a petition to help our hard working bishops get structured interview training to better help our youth work through the various challenges they will face”.
It’s so hard for me to believe 95% of the comments left here. Nor do I believe the claims against these “evil” bishops who sacrifice 20-30 hrs a week to serve and help hundreds of people….oops, I mean prey on innocent children behind closed doors using secret mandated masterbation scripts provided by their evil overlords.
You should all work for Fox News with your sensationalism. The fear mongering is so blatant that it only resonates with the already angry and embittered former members who took offense at who knows what.
Are there bad apples? Absolutely!!!
But if you grab 100 random parents and 1000 bishops, you will have maybe one bishop lined up with 100 parent pedophiles. Way more danger going on in the home than a bishops office. Bishops report abuse the second it’s revealed and are protecting thousand of youth all the time but let’s focus on the “masterbation interviews” that actually don’t exist except in the minds of embittered former members (or sucked into the newly discovered embittered path). Does morality come up in interviews?? Yes!!! Sorry, but sneaking off into a secret place several times a week to view porn and masterbate is not a healthy behavior (despite what most “educated” therphists say) and reflects an addictive behavior as well. How dare a bishop ask if I have challenges with the chasity and when I say I view porn multiple times a week and he already knows that means I masterbate (they usually go together) he is going to try and help me gain self control and apply corrective action in my life. But of course if I don’t want to stop viewing porn and the associated act of masterbation then I would take offense at that line of questioning.
I’m all for bishops asking if parents want to participate in interviews but your lying (including you Sam) if it’s a suprise that bishops are asking about the law of chastity and if a youth says they are struggling with it he will inquire further to help the person feel empowered to change behavior.
Get over your chip on the shoulder and stop the flagrant exaggeration to feed your already deeply embedded anger (that existed way before Sam came around). It won’t get real signatures from real Mormons and will only keep adding angry exes to the already existing 6k angry ex’s signatures.
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Can we be honest? Hmmmm. You then proceed to call me a liar. And you call out as liars all those who have shared their stories of masturbation interviews. You call me sensationalist. And then put sensationalist words in my mouth: “Sign the petition to stop Masterbation interviews by pedophile bishops.” Nope, I want to stop all masturbation interviews behind closed doors, all alone between an older man and a child. It protects the children. It protects the bishops. It protects the church.
Now, if you feel it was a good thing for a bishop to take my 12 year old daughter behind a closed door, and introduce her to the concept and masturbation which then led her to find porn, that’s your opinion for which I have zero respect. Feel free to send your daughter behind those closed doors and allow your bishop to ask if she touches herself between her legs…and then who knows what follows next. That’s your right as a parent. As for me, it’s a sick practice.
No matter how loudly you shout that I’m a liar, I’ll press forward to protect the kids. You condemn anger. That’s fine. I am angry at what happened to my daughter. I’m angry at what happened to the thousands of children who are now adults and are now sharing how they were harmed. You condemn my anger. I respond by condemning your total lack of compassion and charity towards those who have been harmed. But, of course, they are lying and so am I. So, your condemnation has total merit.
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Sam,
you knew Bishops were asking about the law of charity to your daughters as you did hundreds of times as a bishop. Bishops rarely lead with masterbation and even more rare do bishops “introduce” masterbation that then leads to porn. That is laughable.
Bishops like yourself asked if they kept the law of chasity or had challenges in Keeping the law of chastity. If the person said they did have challenges, then you would inquire just enough to have an idea what the actual challenge was. If the challenge was masterbation then you would help them work through that challenge. You did this countless times and saying otherwise is just not true.
Again, are there bad apples and should bishops tell parents that they can join in the interviews? Sure. I’ll sign that petition and so will way more than just 6,010 already angry former members who hang their resignation from the church on ghost stories of “masterbation interviews”.
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