Hi President ______,
I recently spoke with your executive secretary about setting up an appointment. Of course, I realize that this is a very busy time of year. I’d still like to speak with you directly. In the meantime, here’s a heads up of what I hope to discuss. All the issues revolve around the Petition to Protect the Children. I sent you 2 emails about this petition and my concerns last November.
- The protocol for youth interviews in our stake. I spoke with my bishop. However, I still have a number of questions.
- I now know that explicit questions are being asked by our bishops. Three members of our stake have reported that in 2017 they experienced interviews of such a sexually probing nature that they decided to leave the church.
- In the last few weeks there has been a firestorm of media coverage in Utah about the petition and our interview practices. There is a story brewing that may very well be covered by major local TV news here in Houston It could be highly embarrassing to our bishops.
- Finally, below you’ll find a letter that I’ve composed for the Apostles. I’d really appreciate it if you would forward it to them.
_______________________________________________________________________
One Thousand of us are going to march on the church office building. We will present Ten Thousand signatures calling for the immediate PROTECTION OF OUR CHILDREN.
National media outlets will cover our March-for-the-Children.
Your policy of taking children behind closed doors is going to be exposed to the world.
Your training and approbation of local leaders to probe our children about masturbation and other sexually explicit details is going to be unmasked to the public.
You and the church are not going to look good. Sitting bishops are not going to look good.
Do the right thing. Stand up with us to protect our kids. Stop these interviews IMMEDIATELY. Avoid the PR nightmare that is fast approaching.
We are marching to protect our children.
Sincerely,
Resources
Horrendous stories of damage to our children
Testimonials of masturbation interviews.
Testimonials of interviews about orgasm and sexual positions.
Pedophiles in Priesthood Power.
Bishop Talks Oral Sex to a Seven Year Old.
Masturbation equated to Murder
Mormon Church Calls of Teenagers to Ask Other Teenagers if They Masturbate
Tocubit Is Invisible's Cubit 
Sam, although I agree with you on this subject, had I know how you were going to address the Prophet and the Apostles, I would not have signed the petition. I don’t appreciate your threatening language. I believe it is rude and misleading. There is nothing you have published that implies the Priesthood holders are trained by their leadership to ask these probing questions. It seems to be an individual interpretation. I wish you would tone down your accusations. I recently messaged the Bishop that embarrassed my daughters 16+ years ago and told him what he did and that I didn’t appreciate it. I hope that my note influenced him in some way to stick to the handbook.
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Hi Janice,
As always, thanks for your insightful feedback.
I have not published any sources where the church trained it’s leaders to probe our children with explicit questions. As recently as 2 months ago, I did not know where bishops were getting their directions from. Now I have 3 sources. They are all leaked in documents: 1) An area conference for the training of stake presidents, 2) A recording of a stake training their bishops, 3) Training by a 70 directed to general church leadership. In addition, several people have told me that their stake president instructed the local leadership to ask explicit questions.
As far as sounding threatening. I’m stating facts….clearly and succinctly. There is going to be a march. Lots of people will attend. They are going to look bad to the society at large. You are probably right, that I didn’t need to mention the looking bad and the PR storm that’s coming. Their own PR people are smart enough to come to the same conclusion. Never-the-less, all this can be avoided if they would make the interview changes now rather than later.
When it comes to protecting children I am not going to plead and beg. I’ve already done that. Response: zero, nada, nothing…..not even a peep. Now that I have read a thousand stories of the dreadful consequences that our children have suffered, my tone is urgent tone is urgent and not happy.
Last week, innocent children were taken behind closed doors and shamed with sexual questions. How many were driven into self loathing? How many are now considering suicide? How many are going to attempt suicide? How many will carry self loathing into their adulthood?
No, Janice, I am not going to be conciliatory in my communications. There is nothing to reconcile. The damage we are inflicting must stop.
If you would like me to remove your name from the petition, I will reluctantly oblige.
Best wishes for a Happy and HEALTHY New Year.
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Please read the 1975 Ensign article A Self Inflicted Purging. In it, a high-ranking general authority, Elder Vaughn Featherstone, says that a 19 year old should be able to ANSWER a bishop or stake president when asked about masturbation: “I have never before done this thing in my life.”
This has ABSOLUTELY been happening for decades with full permission of the church leadership at the top levels.
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Sam,
I agree with you on this subject, had I know how you were going to address the Prophet and the Apostles, I still would have signed the petition. I appreciate your honest language. I believe it is forthright and clearly states your intent. Whether you have published anything that implies the Priesthood holders are trained by their leadership to ask these probing questions is beside the point because many of these leaders ask these questions with impunity since it seems they are free to base their question on individual interpretation. I’m glad you didn’t tone down your factual observations. I recently forbade the Bishop from speaking alone behind a closed door with my children and from talking to them about anything to do with sexuality. I hope that my note influenced him in some way to choose the right instead of sticking to the handbook.
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Sam, when a leader speaks to a specific stake or region, the message he has for them is for them. It is not for the general membership unless given in conference or by letter. Different areas of the church have different problems within their area and GA’s are given assignment to speak to that area. Back in 1975, masturbation was a big problem among youth and especially missionaries. It doesn’t surprise me that Elder Featherstone wrote of this in the Ensign. We do not agree on this subject. I think it is a sexual sin that develops into an addiction that ruins relationships and leads to pornography. It is IMHO a direct violation or opposite of treating the body as a temple. I do not believe a woman appreciates her husband masturbating instead of the two establishing an intimate relationship. I do hope you will allow the devoted members to mourn the loss of our dear Pres Monson before you inundate the Church Offices with the petition and crowds. Also give parents the time to take this responsibility to heart. I am the one, if you remember, that encouraged you to use the media instead of your blog.
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Encouraged me to use the media? Janice, that was great advice. Thank you.
The march is still weeks away. So, we will all have plenty of time to mourn, me included.
Pres. Monson was one of my favorites. Several times, he has been the inspiration for actions I’ve taken. One talk in particular was called Mein Bruder (My brother in German.) It moved me, as a bishop, to sponsor a major project in our ward that was a blessing many. Today, I posted on my FB timeline a blog article about Pres. Monson. It was written 1 1/2 years ago.
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Featherstone’s talk was to the entire world. It was a General Conference Talk.
It very clearly talks about *answering that specific question asked by one’s bishop, stake, or mission president. This shows it was not an anomaly. Bishops, stake presidents, and mission presidents were already asking teens these questions before April 1975.
Those who had not been asking now knew it was okay to do so.
Young people now knew—if they didn’t before—that this specific question could be asked of them—not just a general “Are you keeping the Law of Chastity” question.
As early as 1975 and before.
The church wants to break its members by insisting that normal developmental behavior and natural inclination are sinful and require confession and repentance. While it’s true that anyone can develop bad habits, by and large humans are just relaxing and being human.
It’s sad when a church won’t even allow humans to have perfectly natural moments that are harmful to no one. And then talking about it, sometimes in detail, with a maxc stranger, can be where the real trouble begins.
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Thank you for this March March for the children who are innocent & knowing how many LDS Pedophiles are anxiously awaiting on the side lines it seems to fool & seduce away the innocence of our little ones. Even as an adult during my repentance interview with my Bishop, he wanted to know all my sexual positions, how long the intercourse lasted, how long did my orgasm last, was I satisfied, was there petting involved or straight on sex, how long before sex did I masturbate, “it just got worse!” Thus, I got up feeling dirty, like my Bishop was turned on by his questions & my reluctance to answer which was rather confusing because I never thought these were questions I had to answer to receive forgiveness. I went home feeling worthless. I never went back and for the first time in my life, I only went to sacrament meeting then left. It pains me to think a child would ever be asked these questions yet there were more respectful ways to ask like during our youth interviews long ago that brought God into the interview with respect & moral chastity was a choice we desired to maintain. We are instructed & should talk to our children on a personal level between parent & child about sex, not the Bishop. I have joined your ranks & thank you for not being afraid of what seems to be an LDS monster hiding on these sidelines with filthy Pedophiles. My ex is a pedophile.
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Hi Jackie, So sorry to hear of your experience. Thank you for joining the cause to prevent the same from happening to our children today.
BTW, have you recorded your story on ProtectLDSChildren.org?
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