Spencer Dixon was once a Mormon bishop responsible to the church, but soon he may be required to report as a sex offender.
The one-time Mormon bishop allegedly molested a 13-year-old girl in a Salt Lake City church library. He is reported to have fondled the girl’s breasts and buttocks and is now charged with “first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child,” according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.
The Mormon Church has had serious problems concerning sexual abuse in recent years and has been sued regarding its handling of such matters. According to the plaintiffs the church did not take proper action when leaders were confronted with such situations. Essentially, plaintiffs said that church officials didn’t keep their flock safe from sexual predators.
After former Bishop Dixon was arrested a church spokesman said, “The church condemns abuse of any kind and expects the highest moral and ethical conduct by its leaders.”
Let’s hope so. But it seems that Mormon leaders may have failed their faithful in the past.
17 year old Bethany Hughes died this week from Leukemia. Her life was prolonged by blood transfusions ordered by a Canadian court. But the child’s situation bitterly divided her family. Bethany’s father fought for his daughter’s life, despite his religion’s teaching that no Jehovah’s Witness should receive a blood transfusion. The girl’s mother chose to obey the elders of her faith, left her husband and is now seeking a divorce.
Mr. Hughes has announced that he plans to sue Jehovah’s Witnesses for “destroying families” reports CTV.
CTV also offered an informative background history about Jehovah’s Witnesses teachings.
Some in the Canadian press seemed to be taken in by the Witness spin machine, which apparently sought to cloud the real issues. Dawn Walton, a reporter for the Globe & Mail, described Bethany Hughes as a “crusader for children’s rights.” But this was certainly not the case and essentially a public relations pose likely advised by the girl’s Witness handlers. Bethany Hughes first stated that she objected to the transfusions purely on religious grounds, the supposed claim of “children’s rights” came months later.
The girl’s father, once a loyal Witness, concluded that the organization told “lies” regarding the matter.
Though Bethany Hughes had an illness with a probable terminal prognosis, many Witness children have died when a blood transfusion during an acute medical crisis could have offered them a normal life. But they perished instead, simply because of the idiosyncratic and arbitrary requirements of their religion.
Once Jehovah’s Witnesses also forbid organ transplants and many members died due to that edict. Later the rule was changed. Today some say the Witnesses are in the process of changing their teaching about blood transfusions. Whether or not this is true one thing is certain, more Witnesses will die before this is accomplished and others will suffer like the Hughes family.
Ellen Simonson, an employee of the Psychology Department at the University of Houston wrote an article sharply critical of both Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. Her critique was published in the school newspaper The Cougar.
Simonson points out that the founder of Scientology didn’t exactly present his bio correctly. According to her research Hubbard was expelled from George Washington University for failing grades and though he claimed to be a “nuclear physicist,” he failed the only physics course he ever took.
It seems the man, who would later denounce mental health professionals, ironically once sought their help and was diagnosed twice as a “paranoid schizophrenic.” Maybe they might have cured his apparent rages. Hubbard “beat, tortured and strangled his wife.” He would later even kidnap his child.
Honesty was also a problem for Mr. Hubbard. He was convicted for petty theft, passing bad checks and sentenced to “four years for fraud.”
Is this the man Scientology celebrities like Tom Cruise and John Travolta tout as their hero? Apparently he was no “Top Gun,” but maybe his official Scientology bio reads like “Pulp Fiction.”
No doubt Scientologists will dismiss the writings of Texan Simonson as the rant of a biased proponent of psychologists and psychology, their avowed enemy. And she might be on the receiving end of one of their “fair game” attacks soon. But whatever they do or say the real history of Scientology’s founder L. Ron Hubbard can’t be changed.
Madonna once sang about “getting into the groove,” but now it seems she’s stuck in a rut. The middle-aged pop icon persists in her “spiritual” trip, which includes “yoga” and “Kaballah” lessons, reports Reuters. But her teachers of these respected traditions are from controversial fringe groups that have been called “cults.” One of her yoga teachers is a devotee of 3HO and her “Kaballah” lessons come from an organization run by Philip Berg, which he named the “Kaballah Center.”
But the “material girl” apparently feels any controversy surrounding these groups is somehow immaterial.
Perhaps Madonna, like most celebrities involved in groups called “cults,” never sees or is subjected to the dark side of these organizations. Like most celebrities involved, she is more likely to be catered to and fawned upon, rather than exposed to the demands made upon regular members.
Hollywood types are known for gathering “yes people” around them and indulging in self-centered pursuits. And it seems that for some “spirituality” is not unlike using drugs or partying and is simply another journey down the road of narcissism and/or hedonism.
However, regardless of the fun Madonna and other stars may have in indulging themselves, they often become a lure used by groups to promote products, courses and recruitment. In this sense they take on some of the responsibility of the harm, which may be done to others.
Madonna is certainly not some wide-eyed naïve type, “like a virgin.” Hopefully, some day she will be a more mature mother and offer her fans a better example
Hate group leader William Pierce abandoned his family and promoted hate from an isolated compound for almost twenty years. Intensely focused upon communicating his message, he ironically lost touch his own children, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
One of Pierce’s sons said, “His family was of no importance to him.”
Pierce accumulated a considerable estate including land and other assets, but left everything to the “National Alliance,” the hate group he founded. Ultimately, his followers became his only real family.
Pierce was once a college professor, but his career was the first casualty of his hatred, which later also consumed his family life. As a father he was a remote figure. It seems Pierce had little room in his heart for much more than his obsessive fixation with racial purity and Neo-Nazi anti-Semitism.
Pierce’s children completely rejected their father’s teachings.
Perhaps the most telling image of anyone, is most often the one held by his or her own family. Pierce may have fantasized about some supposed historical significance, but in the end his family will likely represent his most enduring legacy. Rather than the father of a movement, William Pierce seems to have been no father at all. A man devoid of the very moral authority he so often ranted about.
A cult in France called “New Lighthouse” believes that the world will end next month. So far, one member has committed suicide and two others apparently made a serious attempt, reports Reuters. French authorities fear the implications of such a doomsday date and how it may affect the cult members.
Much like “Heaven’s Gate” whose 39 members died through a mass suicide in 1997, New Lighthouse members believe they too will be saved by a spaceship. Their leader Arnaud Mussy. says he will reign as the new Christ, when he and his followers are brought to Venus. Mussy has declared his brother the Pope.
Never mind that this all sounds ridiculous. The point is that those involved believe it and may end their lives as a direct result of that belief. Cult members are often subjected to a type of coercive persuasion within a group environment that produces undue influence and dependence upon a leader for crucial decision-making and value judgements. Historically, cult leaders have often become deeply delusional and then led their followers to tragedy.
After the Swiss cult mass suicide of the Solar Temple in 1994, which claimed 48 lives initially and many more later, French authorities are taking no chances. The police now have the New Lighthouse under close surveillance.
In recent years the European response to destructive cults has been more forthcoming, consistent and ongoing than within the United States.
The mishandling of childhood sexual abuse is certainly not confined to the Roman Catholic Church and its priests.
The Toronto Sun reports that a woman has sued Jehovah’s Witnesses for $700,00.00, for their failure to report sexual abuse.
Now 31, the Canadian housewife says she was molested by her father from 11 to 14 and the elders of her church conspired to conceal it and advised that she not to seek outside counseling. The net result according to the suit is “permanent emotional injury.”
In recent years in an apparent effort to shield assets from liability in court cases Jehovah’s Witnesses have set up a multitude of corporations. This seems strange for a group that warns door to door “the end is near.” If the Apocalypse is so imminent why does the organization strive so hard to protect its worldly kingdom?
The plaintiff in the Canadian lawsuit said, “I have so much anger … that I’m ready to fight them until the end.” Perhaps that is an end the Witnesses did not foresee.
Two teenagers allege Nuwaubian leader Malachi York began molesting them at the ages of 8 and 9 years old. He told the children if they kept this “great secret,” they “would go to heaven with the angels and … never die,” reported the Macon Telegraph.
According to former members York controlled every aspect of his follower’s lives, which included sex. However, the cult leader had sex with anyone he wanted. It appears that he may have fathered 100 children. And while many Nuwaubians lived in relative poverty their leader maintained a luxurious lifestyle.
York was arrested holding $10,000.00 and authorities found an additional $400,000.00 at group properties.
Former members claim many Nuwaubians must have known their leader was a pedophile. One said, “They’re just trying to stick up for him because they wasted their whole life…what are they going to do now?”
Many long-term cult members face such situations. Denial becomes a device to protect their personal equity invested over a lifetime.
Malachi York continues to be held without bail in a Georgian jail. He is charged with 74 counts of child molestation, 29 counts of aggravated child molestation, four counts of statutory rape, one count of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of influencing a witness and five counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes, reports the Macon Telegraph.
Stewart Unholtz, the Illinois County State’s Attorney says he has “looked over the statutes, which should be applicable” to Neo-Nazi Matt Hale listing himself as an “attorney.” without any official status to practice law in Illinois.
In a phone message left yesterday Umholtz said, “A person who falsely represents himself to be an attorney not authorized to practice law for the purpose of compensation or consideration commits a criminal act.”
However, Umholtz thinks the critical words are “compensation or consideration.” He seems to think a “criminal act” must involve billing clients and/or receiving something for legal work done.
Why did Matt Hale list and/or represent himself as an “attorney” if he did not intend to do any work? Didn’t Hale hope that Illinois residents who found his name listed as an “attorney” would call him for services, or was this just a gesture to indulge his ego?
Umholtz says this matter will continue to be “looked at.”
Note: To see the original article regarding Matt Hale click here
Ariel Ben Sherman the leader of a group called “New Life Tabernacle” now faces criminal charges due to medical neglect, allegedly caused through his influence. A 15-year-old girl with a tumor the size of a basketball did not receive proper medical attention, reported WBIR TV in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Additionally, according to an official report filed in court, children were physically abused within the sect’s compound. The group meted out extreme punishments such as hanging children bound with ropes from the ceiling for hours and dousing them with cold water in an empty pool for soiling themselves.
Again and again, cases have come to court in recent years involving the gross abuse of children in cults. But unlike their parents, children in cults never make a decision to join. Instead, they are brought in, often almost like so much baggage.
Though cult members may believe whatever they wish, they may not legally do whatever they want. And it seems this must especially apply to the protection of the most vulnerable members of any cult, which are its children. Religious freedom should not be invoked to offer child abusers immunity from prosecution.
