Missionary Charged, Church being Sued in KY

[_Bond...James Bond]

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/ne ... 577219.htm

Interesting story out of Lexington. Not only is the missionary named for criminal charges (two counts sodomy, one count attempted sodomy) but the Church is being sued too.


Bond

[_Dr. Shades]

From the article:

"I don't think freedom of religion gives you the right to sexually abuse a minor," Stidham said.

Not unless your name is Joseph Smith.

[_Mephitus]

Yay for theocratic ethics!

"I can do whatever god tells me to do. If god says its cool, its A-OK!"

[_harmony]

The article says:

In court documents, the church argues that the case should be dismissed. It says some of the claims might be barred by statute of limitations, and that it cannot be held responsible for actions of someone not necessarily under its control.

Not necessarily under its control? Exactly when, in the 2 years a missionary serves, are his actions not under the church's control? Isn't that the point of the mission?

The article then says:

Michael Stidham, a Jackson lawyer who represents the mother and son, said he has not seen the church's response to the lawsuit, but that he does not understand how freedom of religion can translate to protection against lawsuits when a member of the church commits a crime.

On the other hand, I don't see how the church can be responsible for actions a member commits, unless the church is in direct control.

I don't think this is a cut and dried case.

[_Jason Bourne]

The article says:

In court documents, the church argues that the case should be dismissed. It says some of the claims might be barred by statute of limitations, and that it cannot be held responsible for actions of someone not necessarily under its control.

Not necessarily under its control? Exactly when, in the 2 years a missionary serves, are his actions not under the church's control? Isn't that the point of the mission?

The article then says:

Michael Stidham, a Jackson lawyer who represents the mother and son, said he has not seen the church's response to the lawsuit, but that he does not understand how freedom of religion can translate to protection against lawsuits when a member of the church commits a crime.

On the other hand, I don't see how the church can be responsible for actions a member commits, unless the church is in direct control.

I don't think this is a cut and dried case.

actually given the fact that two 19 year olds are often a long way from their MP there is little real controll over them.

[_ajax18]

The only reason I can possibly see the Church being liable in this is instance is the fact that the Church has money and there probably isn't much you could take from a 19 year old, at least not if you want to get paid very quickly. Don't lawyers admit that the purpose of tort law isn't justice as much as to compensate the victim.

[_Gazelam]

Where was this guys companion while this was going on?

I had a girl tell a local bishop that I was the Father of her child. hard to do that since I was never without my companion. (Also she was pregnant when we met her, and had just kicked out her boyfriend for being "unhygenic")

[_moksha]

Lawyers would never take the case unless someone had deep pockets.

[_Brackite]

I thought that any of this awful stuff is Not suppose to happen anymore with any of the Missionaries, since the Church a few years ago raised the bar on righteousness on all the Missionaries who are now going out.

[_ajax18]

I'm not sure how they look at this legally, but the major difference I see between this and the money people were able to squeeze out of the Catholic Church is that Catholic bishops are paid for and supported by the Church. If Mormon missionaries were at least mostly supported by their own family, than how is he different from any other church member out out on a service project. I'm sure torts have have been committed many times by members even when they were about the Church's business. When did we start saying that this justifies taking money from the Church?

Of course I also saw a lot of the Catholic bishop scandals as a money making scam as well even though I'm not Catholic. There is no perfect system to accurately predict and avoid unsavory human behaviors. They know this. They're just looking for a quick payday. In our desire for fairness, we achieve greater unfairness still. Our legal remedies are worse to the overall justice of the gengeral population than the status quo. Why don't we just call it what it is, socialism and the democratic party.

It appears that this missionary who allegedly did this must have been gay as well.