UNITED STATES
The Hill
June 9, 2018
By Huma Yasin
Sexual abuse within religious communities is not a new phenomenon, but appears to be more prevalent recently as headline-making cases spark attention.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary recently fired former president Paige Patterson after reportedly telling a seminary student and victim of rape to forgive her attacker and not report the incident to the police. He is also accused of covering up the sexual abuse perpetrated by another Southern Baptist leader on a member of his youth group, though he allegedly knew of the abuse and failed to report it.
In the Mormon faith, sexual abuse survivor McKenna Denson recently sued Bishop Joseph L. Bishop, who was president of Provo’s Missionary Training Center, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for repeated abuse that allegedly occurred when decades ago she was a young “sister” missionary.
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