Brenda Nicholson joins me to discuss the social life of women in the FLDS church where she grew up under Rulon and Warren Jeffs. She’s since left the sect and fiercely argues that there is no way, that polygamy benefits…
Lesley Butterfield is a registered nurse and survivor advocate who works with victims of abuse. She’s passionate about increasing literacy about abuse and trauma in particular for women survivors of spiritual and ecclesiastical abuse in the LDS Church. Lesley has…
In this episode, we look at child abuse from the perspective of prevention. My guest is Gwen Knight, the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah. According to Prevent Child abuse Utah, its mission is to forge and guide a…
At the beginning of May 2019 two mothers of children who were sexually abused by convicted paedophile, Michael Jensen, appeared back in their former ward in Martinsburg, West Virginia to warn the congregation that the children there are not safe.…
Lucy Cammock talks passionately and with clarity about the subtle side of sexual abuse trauma that trailed her (a church-related sexual abuse survivor) through her life. “I’m never done with the trauma”, she argues. And while that may sound hopeless…
Tim Kosnoff, victims’ advocate and attorney, returns to the podcast to discuss the growing wave of sexual abuse allegations being made against the Boys Scouts and the long-standing relationship between the BSA and the LDS Church.
When the crime documentary ‘Abducted in Plain Sight’ was released on Netflix, Jan Broberg (the woman at the centre of this seemingly bizarre story of multiple kidnappings, an alien mission and sexual assault while a child) was full of regret…
Craig Vernon has represented clients in several high profile church and clergy perpetrated sexual abuse cases including cases involving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Litigating cases against the LDS Church shows them to be formidable adversaries who…
278: To Win at All Costs: The LDS Church and its Heartless Legal Machine: Craig Vernon Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadLawyer Tim Kosnoff recently remarked that he thought that churches were largely harmless. That was until he uncovered a system of cover-ups, and he witnessed first hand the lengths that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will go…
As my interview with spiritual trauma therapy specialist Kathleen Shannon will indicate, a definition for religious abuse is difficult to nail it down. But according to Caswell and Swindle (2018) religious abuse occurs within three categories. Abuse perpetrated by religious…