| Subject: | Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 30, 2010 |
| Author: | SLDrone |
| Elder George P. Lee, in life and death Elder George P. Lee, the first and still only Native American General Authority passed away this week in Provo. He was a man who was both created and destroyed by the changing Mormon doctrine regarding the lineage of the Native American peoples. Once vaunted as the direct lineage of Lehi and Laman, both the doctrine and the outreach to the Native American suffered in the face of scientific discovery, and perhaps even bigotry. It is an oft repeated story. Lee was a product of his environment. He thrived in Kimball's Indian Placement Program. Spencer W. Kimball had a special place in his heart for Native Americans. Having grown up in Arizona, side by side with the Navajo, his policy and religion was that these people were direct descended from Lehi, father of Nephi and Laman. Hence the term Lamanite. Kimball was convinced that the Book of Mormon was in part a special witness to the Native American people, and programs were created as an outreach to bring them into the fold. Of course Kimball was wrong on the lineage of these people, and Benson, an Idaho boy, extremely conservative, a John Bircher (today they call them Tea Baggers :)), and by many accounts a bigot, had no such love for the "Lamanite". He discontinued the outreach programs and proceeded to white wash the Church's teachings with regard to the Lamanite lineage. The word Lamanite is barely spoken from the Mormon pulpit these days, and younger generations (today's teens and young adults) are not familiar with the term Lamanite. That's how the Mormon Church rolls when it changes doctrines and contradicts statements of his prophets. It's a multi generational long term approach that simply lets the old philosophies die with the generations that believed in them. And so, this is the environment in which George P. Lee found himself. Once the beneficiary of a huge and targeted outreach program he thrived. He believed his people had a special place in bringing about the building up of the Kingdom of God on this Earth. He'd been taught his whole life that the Lamanites would become once again a chosen people, and like a Phoenix rise from the ashes to greatness. He was taught and believed that he would have a special role in that ascendancy. All that destroyed by the death of one man (Kimball) and the attitudes of his successor (Benson). Such is the fickle nature of Mormon Doctrine, as fickle as the changing attitudes of the all too human prophet du jour. Abondoned, his people once again abandoned, Lee understandably became bitter. He could have done more had he remained calm and worked from within. Benson wasn't long for the world and Hinckley was much more media and PR savvy. Hinckley also believed strongly in the Lamanite lineage as evidenced by temple dedicatory prayers he offered in South and Central America which made reference. But Lee was impatient, impetuous, and from being scorned by a bitter senile old man, he became angry. Once again, his people had been abandoned, thrown to the wind, promises broken. Just as had been done to them so many times before. Lee understandably was heartbroken, bitter and forlorn. May he find peace now as he rests. |
| Subject: | Got a Call Today from a Mormon Friend Disturbed about the Sanitized Deseret News Obit on Geo. P. Lee-- |
| Date: | Aug 01, 2010 04:17 |
| Author: | steve benson |
| This LDS buddy of mine was absolutely dumbfounded that
the Mormon Church-generated obituary of Lee in its
"Desperately-Hiding-the-Truth News" managed to mention his multi-year stint
as a General Authority, but chose to report virtually nothing about not only
Lee's excommunication for apostacy, but his felony conviction for attempted
child molestation. First, here's the vigorously-scrubbed "Desolate News" version for the faithful: "George P. Lee Dies" By Jamshid Ghazi Askar 29 July 2010, 10:01 p.m. MDT, "Deseret News" "George P. Lee, the first American Indian to serve as a general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Wednesday at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. He was 67 years old. "Lee was born on the Navajo Reservation in Towoac, Colo. He attended school in New Mexico and Utah, where he graduated from Orem High in 1962. After an LDS mission to the Southwest Indian Mission, he received a bachelor's degree and a doctorate from BYU and a master's degree in educational administration from Utah State University. Lee was the first American Indian to earn a doctorate from BYU. "President Spencer W. Kimball ordained Lee to the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1975. Lee subsequently served as a general authority for nearly 14 years. "He married Katherine Hettich in 1967 and they had seven children together before divorcing in 1996. He is survived by five sons, two daughters and two siblings." "Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday at the LDS Washington Buena Vista Stake Center in Washington, Washington County." http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700052104/George-P-Lee-dies.html _____ Commendably, protesting readers have written to the "Deseret News'" "Readers Forum" section about the minimalized and conveniently-cryptic coverage in Lee's obit: --"Why not an article that is much more informative? This one says little about a seminal figure in LDS leadership and the problems both he and LDS inc had with each other." --"I too wondered why more wasn't written (my comment was posted this morning, but then yanked for some reason) -- all I did was ask why this paper omitted recounting so much of Lee's notable history." --"Concerned that my first comment hasn't shown up yet. Omitting his criminal case and excommunication does a disservice to his victim and the church. Yes, it was ugly, but it was true. We should be able to expect the ugly truth from our NEWSpaper, not a revisionist history." --" . . . He is not a man to be revered." --"JOHN D.LEE was indeed a good man too- A god fearing man was he. By any chance are these two LEE's related?" http://www.deseretnews.com/user/comments/700052104/George-P-Lee-dies.html And at another website, this irate reader disses the "News" from "Deseret": "It’s just so silly to leave out the elephant in the room when everyone already knows about it--it makes the paper look disingenuous, at best. The conspicuous omission of the most important details (excommunication, child molestation charges) — by a church-owned paper — is what’s going to draw more attention than just saying what happened. "So, since we all know that the 'D[esert] N[ews]' is biased, they should have been a little smarter about it. It’s such an unnecessary (and poorly thought out) extension of our culture of not talking about things. Hopefully a more informative article will come later or, at the very least, maybe they’ll update the current one (though they haven’t so far)." http://www.mormonmentality.org/2010/07/30/george-p-lee-dies.htm _____ Very well, now the rest of the story that, in death, the made-to-fit obit in the "Deseret Snooze and Abuse" somehow conveniently managed to miss: "George P. Lee [d]ies and if you don’t know he was excommunicated and for what, the 'Deseret News' isn’t going to tell you. The only thing they’ll give up is that he '[. . . ] served as a general authority for nearly 14 years' — as if he went emeritus or something (although the divorce is certainly fishy). "The 'Salt Lake Tribune' is more forthcoming, naturally . . . . [P]erhaps this passage from the 'Tribune' article best sums up the situation: “'George P. Lee is one of the truly tragic figures in modern Mormon history,' Armand Mauss, an LDS sociologist in Irvine, Calif., said Thursday. He was 'both created and destroyed' by changing Mormon teachings and policies regarding native peoples." http://www.mormonmentality.org/2010/07/30/george-p-lee-dies.htm _____ Indeed, from the "Salt Lake Tribune," 31 July 2007, comes a story headlined, "Ex-LDS leader George P. Lee Booked for Allegedly Not Registering as Sex Offender" (as archived at the website, "RELIGION AND CHILD ABUSE NEWS"): "George P. Lee, a former member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy and candidate for Navajo Nation president, was arrested Friday in southwest Utah on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender. "A spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections on Monday said it had been three years since keepers of the state's sex offender registry knew Lee's whereabouts. "For a sex offender to fail to update his contact information is a felony punishable by as much as five years in prison, though Lee has not been formally charged. Lee, 64, was released Friday from the Washington County jail on $5,000 bond. . . . "Lee has been unaccounted for since July 19, 2004, said Jack Ford, a spokesman for the department of corrections. The state's sex offender Web site on Monday listed Lee's address as 'Not Available.' "Detectives from the Washington County Sheriff's Office found Lee while searching for unregistered sex offenders in that county, Coots said. "Detectives found an address that Lee gave to St. George police, who had questioned him earlier about a minor traffic issue, she said. "In 1975, Lee was named to the First Quorum of Seventy, the first and only American Indian among LDS general authorities. "He served until 1989, when he was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 1 for what Mormon leaders called 'conduct unbecoming a member of the church.' It was the first excommunication of a Mormon general authority in 46 years. . . . "In October 1994, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child, a third-degree felony, admitting that he fondled the breasts of a 12-year-old family friend. The girl, 17 at the time of the trial, said Lee exploited the religious respect she had for him to fondle to her breasts, buttocks and genitals. She said the abuse began when she was 9 years old and lasted for three years. "Judge Kenneth Rigtrup placed Lee on 18 months probation and ordered him to pay a $1,850 fine, complete sex-offender counseling, write a letter of apology to the victim and pay costs of her counseling. . . ." http://religiouschildabuse.blogspot.com/2007/08/ex-lds-leader-george-p-lee-booked-for.html _____ More from this Mormon Church-unauthorized biography of Lee: "On September 1, 1989 . . . it was announced that Elder Lee had been excommunicated for 'apostasy and other conduct unbecoming a member of the church.' His excommunication was the first of a General Authority to occur in 46 years. According to Elder Lee, the action stemmed from his disagreement with the other church leaders over the role of American Indians in the religion and from other charges he had presented in a 23-page letter to President Ezra Taft Benson and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. "It is the policy of the [Mormon] Church to respect an individual's right to privacy and not publicize the details of an excommicant's behavior which brought about the disciplinary action. "However the 'Salt Lake Tribune' reported that Lee had attempted to molest a minor girl. "Lee originally denied the charges but on October 12, 1994, the 'Salt Lake Tribune' reported that Lee acknowledged his guilt: "'A year ago, former Mormon general authority George P. Lee proclaimed he was 'innocent before God' of sexually molesting a 12-year-old neighbor girl. "'But Tuesday before a 3rd District judge, Lee humbly hung his head and admitted to touching the girl's breasts for sexual gratification. . . . "'Lee, 51, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child, a third-degree felony. . . .'" http://www.gapages.com/leegp1.htm _____ Then this, from an article sub-titled, "THE FALL OF GEORGE P. LEE," the gripping (and groping) details of what the Mormon Church-sanctioned press failed to post-humously report about Lee: "While some Mormons would like to believe that their leaders are almost infallible, the case of George P. Lee clearly demonstrates that even a highly respected leader can fall into sin. The Mormon Church is led by a group of men known as the General Authorities. Since Lee served in the First Quorum of the Seventy, he was a member of this elite group that directs the affairs of the church. "On September 2, 1989, the 'Salt Lake Tribune' made this startling announcement: "'George P. Lee, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy since 1975, was stripped of his membership by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 'apostasy' and 'other conduct unbecoming a member of the church.' . . . "'Dr. Lee has been considered a rising star in the church hierarchy, but his questioning of church leadership landed him in trouble two years ago, he said. Since then, he claims church officials have accused him of polygamy and 'immorality,' both of which he denies. When those charges didn't stick, they charged him with apostasy, he said.' "After George Lee's excommunication, he wrote two letters 'To the First Presidency and the Twelve' in which he severely castigated the leaders of the church. In the first letter he asked: 'Who wrote a letter to George P. Lee and falsely accused him of things which were not true such as polygamy and teaching false doctrine?' His letters were turned over to the news media and caused a good deal of dissension in Salt Lake City. "George Lee's many supporters discounted the comments regarding polygamy and immorality, believing that the church was out to get him. Unfortunately, however, in 1993, the statements about polygamy and immorality became very important. On July 30, 1993, the Mormon Church's newspaper, the 'Deseret News,' reported the following: "'George P. Lee, former LDS Church general authority, is expected to surrender to authorities next week on charges that he sexually abused a 12-year-old girl in 1989. "'Investigators say he fondled the girl at his home and during official trips made as a member of the church's First Quorum of Seventy. "'Lee, 50, was charged Thursday with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years to life in prison. The single charge accuses him of fondling the girl at his West Jordan home while talking to her about polygamy. . . . "'The girl would sometimes accompany Lee's daughter when they traveled to conferences in other states while he served as a general authority for the church. Lee is accused of fondling her during trips to Arizona, Canada and Lake Powell, according to a sheriff's report. . . . "'Prosecutors filed the charge as a first-degree felony because Lee "occupied a position of special trust to the victim" as a religious leader and because the incidents are said to have occurred more than five times, the charges state.' "On August 13, 1993, the 'Salt Lake Tribune' reported that '[f]ormer Mormon general authority George P. Lee said God will bring "calamities and judgments" upon those who have accused him of child sex abuse. . . . Mr. Lee compared his plight with the persecution of Jesus Christ. "We all have peaks and valleys," he said. "This is my valley, my Garden of Gethsemane."' "Finally, on October 12, 1994, the 'Salt Lake Tribune' reported that Lee acknowledged his guilt: "'A year ago, former Mormon general authority George P. Lee proclaimed he was "innocent before God" of sexually molesting a 12-year-old neighbor girl. "'But Tuesday before a 3rd District judge, Lee humbly hung his head and admitted to touching the girl's breasts for sexual gratification. . . . "'Lee, 51, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse of a child, a third-degree felony. . . . "'Lee admitted only to fondling the girl's breasts. "'But the victim, now 17 years old, said Lee fondled her breasts, buttocks and genitals for three years, beginning in 1986 when she was 9 years old. . . . "'The last time Lee abused her was after a camping trip in June 1989 at Lee's home.'" "George Lee, like the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, mentioned the practice of 'polygamy' to the young girl after they had returned from a camping trip: "'During that trip, she went camping with the Lee family. Lee disappeared for a day and a night, then returned and brought her . . . back to their West Jordan home. That night, he called Karen [a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the victim] into his bedroom and had her sit on his bed. He told her that he had hiked to the top of a nearby mountain where ["Karen" said] he spoke "to the Lord and he told the Lord he'd fallen in love with me. . . . I was confused and taken aback about him speaking to the Lord and the Lord saying it was OK." Lee then began talking to her "about polygamy." ['Karen said,] "He said that it was going to be brought back to the Earth and we'd be asked to live it." . . . Still later that night, Lee woke her up and said "he was sorry he'd ever started touching me and that he'd never do it again." "However, 'almost every day' for the month, he continued the fondling: in her friend's bedroom, in the family room, in the pool at the Deseret Gym, on a Heber Creeper train ride, and in hotels when they traveled to Canada. She testified later that there were 'more than 20 touching incidents' that month." (quoted from "Case Reports," published by "The Mormon Alliance," p. 73) "'The Mormon Alliance' raises the question of whether church leaders knew about Lee's sexual problem before he was excommunicated. In his first letter to the First Presidency and the Twelve George Lee made it clear that the church had put him on probation: 'Who is acting as judge, jury and executioner at the same time and delights in putting George P. Lee on probation without fair hearing. . . . Who put George P. Lee on probation after he faithfully and honestly opened up to you in his attempts to answer your questions and false accusations with a presentation on the chalkboard?' "'The Mormon Alliance reported that there was a possibility that Lee may have abused other individuals: "'In 1993 when criminal charges were filed against Lee, a Church spokesman said 'they were unaware at the time [of the excommunication] of the sexual-abuse allegations.' Despite the Church's silence and Lee's denial, however, it is not impossible that allegations of sexual misconduct were known among the other General Authorities, for simultaneously with the period of probation and the pattern of intensifying ostracism, Lee was turning to children for sexual gratification and had been doing so since at least 1986, three years before his excommunication. "'According to newspaper accounts spanning the time period between the filing of charges and Lee's plea bargain, there may have been additional victims. A story published two days after he was charged states: "Other possible victims are alluded to in the report, but officials say that for now, only incidents involving the 12-year-old will be prosecuted." A second newspaper story quoted sheriff's officials as saying 'others allegedly have made similar allegations against Lee." "'A third news story, published in May 1994, reported that Lee's attorney had filed a motion "asking the judge to exclude "any evidence of other misconduct or bad acts concerning defendant's sisters-in-law . . . for the reason that said incidents, even if true, are irrelevant." The motion did not elaborate on the 'misconduct or bad acts.' . . . "'Many questions remain unanswered: Did Lee abuse other children besides Karen, including the sisters of his wife Kitty? Were there abuse victims earlier than Karen? What was the influence of his abusive activities on his "apostasy" and vice versa? What did other General Authorities suspect or know? What kinds of interventions did they attempt during his 'probation' and why was he placed on 'probation'?" ('Case Reports,' pp. 72, 76)'" http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no91.htm _____ Below is the compare-and-contrast article from the "Salt Lake Tribune" on Lee's death, headlined "Ousted LDS Leader Dies; George P. Lee--Navajo Rose to Prominence Before Being Ousted for ‘Heresy’ in 1989": "George P. Lee once enjoyed such widespread respect as the first and only American Indian LDS general authority that many Mormons believed he someday might become an apostle or even higher. "But such talk ended in 1989, when Lee, who died this week at age 67, was excommunicated for 'heresy' and 'conduct unbecoming a member of the church.' Later, he admitted to attempted child sex abuse, and his wife divorced him. “'George P. Lee is one of the truly tragic figures in modern Mormon history,' Armand Mauss, an LDS sociologist in Irvine, Calif., said Thursday. He was 'both created and destroyed' by changing Mormon teachings and policies regarding native peoples. "Lee died Wednesday at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo after a long battle with many physical ailments. “'We offer our condolences to his family,' LDS spokesman Scott Trotter said Thursday. 'We have tried to stay close to him and his family over the years, and we pray for the Lord’s blessings to be upon them at this tender time.' . . . " . . . Lee rose in the ranks of the LDS hierarchy. He was named to the church’s First Quorum of Seventy in 1975 at age 32 and served in that body until 1989, when he was excommunicated. "Unbowed and angry, Lee claimed the disciplinary action by then-President Ezra Taft Benson was triggered by his opposition to the faith’s shifting approach to its Indian members. "Mauss, author of 'All Abraham’s Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage,' sees some truth to that. "Lee grew to maturity during decades when the LDS Church launched a comprehensive campaign of education and economic development to 'redeem' North America’s Lamanites, who had so tragically languished under both U.S. and Canadian 'Indian' policies throughout the 20th century. "Mauss said Lee took seriously the perspective espoused by then-President Spencer W. Kimball that the Lamanites, a Book of Mormon term used to describe many Native American peoples, would become leaders in building Zion. "Benson succeeded Kimball in 1985 and later discontinued the placement program, shifting the church’s emphasis from North to South American indigenous members. “'It was Elder Lee’s resistance to this change,' Mauss wrote in an e-mail, 'and his continuing claim to special leadership responsibilities for himself and his people, that brought him into increasing conflict with his colleagues among the general authorities.' "After losing his church position, Lee ran for president of the Navajo Nation in 1990 and 1994, falling short in the primary both times." http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/50019546-78/lee-george-lds-church.html.csp ***** Brother Lee, we never knew thee--and if the Mormon Church has its way, we never will. But, hey, at least the "Provo Herald," in its article "Disgraced Former LDS General Authority George P. Lee Dies," used Lee's criminal mug shot: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_ebea243c-9ba1-11df-8116-001cc4c03286.html Still, no good informative journalistic deed goes unpunished. A reader of the "Herald" wrote to complain in its "Latest Comments" section: "Very few people are all good or all bad. I am appalled at Lee's behavior [with regard to] the girl, but also remember some great talks I heard him give at stake conferences. "I lost track of him when he left the [Mormon] church. I am also disappointed at the 'Herald's' use of the apparent booking mug shot as the primary image. I have not seen my copy of the print edition, so I don't know which one it used, but emphasizing the negative seems inappropriate, especially since it was the lesser quality image." http://heraldextra.com/app/community/latest-comments/ Apparently for TBMs (Totally-Blinded Mormons), bad news should mean no news in the Utah press. |
| Subject: | Great write up |
| Date: | Aug 01 09:36 |
| Author: | SLDrone |
| Steve good job on the write up. I actually think the
Des New's omission was intentional and intended to make it appear that the
church had taken "the higher road". I actually commend them for that. When I was a mission president I would often have missionaries come to me with confessions, sometimes so grief stricken over even a minor offense as to be incapacitated with guilt. I got used to repeating this phrase, "All the good that you do is not washed away by your mistakes, but your mistakes are washed away by the love of your Savior". Well, it's what I believed at the time. What I believe now is "all the good you do is still good, and the mistakes you make can be largely corrected through honest restitution." I hope George Lee made honest restitution, I hope he found a space in this world to exist where he felt at ease and productive. And if there is something out there beyond I hope he has found peace there. |
| Subject: | Re: Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 30 10:43 |
| Author: | Boilermaker |
| I suspect the LDS Church realized there was more opportunity for growth among the natives of Latin America than was available among the natives of the U.S. and Canada. When I went to BYU in the early 70s it was the height of the Lamanite craze when people really believed what the Book of Mormon said. Native Americans were easily recognized among the BYU student body. When I went back in 1989, I didn't notice "Lamanites" among the student body at all. It is no wonder George P. Lee became bitter and lost faith in the Mormon Church's leaders. He detested the favoring of rich people in the Mormon Church at the expense of the poor. Did these issues lead him to attempted child abuse? Hard to say. |
| Subject: | "prophet du jour" that's beautiful -- It leads to "Doctrine du jour" |
| Date: | Jul 30 10:52 |
| Author: | My Take |
| Lamanite doctrine is no longer the "doctrine of the
day"! And thus the Book of Mormon is no longer a latter-day witness to the
Lamanites (American Indians). It's suspicious that every time a Prophet dies, God changes His mind. Lee learned that fast. |
| Subject: | Re: "prophet du jour" that's beautiful -- It leads to "Doctrine du jour" |
| Date: | Jul 30 11:32 |
| Author: | SLDrone |
| Sadly though, this fickle god of theirs destroys lives, blacks, gays, native Americans, women who want equal rights. |
| Subject: | Only met him once at a Stake Conference back when I was a TBM EQP. |
| Date: | Jul 30 12:20 |
| Author: | Fallible |
| He offended lots of people at the SC due to his
condemnation of anyone having any 'toys' ie. boat, RV, snowmobiles, etc. He said that the lord was not pleased with people, no matter their calling or outward appearence, how owned such things. This would have been back in the early '80's. |
| Subject: | TBM's are already patting themselves on the back for their generosity. They say they have |
| Date: | Jul 30 12:43 |
| Author: | mav |
| opened the doors of a ward in Washington County for his funeral. Why would he want a Mo funeral? |
| Subject: | Re: Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 30 13:51 |
| Author: | George |
| Lee married my Navajo son in the temple [as a temple officieal]. He was highly thought of by Native American members of the church. In my lifetime, "Lamanites" have disappeared from the TSCC [this so called church]. It's really strange. |
| Subject: | Re: Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 30 14:40 |
| Author: | LifeIsGreatNow |
| Thank you, SLDrone, for your interesting and cogent
account of George P. Lee's involvement with Church leadership. If I remember
correctly he was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Yes, even
though Church leadership vastly scaled down their former level of support of
"Lamanite" members, George did not and got into trouble for it with the Big
Corporate Boys on 47 South Temple. I remember that in the early 70's version of the Book of Mormon it referred to Lamanites' skin as becoming "... white and delightsome" as they, the Lamanites, became righteous. Of course no one witnessed this, particularly, I assume, the "Lamanites" themselves. So much for even more phony promises from dead, fictional prophets, huh? And, conveniently, the Church subsequently changed the BOM verse to read, "... pure and delightsome" instead of "... white and delightsome". May George P. Lee rest in peace. |
| Subject: | Re: Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 31 13:57 |
| Author: | DNA |
| LifeIsGreatNow wrote: > I remember that in the early 70's version of the Book of Mormon it referred to Lamanites' skin as becoming "... white and delightsome" as they, the Lamanites, became righteous. Of course no one witnessed this, ... Acually SWK [Spencer W. Kimball - Miracle of Forgiveness] saw it. He bore testimony of seeing their skin get lighter. So one person did see it! |
| Subject: | Another life ground up and spit out |
| Date: | Jul 30 15:43 |
| Author: | Koo Koo for Kaukaubeam |
| all in the name of protecting the church. As far as his funeral at a stake center, i'm sure that many of his children are still very active LDS and arranged - and wanted - it that way. |
| Subject: | Indeed |
| Date: | Jul 30 20:53 |
| Author: | SLDrone |
| As happens so often when his path diverged from the
approved route, he was tossed aside. After giving much of his life in the "building up on the kingdom", two decades of full time service, he deserved better. His excommunication unhinged him. After basing so much of his life on teachings he discovered to be lies, it's no wonder he spiraled down. I haven't heard much about him in the past 10 years or so. I hope he found peace in this life, and I hope he has found the "great spirit" now. |
| Subject: | He got a bad deal from LDS Inc., but WTF was he doing... |
| Date: | Jul 30 22:18 |
| Author: | Bob |
| ...when he sexually abused a 12 year old girl in true joseph smith fashion. |
| Subject: | His story reminds me of a book about ... |
| Date: | Jul 30 22:42 |
| Author: | Veritas |
| Stalinist Russia. Title: The Commissar Vanishes First you're in the photographs with the top leaders, then you're airbrushed out like you never existed. |
| Subject: | Re: Elder George P. Lee |
| Date: | Jul 30 23:09 |
| Author: | Unindoctrinated |
| I also met the man in stake conference and personally
spoke with him for some time. Afterward, I bought his autobiography. Church hierarchal practices can set up some oversized egos to come crashing hard, if they choose to fly against the powers that be. Illusions of power that are bestowed by a false church with pretend doctrine, can be taken away as quickly as given. It's impossible to hold on to the high ranking without either buying into or maintaining the deceptive practices of TSCC. Also, I may be in the minority here, but I believe that if a man is capable of such a heinous crime as his was with the molestation, that he was always capable of it, even as a high church official. I believe it surfaced when given accommodative circumstances and no reason to continue appearances (as was so important when in TSCC). . . just as I believe some men will never, ever be capable of such a thing, regardless of their religious involvements. |
| Subject: | I agree that he was always capable of child molestation, |
| Date: | Aug 01 09:09 |
| Author: | atheist&happy:-) |
| but I think he probably had a long history of it. They
offend until they are reported, if they ever are. My dad never bothered me while my mother was alive. Family members reported that she knew something, and also arranged to have me move when she died, but my dad went against her wishes or my aunt did not want me or both. He had a great amount of respect for her so I have memories of him as fairly "normal". As far as I know he did not molest anyone during those years, but would not be surprised if he did. After her death he molested me, and a few others, and became extremely abusive. I do not believe it was only stress, but opportunity. When she was alive there were consequences, and once she was gone he knew he could get away with it. He did not suddenly become a child molester. He chose his victims for reasons. One aunt theorized that the war that made him that way, but family members report him molesting since he was a teenager. He was older when my parents were married, which amounts to a little more than 50 years of opportunities to molest children from our first, and last reports. GPL was probably in an impossible situation for the mental gymnastics needed to cope with changing LD$ doctrine, but he had other problems as well that were his own choice. |
| Subject: | Thank you so much |
| Date: | Jul 31 13:21 |
| Author: | NormaRae |
| I grew up in the church of the Lamanite. I had an
Navajo "brother" through the Lamanite Placement Program. I watched Tom
Trails fimlstrips in early morning Seinary (do young people now even know
what a filmstrip is?). I went to Ricks and BYU in the SWK days and went to
Lamanite Generation shows that I really enjoyed. My ex-husband, my brother,
and their friend who was SWK's great nephew went to Utah (from California)
before their missions and stopped in to see "Uncle Spence," who actually
took them into his office, talked to them for a long time, showed them all
his Lamanite artifacts and convinced them all to go on missions. I had a
roommate at BYU who was engaged to a Lamanite and couldn't stop talking
about George P. Lee when he was made a GA. You'd have thought the second
coming was scheduled for the end of that year. And you are right, you hardly hear the word Lamanite anymore. I don't know what Lee's life was like after the church or the details surrounding his confession to a molestation charge, but your expose on his rise and fall and how he was both made and destroyed by the church, is excellent and really rings true to me, having experienced all that. I kind of felt the same about being a Mormon woman who lived through the fight for ERA and Sonia Johnson days and how young Moron women now think that the church always tried to pacify them the way it does now. It did not. It changes generation to generation and prophet to prophet. And the change is the biggest demonstration of how untrue and man made the organization is. |
| Subject: | Your are welcome NormaRae |
| Date: | Jul 31 23:31 |
| Author: | SLDrone |
| The cult has since it's inception always had boogeymen
to fight, to unite the troops behind the standard of liberty. The enemies
vary but the message the same. They fight "evil" in all it's forms, black
people, abandoned doctrines (polygamy, lamanites),feminist, "intellectuals".
Only the definition of "evil" changes, that tactic remains the same. Today the cult valiantly battles the gay movement. Not because gays threaten them, but because it is a vulnerable enemy and the church may easily band the bigoted and weaker minds into submission in the fight against this mythical enemy, and thereby strengthen the unity of the membership. Nothing unites a people like a common foe. A principle the cult understands and exploits very well. |
| Subject: | The story of George P. Lee is very sad to me... |
| Date: | Aug 01 00:08 |
| Author: | Adult of god |
| I hope he had more joy than it seems from afar. I
think he was used and discarded and made mistakes along the way like the
rest of us. How different his life might have been if he had been in a secular scholarship program, instead of the Lamanite Poster Boy of a destructive cult. |
| Subject: | Re: The story of George P. Lee is very sad to me... |
| Date: | Aug 01 04:16 |
| Author: | Jes |
| Wow, you said it. He was the Lamanite Poster Boy! Can
you even imagine what that must have been like for him -- especially when it
was all ripped from under him? We all had to face the lies and the fallout
we had to go through, but can you imagine being taken from your culture and
then celebrated as a Lamanite success story, only to have the whole
narrative disappear? He really believed it too, by all accounts. I have such
a sick feeling over it all. Whatever else he did in life, good and bad, it was all up to public scrutiny and judgment. He admitted to trying to molest a young girl and became the poster boy for that too. I would like to see Joseph Smith up there on the billboard for that too along with many others. George paid dearly for all the good -- and the bad. Now that he is gone, I just hope he is in a place where he can just BE and what is -- IS. No more lies. I wish him peace. |
Related Topics on Mormon General Authorities
|
Recovery from Mormonism - The Mormon Church www.exmormon.org |