Triple Murder Suicide - Former Mormon Missionary Murders Wife, Two Young Daughters

Story out of Stafford, Virginia:

A year-and-a-half after he went missing 11 days after the birth of his second child, former Mormon missionary Lance Buckley, 35, was discovered dead along with his wife and two young daughters.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Office in Virginia said in a statement cited by Fox 5 D.C. that Buckley, his 30-year-old wife, Amy, their 5-year-old daughter, Claire, and 17-month-old daughter, Abigail, were found dead inside a home last Thursday in the Windsor Forest subdivision in the northwestern part of the county.

Earlier that day, authorities said they received a 911 call from a man identifying himself as Lance Buckley reporting a murder-suicide at their family's home who then hung up the phone. Stafford County sheriff deputies later found the lifeless bodies of the family members on their arrival at the home.

On Monday, Arkuie Williams, state administrator for the chief medical examiner, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Lance Buckley's death was a suicide, while the deaths of his wife and daughters were classified as homicides.

A "grief responders team" was reportedly at Rockhill Elementary School in Stafford last Friday where young Claire was a student.

Officials noted in a statement that the professionals were on hand to help students and staff cope because although the incident did not take place on school property "we know it can have an impact on our school community." Cont.

Story from - The Christian Post

Mormon Man Stabs Himself In The Neck While Being Arrested For Molesting 10-Year-Old Girl And Making Child Porn

Story out of Los Vegas, Nevada

As Henderson police tried to arrest Martin Gillen at his home in August on a charge of lewdness with a child, the registered sex offender stabbed himself in the throat, saying he did not want to return to prison, according to prosecutors.

Gillen, 43, had been working as a home school teacher through the Mormon church, when he was accused of fondling a 10-year-old girl at her home, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Dena Rinetti.

The prosecutor announced Wednesday that Gillen had been indicted on four more felony charges: first-degree kidnapping, child abuse, neglect or endangerment, use of a minor in producing pornography and burglary.

If convicted, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. Cont.

Story from - Los Vegas Review-Journal

Leaked Video Shows Republican Senator Supported Iraq War So He Could Spread Mormonism

                  

In leaked videos, Mormon leaders discuss concerns about the growth of the gay rights movement and hear from a former U.S. senator and church member who tells them the Iraq war could open the door for new converts, according to footage that pulls back the curtain on a religion that is closely guarded about its inner workings.

The 15 videos were posted online Sunday during the final day of the religion’s twice-yearly conference. They show top leaders hearing presentations and discussing topics at meetings from 2007 to 2012.

Though the videos don’t reveal information that is necessarily surprising or damning, they have generated widespread interest because people are curious about how the religion’s top leaders — considered apostles — make decisions, Bowman said.

The leaked videos come nearly a year after an internal memo about banning baptisms for children of parents in same-sex marriages was released by a Mormon who had been excommunicated.

Shortly after he left the U.S. Senate in early 2009, Gordon Smith, an Oregon Republican and a Mormon, told church leaders that he voted for the Iraq war “because I felt the Lord’s hand in it.”

He said that if the war ultimately succeeds, “there will be an opportunity to begin building the church in the Middle East, which is a deeply troubled place.”

In response to a church leader’s question about the biggest threats of concern to the faith, Smith first listed “secularism, which is fueled by socialism,” followed by weapons of mass destruction in the hands of “a fanatical branch of a great religion.”

After the church faced backlash for supporting California’s gay marriage ban, he suggested the church lower its profile by working with leaders of other faiths who have strong ties to lawmakers who are able to kill legislation they find threatening. Cont.

Story from - Review Journal
Video from - Mormon Leaks - YouTube

Mormon Missionaries Lure Children To Baptismals

Story out of Chihuahua, Mexico:

Police in Anáhuac, Chihuahua, Mexico, have planned to attend Sunday services at a local branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to ensure the safety of church members after residents expressed outrage about the actions of four LDS missionaries.

The four young men, all from other states in Mexico, allegedly had planned on baptizing three brothers — a 9-year-old and two 11-year-olds — without parental permission Thursday night, said Commander César Estrada Ruiz with the Policía Seccional de Anáhuac.

Their father told police the missionaries promised the boys food to persuade them to go to a church, where they asked the boys to change into baptismal clothing. The boys became afraid, left the area and told their parents what had happened, Estrada Ruiz said in Spanish in a telephone interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.

Their father was upset and contacted police, who took the missionaries into custody. The four men were released in a matter of hours because they committed no crime, Estrada Ruiz said.

Estrada Ruiz said he had spoken with a local representative from the church who told him the missionaries had failed to communicate with their leaders about the baptism, and that baptizing children requires parental permission. He added that the representative told him that the missionaries would be taken out of the area. Cont.

Story from - The Salt Lake Tribune
Image from - Wikipedia
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Jehovah Witnesses Release Instructional Cartoon On How To Discriminate Against LGBT

In a disturbing video released by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and mirrored by others on YouTube, a little girl learns an important lesson after telling her mother about a classmate who has (*gasp*) two moms.

The mother proceeds to tell the child why same-sex couples are going against the will of Jehovah by comparing gay marriage to a terrorist trying to get through airport security… and telling the daughter that “people can change,” a subtle nod to the widely debunked notion that gay people can turn straight, something JWs believe regardless of the evidence against it. Cont.

Story from - The Friendly Atheist
Video from - Pink News - YouTube

Mormon Conversion Therapy Forced Teen To Stand With Backpack Full Of Rocks After She Came Out As Lesbian

Story out of Utah:

Alex Cooper's memories of standing against a wall -- wearing a backpack full of rocks -- are still fresh.

"I did not know how many hours I had been standing there, quietly trying to manage the pain by shifting my weight from foot to foot," the 21-year-old writes in her new book, "Saving Alex," published this month.

The book details Cooper's eight-month long experience with conversion therapy at a house in St. George. Her LDS parents sent her there in 2010 after she came out as gay.

"It's like sending you to therapy to change your eye color," she said in an interview Tuesday with 2News after a speech at Weber State University. "It's not going to work. What it's going to do is damage you." Cont.

Story from - KUTV

Mormon Leader Defines Gay Attraction As Being "Born With A Body that is not fully functional"

A top Mormon leader made some eyebrow-raising claims about the gay community during a visit to Chile last week.

During a Feb. 23 meeting, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) Elder David A. Bednar claimed that he and his fellow Mormons "do not discriminate" against gay and lesbian members because "there are no homosexual members of the church," Raw Story first reported.

He likened same-sex attraction to a physical challenge, like being "born with a body that is not fully functional," but noted that "simply being attracted to someone of the same gender is not a sin." While he noted that "there are many members of the church who may have some manifestation of that attraction," it's only a sin if "we act on the inclination or the attraction." Cont.

Story from - Huffington Post
Image from - Ken Lund - Flickr
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