Lots of online chatter these days about how liberals who used to mistrust the FBI now admire it, and conservatives who used to revere the FBI are now accusing it of treason.
If you are one of those who miss hating the FBI, or one of those who are getting used to it, this might help:
• Dozens sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar while FBI knew about allegations — AP | The Salt Lake Tribune
Detroit • At least 40 girls and women said they were molested by a Michigan sports doctor over a 14-month period while the FBI at the same time was aware that Larry Nassar had been accused of molesting gymnasts, a newspaper reported Saturday. The FBI became aware of Nassar in July 2015 when it was contacted by USA Gymnastics, which trains athletes for the Olympics. But he wasn’t publicly exposed until The Indianapolis Star published allegations by a victim in 2016, The New York Times reported. …
As I was saying …
• Journalism exposed Larry Nassar. If you think the news is expensive, try ignorance — George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune
“If IndyStar journalists didn’t help expose the sexual abuse of young gymnasts by Larry Nassar, it could have gone on even longer, the chief prosecutor said. ’We, as a society, need investigative journalists more than ever,’ Michigan Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis said Wednesday at Nassar’s sentencing.”
I compared the experience of the young women athletes suffering at the hands of a trusted physician to the way Utah colleges and universities, especially Brigham Young University, treated victims of sexual assault on their campuses or by members of their student body.
And then I read that I might have been closer to the truth than I even knew.
• First Woman To Accuse Nassar Says Church Can Be One of ‘Worst Places’ to Go for Help — Carol Kuruvilla | HuffPost
Rachael Denhollander was the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar of sexual abuse. As she worked to find justice for herself and the doctor’s other victims, Denhollander began to turn a critical eye on a community that she depended on dearly for support ― her church. Denhollander, an evangelical Christian, saw that Biblical teachings about grace and repentance were being weaponized against victims, pressuring them into offering an easy forgiveness to their abusers. At the same time, churches lacked accountability structures that treated victims with compassion and respect.
• My Larry Nassar Testimony Went Viral. But There’s More to the Gospel Than Forgiveness — Interview of Rachael Denhollander by Morgan Lee | Christianity Today
“Church is one of the least safe places to acknowledge abuse because the way it is counseled is, more often than not, damaging to the victim. There is an abhorrent lack of knowledge for the damage and devastation that sexual assault brings. It is with deep regret that I say the church is one of the worst places to go for help. That’s a hard thing to say, because I am a very conservative evangelical, but that is the truth. There are very, very few who have ever found true help in the church.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Tribune staff. George Pyle.
George Pyle is The Salt Lake Tribune editorial page editor. gpyle@sltrib.com
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