Skip to main content

Shedding Light on Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse within religion is not limited to one faith or one culture. It appears in churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques around the world. 

The same systems that promise moral direction and community can also aid abusers in hiding their wrongdoing. When power is concentrated in spiritual authority, questioning leaders can feel like questioning God. That fear keeps many victims silent for years.


Across history, investigations have revealed deep problems in multiple religious institutions. The Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others have faced reports of abuse and cover-ups.

The pattern is painfully consistent across the board. Allegations are dismissed, offenders are quietly moved, and victims are told to stay quiet for the sake of the church’s reputation. Each time the truth surfaces, it raises the same questions:

-How could this happen?
-Who allowed it to continue?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now facing similar scrutiny. Survivors and journalists have begun documenting how sexual abuse has been handled within Mormon communities and leadership structures. 

One project at the center of this effort is Floodlit.org, a public database that compiles survivor accounts, court filings, and verified news reports. Floodlit exists to make sure these stories are not buried again. It gathers evidence in one place, giving survivors a voice and helping others understand the scale of what has been hidden.

Floodlit is a volunteer-run website built to track sexual abuse cases linked to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The project serves as both a database and a record of survivor accounts, collecting information from court filings, verified media, and public records. Its purpose is to document what has often been hidden and to help survivors and researchers access credible information in one place.


Mission

Floodlit’s mission is to expose how abuse has been handled inside the LDS Church. The creators aim to document every case involving members, leaders, or church institutions accused of sexual crimes or of concealing them. The site exists to make sure these stories don’t disappear into sealed court documents or forgotten local reports. It encourages open access, accountability, and a space for survivors to be heard.

What the Site Offers

Case Database:
The searchable database lists individuals accused of abuse or misconduct. Each entry includes names, charges, locations, and links to verified sources like court filings or news coverage. This helps connect scattered information and shows the scale of the issue.

Survivor Stories:
Through survivors.floodlit.org, individuals can share their stories anonymously. These personal accounts bring human perspective to the data and allow others to see how widespread and damaging the problem has been.

Public Records Access:
Floodlit gives readers direct access to original court documents and filings. Removing paywalls and barriers allows independent verification by journalists, scholars, and the public.


Maps and Data:
An interactive map displays where reported incidents have occurred. It helps visualize how abuse and church responses have appeared across time and location.


Why It Exists

Floodlit was created to end silence. Many abuse cases within the LDS Church were previously handled quietly, leaving victims without a voice and communities without information. The site counters that silence with transparency, bringing together evidence that reveals patterns of neglect and concealment. It’s meant to protect future victims by ensuring that past ones are not forgotten.

Floodlit continues to grow as more survivors come forward and more records become public. It’s part of a wider effort by survivors and advocates to demand honesty and reform in religious institutions. By gathering facts, stories, and documents in one place, Floodlit helps turn what was once private pain into public truth.
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The Smithsonian “Early Horses” Article Does Not Prove the Book of Mormon True

     A Smithsonian Magazine article titled “ Native Americans Spread Horses Through the West Earlier Than Thought ” (2023) has been circulating in Mormon spaces as supposed proof that horses existed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times.      The article summarizes a legitimate scientific study published in Science titled “ Early Dispersal of Domestic Horses Into the Great Plains and Northern Rockies .” (2023) But when you read what the researchers actually found, it’s clear this does not support the Book of Mormon’s claims at all.      What the Study Actually Found      The research team, led by William Timothy T. Taylor, analyzed horse remains found across the Great Plains and northern Rockies. Using radiocarbon dating, DNA sequencing, and isotopic analysis, they discovered that the animals were of Spanish origin. In other words, these were not remnants of ancient, native North American horses that somehow...
Read

Early Mormon Criticisms #1: Caution Against the Golden Bible

This series looks back at how early critics of the church reacted to the rise of Mormonism. Some mocked it, others warned against it, and a few tried to make sense of it. Each post features a real historical excerpt and some quick context to show how critics viewed the new faith as it was unfolding. For this first article, we are going to look at one of the first known in-depth public criticisms of the Book of Mormon, which appeared before the book itself was publicy available.  On February 20, 1830, Cornelius Camden Blatchley, a New York physician and writer known for his skeptical views on organized religion, published an article titled “Caution Against the Golden Bible” in the New-York Telescope . Written only weeks before the Book of Mormon’s official release in March of that year. The Complaints Presented by Blatchley Superstition and Credibility – He quotes The Palmyra Freeman   which called the “Golden Bible” the greatest superstition known, mocking the idea o...
Read

Is Mormonism a Cult?

     The word “cult” usually brings to mind the most destructive examples of control, where people lose their freedom, identity, or even their lives. That harm is real and should never be minimized. But the psychology behind those groups does not appear only in the extremes.       The same methods of influence exist in more common institutions too, but often differ in intensity. Religion, politics, and corporate systems all use similar tools to shape belief and loyalty. Mormonism belongs on that spectrum, not because it is as harmful as the worst examples, but because it relies on many of the same patterns of authority and conformity.      One way to see this clearly is through the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. The model, created by Steven Hassan, outlines how groups shape members through four areas of influence: B ehavior I nformation T hought E motion.       Each form of control helps a system maintain stabil...
Read

Are Mormons Christian?

People keep asking whether Mormons are Christian, as if that’s the issue that matters. It’s not. Mormons love this question since its probably one of the tamest aspects of the faith to question. The other day I was reading some comments on an online post that was debating the issue of whether or not Mormons were Christian, and this interaction caught my eye. One individual declared that the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) “never were and never will be Mormon.”  Now, I can't imagine that many Mormons will share this same sentiment, considering that the FLDS church literally emerged from the exact same roots as the Utah church. But this interaction ironically demonstrates the exact same mindset that other Christians have about Mormons. Some Christians don’t consider Mormons Christian because Latter-day Saint teachings reject key doctrines established by early Christian creeds, like the Trinity, original sin, and the belief that Go...
Read

Mormonism and the Satanic Ritual Abuse Scare of the 1980s

       All right. So, for this post today, I’m going to be talking about a pretty sensitive subject. And that’s going to be satanic ritual abuse and potential ties to leadership of the Mormon church.      It should go without saying that this is going to be a little bit more of a sensitive subject. I’ll say up front that I have no intention of diving into specific examples—detailed descriptions of what satanic ritual abuse looks like—outside of broad definitions. My goal is just to give an idea of what makes ritual abuse a little bit different than regular abuse (for lack of a better word). Consider this your heads up that this is going to be a sensitive subject.      I typically wouldn’t really give this type of subject very much attention. I certainly never planned on making a post about it. But I did have an interesting conversation the other day with an LDS content creator that I message with sometimes. I was a little surprised whe...
Read