Greed, Prison & Apostasy | All The Mormon Scandals of 2023 

I've got my Mormon friend Eve on lock to come back for a follow-up interview but could use some help purchasing my additional cameras, mics, and lights! I'll be bringing lots of amazing in-person interviews in 2024! Thanks for your support, y'all! CHRISTMAS EVE EQUIPMENT FUNDRAISER: donorbox.org/christmas-eve-equipment-fundraiser-2 Venmo: account.venmo.com/u/CarahB The Nuance Hug Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit! Tax deducatable in the US!

Lets hope the corruption keeps coming out in 2024 and beyond. Every church and religion needs to be exposed when committing abuse

Our small ward in New Zealand had two esteemed elders in prison because of SA. We had a cop on the bishopric who later became stake president for his ability to manage the narrative and bury event facts. There should have been many more abusers. As Elders quorum president I was attacked by every church elder for betraying the church. I left it for good.

It's not just Mormon therapists. It's bishops who end up acting as therapists when they have absolutely no psychiatric training! It's insane!

The single most difficult thing I have ever done in my life was/is leaving the church. I am 47 years old, a Marine Corps vet, a husband and father of 20 years. Pulling my family out of the church was the single most wrenching thing I have every done. To say it was/is traumatic is to put it lightly. I have seven children, with one on the way, so you can see also that my/our whole lives have been molded by this cult. It is safe to say that I would not be alive, nor would I have married my wife, nor would my children have been born if not for the church. We were active, very active, but we/I have had serious doubts, and things have been piling up on my "shelf" for a LOOOOOONG time. Cognitive dissonance manifested with all the new concepts introduced, such as "ongoing restoration" etc, the changing of the doctrine and the temple ceremony. I had emotionally and spiritually checked out before I ever heard of the CES letter, and long before I broached the concepts with my family, whom (our children) we had been teaching all along that there was something wrong with the church; a form of apostasy, if you will. My shelf finally came crashing down with the Tim Ballard shenanigans. And to this day I am astonished at how The Sound of Freedom is a top movie on Amazon. It's like the mainstream discovered he's dirty and decided he's alright after all, or maybe the church has more influence than anyone knows, and some kind of immunity from scrutiny is at play there. Either way, it feels rotten to the core. It is so hard to break from the mormon paradigm. So many exmos seem to lose their faith entirely, which is understandable. When the shelf comes crashing down, how do you make sense of anything anymore? How do you maintain family cohesion when your own children are suffering due to the psychological trauma it all causes, with all the ensuing disappointment and social and cultural voids is causes? Some of my fondest memories are blessing and naming my children, performing their baptisms. All gone. Now what? No missions. Now what? Nonetheless, things are improving. I can honestly say that our home and family life now are more peaceful than before. We are happier. We are still working it all out, and I anticipate that it will actually be a lifetime's endeavor, given the psychological trauma inflicted by the church, but it is definitely worth it.

If you haven't heard the 911 call from when Ruby's son went to the neighbor for help I recommend it, with a trigger warning, the neighbor breaks down when describing the condition of her son it is heartbreaking listening to the quivering voice of a grown man trying to describe what he is seeing to the 911 dispatcher.

I left the church about 10 years ago. A few things really contributed to me leaving. The living apostles, who are meant to be special witnesses of Christ, would never claim they had seen God in real life, even when I pressed them in meetings. How are they then special witnesses? Another thing was Joseph Smith marrying women who were already married and who’s husbands were still alive. I verified this through church documents myself. And then the Bible, where the genocide of babies (humans killing human babies) is justified, and defended by Christianity as a whole. It made me realize there is no true morality within Christian religion. Also, the numbers didn’t make sense to me. If the Holy Ghost was really influencing people to join the church active membership wouldn’t be stuck at 0.00075% of the world’s population. Not exactly a rolling rock. More like a grain of sand blowing in the wind.

I lost my faith before this year but 2023 definitely made me realize that the church is actively a force of evil, rather than "just a false religion"

I can't even begin to describe how it triggers me when an abuse and cruelty are sold as acts of love.

Mormons leave for many reasons in 2023. There are at least 15 reasons. I think the biggest reason was COVID-19. People were no longer commuting and more time to surf the internet about church history and doctrine. Members are now better aware of controversy in the church.

I'm part of the 2023 exiting group, my story is insanely long, like most people I'm sure. I left mainly because of various personal things, but some of these scandals helped me finally be brave enough to look more critically at this church in July. Obviously I've had lots of emotional time these last few months but ultimately I'm doing so much better

They'll never get that cat back into the bag. You're doing great work, Carah.

I left the church in 2003 & in 2023. The 1st time I left was in the military. The 2nd time was after I read the letter and listened to MSP. I served as WML & and an SS president. I brought 3 friends into church and baptized many. I was born and raised in the church. Today, at 38, missionaries, members, and family are trying to bring me back. Personally, as a Member, I was told.constanly by Baptists that I attended a cult and need to be saved. Today, I still would like to attend another type of church but my view on religion has changed and feels like they are all corrupt in their special way.

I’ve seen up close what goes on behind the scenes in those perfect Mormon families with their well mannered children and their homes which “have a spirit of peace” and it’s traumatic.

My shelf broke at the end of last year when I read the CES letter and learned of all the problems with the BoM. Watching all these scandals has only further driven me from religion.

Hubby and I are in a "quiet quitting" stage with the church right now. Stopped answering calls, texts, and emails. Requested getting released (were both released). Stopped paying tithing. Have not gone to church or other functions in months. At the start of 2023, we openly admitted to each other that we didn't believe. We had both secretly had doubts for many years but planned to keep up the facade for the rest of our lives for our families (and the comfortable familiarity). Have not told anyone. We know it's going to come up with our very active parents and siblings sooner or later. Thinking about it makes me very anxious and keeps me up at night. We live states away from anyone on either side. Any advice for how to find the courage to tell our loved ones? Or what other steps should we take from here?

When is Netflix gonna do a documentary, exposé on the Mormon Church?

I was born into the church, left when I was 18 came back a few times but it wasn't till 4 years ago when I married my wife and she was a non member and had alot of questions that I was surprised that i couldn't answer, so I decided to research her questions myself, that's when I was just astounded to find the inaccuracies and false prophecy in the book of mormon that I never questioned before. Thank you for the work you do and good luck to all of us deconstructing and starting over.

I formally left in 2023 when the churchislature decided to target legislation against trans kids. My adult child resigned with me on a special day for our family, so I will always remember.

I like to say that my shelf never broke. I found the answer (yes, the singular answer of the church not being true) and it took all the weight off of my shelf. 2023 is the year I told my wife, parents, siblings and leaders that I will no longer be attending, paying tithing, and most certainly not sustaining leaders.

I was pleased to leave after I found out the church was Pleased with the AZ decision.

Fantastically done. I love the way your brain works and how you use humor to expertly annihilate the rot within the church. Your vulnerability, authenticity, charisma, and intellect always leave me feeling so insanely proud of you! I was an adult Mormon convert for a tiny minute. In a tiny Texas ward. It was INTERESTING. If you’re ever looking to interview adults who converted then yeeted tf outta there, hit me up! I was like the prized convert then I pretty much just ghosted everyone, oops 😅

Excellent wrap-up episode. You crossed every T and dotted every I. I'm and exmo myself and finding channels like this one help me so much. I can feel like I'm not alone.

The missionaries in our area are putting Facebook posts out calling themselves Christian missionaries and talking about Bible study.

I left the church years ago after praying for a better understanding of God the father. Needless to say he gave me lots of info and it turned my world upside down. In regards to the cross. Being raised in the church I of course had this same outlook as other church members. My oldest son one day came to me and said he wanted a cross for his bedroom. Negative feeling of course shot though my head, but I suppressed them and asked him to tell me why. He had a great answer of it being a symbol of Christ and him dying for us. I sat down with him and began looking for ones online we could order. He blew me away when he said all the ones I was pointing out were too fancy. He wanted a very plain and humble one just like Christ. Made me proud.

Carah, Thank you for this segment. I left officially 2 1/2 years ago and unofficially 4 1/2 years ago. I enjoy knowing that many left for the same reasons I did. What I find disheartening is that the LDS Church has tainted who God is. From the materials I’ve read Approximately half of Ex-Mo’s lost their faith in God all together. As I was going through my faith crisis and transitioning I decided to stop reading the Book of Mormon and other church materials . As I began to read the Bible I did so by dismissing all previous knowledge and letting God teach me . Wow! What a difference. I learned through this that God isn’t who Mormons say He is nor is Jesus. I love who they are today! As much as I enjoy your podcast and John’s along with others I’m saddened that most of the ex Mormon podcasters seem to have lost faith completely. Here’s a thought. Maybe as a 67 year old man who was in the faith since the age of 17 I could start a podcast about leaving Mormonism and finding Christ. Thank you for enlightening others as to the evils , deceptions, lies and lack of evidence Mormonism proclaims. Love the hat and you seeking to know what Joseph would have you share 😂 Thank you and God bless you 🙏

thank you for doing this episode. we hear of all these and more and never have the time to put together a compilation. These are needed. I was just discussing with a friend last night that we need a centralized library of all factual naughty things the church has done or said over the years. We can call it the ExMormon Topical Guide

A big thing that contributed was I don’t remember if it was fall 2022 or spring 2023 conference right after the church covering up SA news broke and president Nelson paused in his talk and said basically ‘abuse is bad’ and then having to listen to my TBM family talk about how it was so cool he was “inspired” to speak out about it so out of place in his talk 🙄 while knowing it was simply half assed damage control

Love your work, ex Mormon here and so glad I got out and lucky managed to take my family with me. The hypocrisy to say Heavenly Father says all other church’s are of the devil, when they need to look at their own church and the evils it teaches/covers up

Let's be real though, five million is probably less than they spend per year settling SA cases.

Imagine if you stole a $32,000 car, and you were sentenced to pay a $5 fine, and you get to keep the car. That's the "punishment" the LDS Church got. What should have happened is that the leaders responsible went to prison, and the Church forfeited $32 billion in assets. That would be just.

I’m just bawling. I am a convert, but I’ve mostly been inactive because corruption I witnessed in local leadership shortly after my baptism. I kept telling myself I didn’t really need to deconstruct because I never really believed any of it, but what I now realize is that I did believe one very important bad thing. I believed that I was to blame for being sexually abused. The church didn’t say this explicitly, but somehow I got it in my head that to be pure I had to hate my sexuality. I don’t know why I believed this. I don’t teach my son this, but for some reason I was clinging to the this belief that the church could save me from being this evil person who liked being sexually abused, even though I didn’t like it. I thought if I didn’t hate myself and hate romance and hate sexuality I must have wanted to be abused. My inability to actually cut ties with the church was caused by this pernicious belief that I needed them to punish me for not being pure, even though I would not expect purity from anybody that I love. What broke it for me was my new trans woman partner. I can’t tell her that her love for me is a bad gift or that I believe God wants her to live in a closet. Believing that I have to hold myself to a standard that I will not enforce on anyone else is just not sustainable. Thank you for these videos. Your channel and Mormon stories and Cults to Consciousness have been my life line as I deconstruct my self hatred. Thank you so much for all you do. You are truly a light in dark places when all other lights go out

When Joseph talked to you, I feared that he might propose to you, being a young lady and all. 😂

Thank you Carah for all you do .

Love your work, Carrah! ❤You did some great coverage this year. Thank you for bringing us the truth in it all.

I feel like this year is a giant red flag 🚩 with all these things happening! I want a documentary of all the things that have happened in the past couple years. Thank you for making this video of compiling all of this!!

I left that cult back in 2008 because I was told by an apostle "we would rather the members do what they're asked and NOT ask questions" I also found proof that they were not only breaking the law, but also violating several of the 10 commandments...

I have really enjoyed your content this year. Thank you.

I didn't know that missionaries are now allowed to wear "normal" clothes. I feel so bad for them -- they're young and just trying to please their parents. They're expected to convert people but the church has been intentionally concealing the truth about what they're selling. It's so wrong!!! 😠

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing Eve, sorry it can’t be more!😘 Stay safe, sister!

So happy to hear this - your intro is musical. Also, I love your new clarity, way of speaking.

Thank you for the thoroughness and due diligence on these topics. It's time-consuming to report truth and we appreciate you.

I came to utah in 1959 In the years that have passed, one thing seems to stand out in my mind, and that is the children i have met have been some of the most psychologically damaged young people ever. Their lives are all planned out for them from birth, they are almost robotic when talking about future plans. So sad, and i believe, another form of child abuse.

I havent watched your channel very much so you probably have had those purple bookends but I just seen them tonight. Made me smile😊

This video is great! Super clear and concise. Felt like all your jokes landed and was very informative

You are a brilliant person, Carah Burrell !! Knowledge wise and discernment wise!

Love you love your channel thanks for spreading awareness. I hope you and your family have a very happy and wonderful holiday.

M. Russell Ballard is burning in Hell right now.

Whoo hoo 400 likes 4.4k views, 47.4k subscribers. Carah’s on a roll!!

Excellent reporting. Informative to those of us who where so completely unaware👏👏👏

I threw in the towel after the church hid billions and confirmed that the "Prophet" can't even pass a temple recommend interview.

I joined in 2021 and left in 2023 after the Bishop of my local church refused to help me provide aid for a local homeless man who had been attending the church longer than i had. I offered up over $200, while working for minimum wage, to start a fund to provide him shelter, since no member of the ward saw fit to offer their own roof as shelter, and i myself was also homeless, unable to afford housing despite holding two full time jobs. (I'm too prideful to ask for help for myself, but i dont mind helping others.) The Bishop refused my offer to help the homeless ward member, but did offer to accept my $200 as a tithe to the church. Thats when i began looking into the church as an instution and discovered many of the scandals you mentioned, eventually leaving the church after several months of several new missionaries trying their best to convince me to come back. I don't blame them; most of the missionaries were younger than me, born into the church, and fresh outta missionairy training camp. They didn't know what they were getting into.

Amazing video thank you!

Love you ❤ thanks for another great vid

Love your channel sis!❤

You're a very special young woman and may your channel grow and survive in the New Year. I'm so shocked hearing how these women, that you're reporting on, treat their beautiful children and they get away with it in the name of God?? It's too bizarre, why can they get away with it for so long? I'm hoping there are not huge groups like this in New Zealand. My heart breaks for the ongoing trauma that these bitches are inflicting!! May you have a beautiful NY darling. x

Carah rocks!

I don't see how anyone in their right mind could belong to that cult. I spent 14 years in Utah and hated every minute. My mormon neighbors were so stuck up they wouldn't even say good morning to me. I know that many mormons are watching this video. I know you're squirming, but you're afraid to comment.

I love the power of the Internet! I never thought I would live to see the day when this “church” would start to be revealed.

So much admiration for you. Good work and admirable integrity. As a child raised in JW, never feeling anything but embarrassment about JW, I am learning volumes from yourself and John D about religiosity. ❤❤❤❤

I'm so grateful I watched Adam's interview live.

Carah I hope Adam's life isn't ruined. That would suggest there is nothing going forward. His life was damaged, but he is overcoming, has a new wife and child and hopefully reconnecting with his daughters. Probably just a personal pet peeve, but His LIFE wasn't ruined by Jodi. XO Love you Adam and do agree he should be the Utah Person of the Year. The Church is definitely rebranding but what will happen when DHO becomes prophet and the facts of his electro shock therapy for gays at BYU while he was president comes out... woot woot. Stocking up on toilet paper now for that 5H!T Show!

Great episode, Carah!

I'm old enough to remember what Mormons used to say about the cross. The LDS church adopting the cross is like Muslims adopting the cross.

40:50 The newest Temple in Orem Utah is right off the freeway, and has no Angel Moroni on it's spire.

Love this video ❤

When the Arizona/West Virginia AP article came out, I was mortified. I still was holding onto some hope that it was true, but once the SEC situation was publicized, that was it. So I started studying the REAL history of the church. I knew the sanitized, correlated version of church history better than almost anybody. But it was all half truths and smoke screens. Anyway, those two incidents did it for me.

Crosses were one of the first big no nos I was taught. “Why celebrate and wear the thing that Jesus was killed on?”

Thank you for doing what you do. Also, I want a Latte Larry's mug 😂

Gotta love Carah’s rants about bizarre Mormon culture.

Jodi and Ruby - no words, nor for the SA issues. Sitting on billions - and anti tax reactions. No one likes tax but our taxes (at various levels) cover schools, fire, police, roads, (and in UK and other places healthcare). Tax is part of a commitment to being in society and a community. I may never have children needing to go to school, but it is still in my interest for all the children in the community to be educated and able to contribute to the economy that I live in. What we need is not no tax but fairer tax - currently the biggest earners / hoarders whether individual or corporation have all the get out clauses and that is just the legal ones. whereas the poorest deal with tax in all ways. Crosses and Mormon churches - In UK Mormon churches have always been very distinctive, with the big white steeple. I realise that in parts of the US that is standard for many churches, but here only the Mormons built like that.

Thanks!

Also, its around day 1,296 that the church fails to recognize the loss of 2 mormon children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, killed by fundamentalist mormons chad daybell and lori vallow.

Great recap of all the jaw dropping scandals!!😮 Jesus needs to come back to save us from this church! Love your sense of humor! ❤

Leaving the church began at the beginning of Covid. I’ve always been a marginalized member (inactive husband, daughter of a SA predator, child bride, wayward son…) but I stayed in the church because there was enough good, I wanted to make it better, and I needed the stability. I left because I realized what I’ve known all along, that the church never intended to protect me and neither did my parents. But the church was okay with me protecting my predators parents, which I did for decades, because that was the culture I understand, grew up with. When asked, I respond “the church and my childhood trauma are intimately intertwined”.

I left the Church in 1981, not because of any scandals, but simply because the Church lacks any spiritual depth. I found it to be more of a big family zoo.

When you were holding the hat I wasn't expecting you to pull out a Joseph Smith bookend. Well done. 😂🤣 EDIT: Is there a re-upload anywhere of Adam Steed's talk with mormon stories? I missed it before it was taken down.

Great video

You should do a video on what gives you joy; Whatever that may be!

Great delivery of all the scandals and drama. Are the book ends for sale? You should auction them off and make $$$$$$

"Religious leaders gratified by SA."

I'd like to hear you talk about both the Cody and Heber temples Im from Cody and lived in the Heber area for 13 years

I haven't officially left, but what really got to me was when the 14 year old boyscout went through the molestation and the high up man put him through 15 years of torment. I can't believe the other leaders backed that evil man. Then they talked him out of suing by saying he would take tithe money from those who need it. Then I found out that the church used the same tithe money to build a mall in Salt Lake. After that, I started looking into things on the internet.

So if I resign and it's all true (lol) do I get the option of joining again or is it still straight to outer darkness? If I had known half the truth of the early church I would have left for that but it was women and our role in the church. I was in basic training for the army and being told my role was as a wife and mother. I'm a ducking warrior, read the room!

OMFG, LOVE the beginning Joseph smith hat skit. I laughed SO loud!I.

Thank you for all you do to support the wrongs perpetrated on the innocent!

The cross/Moroni thing is interesting. In my neck of the non-lds dominant woods, most Google map logos is a cross, but the temple and 2 churches still have Moroni. I wonder why.

Thank you for CAPTIONing

The tithe is for the poor, not the church. I set aside 10% of every deposit into my own savings account (used to invest but the market sucks), and then figure out what to do with it throughout the year. I don't give money to my own church as well because they have hundreds of millions in assets. Instead I find specific worthwhile things to help people out. And of course, soak the rich who create poverty in the first place.

This is one of their worst years.

Not reporting child sexual abuse, misuse of tithing funds, Joseph's polygamy

Subscribed! I asked the hat and it said I must! :-)

Her reporting has taken my breath away 😮

Whose logo is that on your coffee cup? Where can one of these mugs be purchased? Thanks.

$32B but their missionaries pay their way and sometimes go hungry.

I know this is not the main point of the video, but “Down with Caesar, Christ is king” is directly opposite of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar, give to God what is God’s”.

Wow this is crazy. My “name” is Rachel!! How weird that we have the same special name! 😂

It is a cult

Carah you are so right that something about this religion breeds fanaticism. I believe it was Carl Jung who said "Fanaticism is repressed doubt."

The "Caesar" quote is amazing given "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's."