As I mentioned in a previous post about the false doctrine of Bruce R. McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine, innumerable people are harmed when people in power care more about preserving one person’s ego than publicly correcting the record. So I was delighted to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make a statement on Tim Ballard, notorious founder of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), that stated, “Once it became clear Tim Ballard had betrayed their friendship, through the unauthorized use of President Ballard’s name for Tim Ballard’s personal advantage and activity regarded as morally unacceptable, President Ballard withdrew his association. President Ballard never authorized his name, or the name of the church, to be used for Tim’s personal or financial interests.”

OUR has long been condemned by actual human rights organizations and human trafficking experts, but I know many did not have ears to hear until the statement came from the Church itself. For those readers who might be unaware of OUR’s sickening practices and why they are shunned by the majority of the human rights community, there are many reasons but I’ll offer two of the ones that made me vow never to support OUR again. First, other human rights organizations have pointed out that they favor flashy, publicized rescue missions where they can swoop in and bust people out of dungeons in chains white-savior style without actually doing the hard, systemic work to prevent the root causes of victims’ oppression. Critics have long pointed out that they conduct operations in a way that tampers with evidence, that they eschew the kind of long-term, transnational investigations necessary to actually bring perpetrators to justice and prevent further trafficking, and that they don’t set vulnerable victims up for successful reintegration – putting them at risk of winding up in exactly the same type of situation again. Their operations seem to me to be more about glorifying themselves than making a real impact. Second, people have pointed out that historically they did not get proper, informed consent from victims for the way they’ve used their stories in marketing and promotional materials, generally glorifying OUR and the Tim Ballard personality cult at the expense of those they claim to save (and at the expense of the truth, as VICE News has reported).

Now at least seven women employees of OUR have accused Tim Ballard of sexual harassment, claiming he coerced them to partake in sexual acts during operations where they were ostensibly traveling to save victims of sex trafficking. Although his most ardent fans predictably reject the Church’s criticism of him (and some even claim the Church is in on the sex trafficking cabal conspiracy, as The Salt Lake Tribune reported), I hope some will be persuaded by this nudge in the right direction.

Too often in our modern culture, we care more about tone policing and protecting people in power from embarrassment than about making sure they haven’t led people astray. The welcome public rebuke of Tim Ballard reminded me of other times where public rebuke has well served the kingdom of God. Jesus publicly rebuked the money-changers, the stone-throwers, the Pharisees, and his own disciples from time to time. In Galatians 2:11-14, Paul publicly rebukes Peter, telling him he was to be “blamed” and going so far as to call him a “hypocrite” for withdrawing from the Gentiles for not living as Jews. In Doctrine & Covenants 42:91, it says, “And if any one offend openly, he or she shall be rebuked openly, that he or she may be ashamed. And if he or she confess not, he or she shall be delivered up unto the law of God.”

After I first drafted this post, I learned from a public Facebook post by Jonathan Decker that the public rebuke I appreciated so much is missing something very important: an apology. The Facebook post references an article confirming that while the Church denied any affiliation with OUR, it silently deleted a glowing article about OUR and Tim Ballard from the official Church website. This is the latest in a long history of disappointing examples of the Church’s reluctance to apologize.

I decided to publish this post anyway because I still believe that the public rebuke did more good than harm. An apology should have accompanied it, thereby modeling the repentance we all need, but that apology’s absence doesn’t make the whole statement worthless, in my opinion. In an edit to his Facebook post, Jonathan Decker noted speculation that “the original statement was shared without approval by someone on the church’s PR department. I actually think that’s probable, as the church always releases official statements through its own website, not as emails to VICE magazine.” I look forward to the day when the Church can confidently issue statements admitting wrongdoing, repenting, and committing to do better in light of new information. In the meantime, I’ll take a small public rebuke that might sway some hearts and minds away from harming the most vulnerable, instigating panic, and worshiping white saviors (which are in my view golden calves by another name).