The Role Mormon Religion Plays in "Abducted in Plain Sight"
By Sarah Aswell
As millions of viewers watch the crime documentary Abducted in Plain Sight on Netflix, the overwhelming response is shock and disbelief. How could this have possibly happened? How in the world could a man abduct the same child twice? And then not face consequences for it? As the story unfolds, these questions aren't completely answered in a satisfying way – even filmmaker Skye Borgman told Vanity Fair that the family's explanations of the events frustrated her so much that she had to take a six-week break from making the movie. But there's one explanation for the outrageous tale that isn't fully explored in the film (and Borgman herself agrees): the role that faith, religion, and the Mormon church played in the kidnappings, not only when it comes to perpetrator Robert "B" Berchtold's actions, but also the actions of victim Jan Broberg and her family. The church is mentioned in the first minutes of the documentary: the Berchtold and Broberg families both belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) – and they both worship at the same place in the small Idaho town of Pocatello. It's not just a foundation for the close friendship between the families, it's an explanation on how "B" and Jan were allowed to become so close that he often had time alone with her and even regularly slept in her bed. Basically, church members are seen as family, and trusted as family, even when disturbing evidence piles into a mountain of red flags. At the same time, as in cases of sex abuse in other religions, perpetrators are often protected by the church, or only mildly reprimanded or relocated, while congregations are left in the dark. Berchtold had tried to victimize at least a half-dozen other young girls in that era and had been reprimanded by the LDS church in 1974. While we don't know what that reprimand consisted of, it certainly wasn't an excommunication – that consequence seems to more often be reserved for other issues, for example, questioning the church's troubling practices toward children. It also apparently wasn't an issue serious enough to warn other members of the church that this absolutely wasn't the best man to have sleep in your 11-year-old daughter's bed. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE The Mormon church's beliefs could have also emboldened Berchtold's actions, or at least allowed him to rationalize or justify them. The man's first move after abducting Jan the first time is to take her to Mexico to marry her legally – as if officially marrying a 12-year-old girl who he drugged in order to take from her family made his repeated sexual assaults okay. It's an idea that's echoed in another famous Mormon kidnapping case: that of Elizabeth Smart. When she was taken from her home by Brian David Mitchell in 2002, the man (who was raised Mormon) had a "marriage ceremony" with the 14-year-old before he raped her repeatedly over the next nine months. He also had a divine ''revelation that the celestial law of polygamy'' had returned, and that he needed to take on multiple young, Mormon wives. A similar thread also runs through the Brenda Lafferty double murders, which is discussed at length in Jon Krakauer's book, Under the Banner of Heaven. In that instance, delusional members of a cultish unofficial offshoot of the LDS church murder a Mormon woman and her baby, using twisted interpretations of the church's beliefs for their reasoning. In his book that looks at both the grisly crime and the history of Mormonism, Krakauer argues that sexual violence and violence against women is just a half-step away from the church's teachings, especially when mentally ill men enter the picture. Young girls growing up in the church – and their families – are also likely much easier to groom. Their families are conveniently trusting, and the girls themselves can have their religious teachings used against them, especially since they are taught from a young age that 1) men are the leaders of the church and have authority and 2) that a woman's role is to listen to men, and to marry and procreate before all else. Many Abducted in Plain Sight viewers were shocked to hear that "B" used a far-fetched story about aliens in order to get Jan to be more accepting of his sexual abuse – again, even the filmmaker Borgman found the story to be crazy. But for those in the Mormon faith, it wouldn't sound nearly as odd. The religion has a view of the universe that involves other populated planets in the universe and a rich celestial world that makes "B"'s alien story, again, just a half-step away from what she may have heard on Sundays. Brian David Mitchell also used both his maleness and Mormon teachings as he groomed and brainwashed Elizabeth Smart, from the moment he appeared in her bedroom in the middle of the night. When he attempted to kidnap and groom another young girl, he went straight to a Mormon church to do so, and started by befriending the girl's family. Religion also explains another puzzling aspect of the Abducted in Plain Sight story: the silence of Jan's family, both after her first kidnapping and after Jan's return home. Jan's parents seemed in almost total denial that a church leader could be doing anything wrong with their child, and easily caved to pressure from "B"'s wife (and possibly, through her, the church itself) not to involve authorities. When "B" later threatens to expose both parents' sexual involvement with "B"himself, the fear of that information reaching their community is enough for them to make false statements to the police about the kidnapping. Finally, the parents' forgiveness of "B" after the first kidnapping – which many of us found incomprehensible as we watched – may have been possible in part because of the family's religious beliefs and "B"'s shared religion. It's that forgiveness, paired with the church's failure to act, that allowed for the baffling continuation of abuse. These aren't issues unique to the Mormon Church, of course. Sex abuse, and particularly child sex abuse, is rampant in numerous religious communities, most famously the Catholic Church, but certainly not just the Catholic Church. And the reasons are the same: blind faith in the church's leaders, a culture that puts men in power over women, a culture that makes sex education taboo, and religious organizations that put their reputation and brand over the safety of their followers. Really, when you think about it, Abducted in Plain Sight isn't amazingly unbelievable at all. It's a common story of sexual abuse in a religious setting – and it makes all too much sense.
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