This is the kind of thing I'm talking about. I feel a personal need on multiple levels to set the record straight on a few things.
I live in Utah after growing up in Syracuse. This isn't common in Utah.
I'm also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). If grooming occurred, as alleged, that's not something we teach in the Church. I'm also responsible for what's taught in Sunday School for 7 local congregations as part of the calling I have (callings are volunteer assignments accepted by members to support their local congregation/s). My point in mentioning that is I have deep familiarity with what the church teaches and the material everyone teaches from. All of the various curricula taught can be found in Libraries at
Homepage - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The current Sunday School curriculum is called Come, Follow Me. You can also find the training resource for teachers in the other manuals section called Teaching in the Savior's Way.
Now, I don't know the personal details of the relationship, but some things aren't adding up.
First, Mormons have a fascination with people from the faith that rise to the level of celebrity. We have a weirdly encyclopedic awareness of famous or internet famous people that are currently in the faith or were once in the faith. Supposedly Filipowski converted to the faith via his relationship with this woman. Nobody, including rabid Jazz fans that are Mormon, knew that until the brother's tweets. It's extremely unusual that a high profile athlete would be a member of the church and that would be completely unknown. Do we actually know for sure or have seen it confirmed anywhere that Filipowski identifies as a member of the church? I haven't seen that, and if he does, the circumstances are a bit unusual because...
Second, the church is really big on the law of chastity. The idea that this woman seduced him into conversion is just... bizarre. I'm skeptical that he would have been permitted to get baptized if it was known he was sleeping with her. The church is also big on teaching that the powers of creation are beautiful and sacred and should be expressed after marriage between spouses, not before. Are we even certain this woman is currently practicing the faith?
Third, and I've mentioned this elsewhere, there's a stereotype that "Mormons are weird" and far too often what ends up happening is a mental short cut, where something weird happens by someone associated with Mormonism, because "Mormons are weird," it's just quickly assessed that it must be part of Mormonism, instead of viewing the actions of the individual as their own, and the whole religion is cast in the light of one person's actions. It definitely seems like people are jumping to these kinds of conclusions with this idea of "Mormon grooming." It sounds sensational, Mormons are weird anyway, so it's believable to some. But it's also extremely frustrating as a person in the faith, and in a religion that is really misunderstood, and often caricatured in media. I saw a post on a Jazz forum that I haven't been able to find from someone that knows the woman's family and claims it's been years since she has identified with the church and hasn't gone to church for years. How "Mormon" is a person like that? Now, who knows if that's true either about her, but I do find a lot of news stories where people have committed a crime or done something terrible and part of the demographic details are that they're Mormon. And then later it comes out that they were baptized and briefly attended services years ago and weren't currently practicing. But the Mormon association sticks.
Now, here's the thing - I'm not saying that association shouldn't stick. Part of the Savior's mission was serving the sick and the afflicted. People need help, and I'd rather my faith have open arms to the imperfect and try and help them (to say nothing of the doctrine that we all fall short and need a Savior). It's not better for religions to turn people away because they might be problematic later. Better to try and serve them and help them and hope they grow and become the best they can as they learn and follow good teachings. We're human though, so it doesn't always work. But it doesn't always mean that the thing they failed in happened because Mormons taught them to fail in some weird way.
To wrap up, and in response to the post I quoted, I wouldn't make the assumption that somehow she had a master plan to get him to Utah because of "the culture." There are so many things that don't make sense and are really inconsistent in this story. It is a weird story. Family estrangements like are alleged here almost always have an unusual element to them. But please everyone, be careful about casting aspersions on entire populations of people in religions and US states based on the alleged actions of one person.
Mormons aren't as weird as you're told and Utah is a boringly normal place to live.
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