Although I did not pay much attention to them, I had of course heard of the Duggar family, stars of a reality show called 19 Kids and Counting, referring to the number of children that the parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar had. You could not avoid reading about them. From the little bits of news that crossed my path, they seemed like a bunch of insufferable Christians who looked down on everyone who did not follow in their religious, home-schooled, sex-puritan ways. But they were feted by right wing Christian types, including politicians, as upholding true Christian values.
But by now, we have got used to the idea that this kind of Pharisaic posturing often hides a dark secret and now comes revelations that 12 years ago the eldest son Josh Duggar, who was working as executive director of the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council, one of those ghastly Christian right wing anti-gay operations headed by the unctuous Tony Perkins, sexually molested five minor children, four of whom were his sisters, and that his parents covered it up.
What finally exposed them was the leaking of a sealed police report containing the charges. Note that Bill Clinton is posing with the family though Evan Hurst has rounded up plenty of photographs of Republican politicians also happily posing with Josh Duggar.
Of course, while Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Bryan Fischer and the like are quick to argue that same-sex marriage leads inevitably to incest and bestiality, they are quick to make excuses for such acts if it is done by one of their own, as we now see with Huckabee excusing Duggar. The next step will be for them to say that all this media coverage is another example of Christians in the US being persecuted.
There is another ghastly story in which six older brothers of another religious home-schooled, ‘anti-government’ family molested their youngest sister for over a decade, from the time she was 4 until she was 15 and their parents knew and did nothing about it. According to the report, the victim “told investigators that she believed she would go to hell if she told anyone about the assaults, which she said took place at least twice a week.”
You can be sure they will all say that Jesus has forgiven them and they are now even more Christian.
These people are truly sick.
“There is another ghastly story in which six older brothers of another religious home-schooled, ‘anti-government’ family molested their youngest sister…”
You left out “anti-woman.” The Duggars, and others of their ilk, value females only as breeders.
No doubt guided by prayer, the Duggar parents brought in a “family friend” and Arkansas state trooper who gave little Josh a stern talking-to.
This man did not make an arrest or file a report (though the police involved now did think the case justified a formal investigation). So perhaps from the parents’ point of view that made him a good choice -- but they don’t seem to have had anything to say about the fact that two years later he got sent to prison on child pornography charges (he did his time on that bust, got out, and re-offended in the same way only more so: his last arrest, in 2010, put him back in Hotel Graybar for 56 years).
Ma and Pa Duggar apparently continue to rely on the same referral service for all their family needs.
Seems that he was sent for some counselling.
Is there a statute of limitations for bad parenting ?
I’m not the least bit surprised. The more overt and loud someone is about “superior morality”, the more likely they are to have feet of slime (e.g. Michael Shermer, the Bill Cosby of atheism).
When religion is involved, people claim unquestioned power and authority because it comes from their mythical “god”. In the case of the Duggars, the “rules” they follow blame the victim, they blame women and girls for the acts of males. Would it shock you to hear that Bill Gothard (founder of the “Advanced Training Institute”, buybull-based homeschooling) who wrote the rules has been accused of sexual assault by at least three dozen women?
http://gawker.com/the-duggar-homeschool-programs-terrifying-advice-on-sex-1706406324
The damage done to Josh Duggars’ sisters is completely unreported by the rightwing media, their feelings and response completely irrelevant…or is silenced by the family. These people believe in “blanket training”, a form of child abuse that discourages thinking and curiosity, so to see those girls threatened into obedience and silence is par for the course with them.
The Duggars are part of a rather vicious form of xianity.
1. Quiverfulls. This is a breeder cult. The RCC tries that and it worked for a while until the members figured out it was dumb. The Mormons are trying it with some success although their birth rate is now only twice the national average.
2. It’s biological colonialism. Or reproductive imperialism. They can’t recruit so they have to reproduce.
3. The idea is obvious. Outbreed all the other groups and take over. It’s a common strategy. It rarely works but sometimes it does work. Most of the time after a few generations, the members decide they have better things to do with their time and money then try to outbreed their neighbors.
Plus the best and brightest of the kids decide the whole thing in general and their parents in particular are loons and drop out of the cult. Ultimately, they end up making more…atheists and nones. 10% of the US population are ex-Catholics.