Fundie Reactions to Josh Duggar Molestation Admission

[Georgiana]

I'm sure you've all heard about the Duggar drama. For those of you who haven't, Josh Duggar has admitted that he did molest 5 girls as a teenager, 4 of whom were his own sisters. More details can be found over in Quiver Full of Duggars. It truly makes me very, very sad for all those girls, who almost certainly were not given appropriate help to heal.

However, around here we have several ARDENT Duggar leg-humpers. Lori Alexander is creepily obsessed with them. Zsu can't let a Duggar story hit People Mag without defending them against all threats, real and imaginary. Jill Rodrigues seeks them out in person. The Bates....

Who will react first? Will they condemn the Duggars or defend them? How much did the Bates' know? Will they cut ties or grow closer? We're bound to have a good deal of fundie reactions, so I wanted to start a mega-thread to compare and discuss them.

Just to be clear, I don't mean for this to discuss the issue itself (as that is going on over at QF Duggars), but the reactions of the various families here to the confession.

[Mitz_]

Good topic! I was wondering about it too. My bet is on Jill and all of them will defend the Duggar's except Jill might do it with some passive aggression. She is probably trying to arrange for a TLC interview already in hopes of getting a contract for her "perfect family". I'm sure the possibility of 19K&counting being cancelled is not lost on her.

[Georgiana]

Good topic! I was wondering about it too. My bet is on Jill and all of them will defend the Duggar's except Jill might do it with some passive aggression. She is probably trying to arrange for a TLC interview already in hopes of getting a contract for her "perfect family". I'm sure the possibility of 19K&counting being cancelled is not lost on her.

I would be shocked, SHOCKED if Jill did not try to tie in Josh's story to David's conversion story somehow. Or to her 12th baby being a girl.

Gotta bring it back to Jill............................................smile.

[GotCaughtDancing]

I think Jill will definitely figure a way to spin it to be all about her. I think Zsu & Lori will stand by them in Christian Faith, but actually to pull attention to themselves. Out of all of them I think the Bates will be the quietest. They'll keep it short and sweet and exclaim deep love & respect for the Duggars. :lol: And I only think this of the Bates because they are creepier than the duggars and I am sure that there house while pretty on the outside has some inside horror stories.

[Finduilas]

I don't see how they could potentially defend Josh. Didn't some of those family get into trouble with child protection already ? (wasn't there a story from Zsu few month ago?) I'm not sure defending a child abuser would be the smartest move in that situation ...

And I only think this of the Bates because they are creepier than the duggars and I am sure that there house while pretty on the outside has some inside horror stories.

Somehow I still have the impression that the Bates kids are way more healthy/balanced than the J'slave (we kind of know why now) so if there is some nasty story it's certainly nothing as awful as the J'situation. Spanking ? Probably. 'Horror stories' ? Hope not.

[Sundaymorning]

I think that they will try to ignore it and if someone questions them, they will go down the same route as the idiotic leghumpers on the Duggars fb page already do: claiming that everybody makes "mistakes" and saying that since Josh asked God for forgiveness, everything is cool again. Of course, they won't even mention the victims.

The one couple I'm curious about are PP and ZsuZsu, since their views (stone all gays and adulterers) are so extreme, even for fundie standarts. I could imagine PP turning against Josh.

What I wonder about is if some fundies will quietly make some adjustments in their own family, like separate the boys and girl even more.

[MissBitters]

I'm not sure how Gil and Kelly will respond, but I have a feeling they are evaluating exactly how much alone time teenage Josh spent with their older daughters. It's doubtful he actually did anything, but the recent revelations had to have scared the hell out of them.

[GeoBQn]

Ask, and you shall receive:

lorialexander.blogspot.com/2015/05/joshua-duggar-redeemed-by-blood-of-lamb.html

[formergothardite]

I'm not sure how Gil and Kelly will respond, but I have a feeling they are evaluating exactly how much alone time teenage Josh spent with their older daughters. It's doubtful he actually did anything, but the recent revelations had to have scared the hell out of them.

If they are scared it is probably because they don't want people to start looking too deeply at them, not because they are worried about their kids. They heard the horror stories about what Bill Gothard did to the teen girls who traveled with him and not only did Gil help protect Gothard, they still shipped their daughters off to travel with him.

[jerkit]

Ask, and you shall receive:

lorialexander.blogspot.com/2015/05/joshua-duggar-redeemed-by-blood-of-lamb.html

I am physically ill at this response.

[PrairieGirl]

Ask, and you shall receive:

lorialexander.blogspot.com/2015/05/joshua-duggar-redeemed-by-blood-of-lamb.html

JFC. There are no words. None.

ETA: I am very curious to hear Zsu's reaction. She is notorious for seeing perverts EVERYWHERE (Note: I am not calling Josh Duggar a pervert necessarily). She body shames women and girls, as we have seen with her ridiculous attempt at selling modest swimsuits, and I have no doubt that she would hold a woman responsible for tempting a poor widdle helpless man. She also has several children, the oldest of which are male. Zsu is also full of shit and hot air. I am anxious to see what spin she puts on this.

[stabbycat]

Ask, and you shall receive:

lorialexander.blogspot.com/2015/05/joshua-duggar-redeemed-by-blood-of-lamb.html

Thanks for reminding me why I shouldn't read fundie blogs. I clicked on a related article that was written about abuse and it's just as sickening.

[Finduilas]

Ask, and you shall receive:

lorialexander.blogspot.com/2015/05/joshua-duggar-redeemed-by-blood-of-lamb.html

All about Josh, nothing about the victims

[salex]

Skimmed Ken's post on Lori's blog.

I guess I missed where the girls got counseling.

And whoever said the bloggers would make it all about them... gold star for you. I laughed at the bit where Ken says he gets pushback lately when he mentions God in his speeches. (No kidding. If I'm at a dental convention I don't want to hear about God and my practice.... )

I was reminded of the line in O Brother, Where art thou when one of the cons on the run says "

[Delmar runs out to be baptized]

Pete: Well I'll be a sonofabitch. Delmar's been saved.

Delmar: Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed. The preacher's done warshed away all my sins and transmissions. It's the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting's my reward.

Everett: Delmar, what are you talking about? We've got bigger fish to fry.

Delmar: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.

Everett: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?

Delmar: Well I was lyin'. And the preacher says that that sin's been warshed away too. Neither God nor man's got nothin' on me now. C'mon in boys, the water is fine.

Pete: The preacher said he absolved us.

Everett: For him. Not for the law. I'm surprised at you Pete. I gave you credit for more brains than Delmar.

Delmar: But they was witnesses that seen us redeemed.

Everett: That's not the issue Delmar. Even if it did put you square with the Lord, the state of Mississippi's a little more hardnose

Does Ken advocate anyone in prison who gets saved also gets out of jail?

[Four is Enough]

I think that they will try to ignore it and if someone questions them, they will go down the same route as the idiotic leghumpers on the Duggars fb page already do: claiming that everybody makes "mistakes" and saying that since Josh asked God for forgiveness, everything is cool again. Of course, they won't even mention the victims.

.

Note the bolded. Everyone does make mistakes, and for Josh, this was HUGE. Please remember that there is a difference between excusing his behavior and supporting him.

There will be those who totally excuse the behavior, and that is WRONG.

It is entirely appropriate, however, for Josh to remain within the church unit, and the family unit, (to an extent) while receiving the help and counseling which he really needs Tossing him out of the family or Church will simply sever him from ANY support he has, while making it more difficult for him to receive appropriate treatment. One of the biggest barriers to treatment is to send the offender away from the support group he has; to just hash it out on his own.

Edited to remove opinion.

[FundieWatcher]

His defenders on the TLC Facebook page need to understand the difference between "sin" and crimes.

Sins are religious acts. According to many Christians, no sin is worse than another. They have supernatural consequences. (God punishing or forgiving.)

Crimes, however, having varying degrees of severity.

[NachosFlandersStyle]

I am so curious to see if this prompts any reconsideration on the part of our more "average" fundies. I know that religious leaders have been a source of scandal since the dawn of time, but it seems like there's been an extra bunch of it around this particular group in the past couple of years. Maybe, hopefully, a few people look at this and say "hey, maybe imprisoning my kids in an overbearing, sexually repressive environment until they are 22 is not a recipe for success?" Or even "huh, what if patriarchy is actually designed to hurt women instead of protect them?"

[HeadshipRegent]

Curious to see Zsucifer's reaction to this.

[lilwriter85]

I think the Maxwells will quietly cut ties with the Duggars. We all saw Ken Alexander's stupid ass response blog entry. Zsu might be the first fundie blogger to condemn Josh. Jill Rodrigues is a major dumb ass and she will film a "defending the Duggars' video soon. IIRC, she made a video defending them a few months back.

[HeadshipRegent]

Jill Rodrigues will probably take this scandal as an opportunity to have Nurie courting a Duggar boy.

[Finduilas]

Jill Rodrigues will probably take this scandal as an opportunity to have Nurie courting a Duggar boy.

I'm afrai Josiah is taken :D

[Loveday]

His defenders on the TLC Facebook page need to understand the difference between "sin" and crimes.

Sins are religious acts. According to many Christians, no sin is worse than another. They have supernatural consequences. (God punishing or forgiving.)

Crimes, however, having varying degrees of severity.

This. And God may forgive you, but society still requires payment for the crime. That's why we have prisons/juvenile detention facilities/probation etc.

[Burris]

It's no surprise to see Ken taking over Lori's blog again. What can a mere woman say about the alleged molestation of young girls?

Revelations of Joshua Duggar fondling younger sisters are just coming out. It is a tragedy for such a wonderful family and for Josh.

There's "the family" and then there's "Josh" and both are beset by tragedy. The victims are part of the family, so I guess the suggestion is that everyone suffered equally - including Josh, Michelle, and Jim Bob - when Josh allegedly abused five of his sisters.

Ken has successfully erased the individual identities of the victims, even while placing Josh in the same category - i.e., he's a victim - and I'm one sentence into this idiocy.

Something that happened some 12 years ago while Josh was a child should not be public record, and the only reason to drag it out now is to finally give the detractors a little piece of poop so they can taint the whole family and conservative Christianity with one broad brush of “I told you so! Those Duggars are not perfect. Finally, we can bury them."

No, there are plenty of other reasons to bring this up - one of which is related to justice for the victims. Another is that there are people who idolize the Duggars, including the repressive nature of their education on sexuality. The fact Josh may have preyed on five girls and this was kept secret for 12 years while the family ran a successful television show which sold based on their sterling characters - no, people didn't bring that out to destroy Conservative Christianity; they brought it out to illuminate hypocrisy.

It's no one else's fault if Christianity and hypocrisy are so entwined within Ken that to attack the latter is to attack the former.

If this were an isolated incident of hypocrisy in that particular community, then it could be taken for an anomaly, but abuse scandals (and other sexual scandals such as closeted preachers) from the Conservative churches seem to break out at a rate of one per 3.7 seconds or so - give or take.

The Bible calls for elders to be "blameless" - that same Bible Lori claims is inherent and thus perfect justification for her sexism and for Ken's warped concept of relationship.

The most pressing problem in these situations isn't with conservative Christianity; it's with allegedly conservative Christians telling other people by the hour to do as they say and not as they do.

And when this is pointed out with each new scandal, there are is a legion of leghumpers such as Ken and Lori willing to offer forgiveness before evidence of repentance even while in other posts they castigate people on social assistance and rape victims and single mothers as being shameful.

I guess unconditional forgiveness - repentance optional - is only for those who claim to believe in the inerrancy of the same Holy Book you do...the book that tells people to treat others as they'd like to be treated, the book that would disqualify men such as Steven Anderson from the pastorate for his anger management problems and for breaking bruised reeds on a regular basis, the book that condemns adultery in one of the Ten Commandments (and note - it's still cheating on your wives even if you're fucking other men, pastors).

This is also the book that warns readers that they will be measured by their own choice of measuring device, so that if they find other people wanting for specific sins they themselves hide, they'll be weighed and found wanting.

Apparently even Jesus' flat condemnation of religious hypocrisy isn't enough to remove the scales from those eyes.

They also sent Joshua away for awhile to do hard labor on a farm, then had him speak to a policeman who used his discretion not to file a report.

Um, as far as I know, mandated reporters don't have that kind of discretion to use: A police officer who decides not file charges when someone admits to him that he was sexually inappropriate with his five sisters is not doing his job.

And while all this was happening the Duggars were collecting fans and political clout based on their pristine living. (But the magazine that used FOAA to get a report on the matter - that's the sleazy publication. TLC is still awesome for being the place to go for some of the sleaziest television permitted on air.)

I'm sure this situation was very painful for the whole family and they will be viciously attacked for it by those who have wanted them out of the limelight for many years. They show good grace, love, submission, and family values; the world hates everything about them.

What a load of horseshit, Ken. Grace and family values don't include "fondling sisters" and "covering it up" while "making money off our image as a model family." Those three things don't fit, either taken together or individually.

Is Ken really this lacking on common sense and decency? He really can't see why people would have a problem with this beyond some alleged plot against Christianity on television.

Now they have some great ammunition. Is this really news if Josh Duggar is a changed man and has proven not to have any issues with his boyhood weaknesses?

It would not be public knowledge at all except that for the entire time from when the situation occurred until now, Josh Duggar was a public figure and part of a family that sold their image as a wholesome brand where lechery is not tolerated; where girls warn boys away from looking at scantily clad women in the streets and other such nonsense...but Josh allegedly fondles five of his sisters and it's no big deal. That was boyhood weakness.

If Josh had been a girl and consented to sleep with boys her own age, only to become pregnant, all this grace and forgiveness would be conditional at best - and these idiot leghumpers would be the first to turn feral if the Duggars were found to have, for example, hidden an abortion from the public.

So who here may cast the first stone?

I love how selectively that is applied on a blog as consistently judgmental as Lori's.

The biggest stones will be thrown at Jim Bob for not reporting this immediately to the authorities. But I would not have if it was my 14 year old without first seeking other remedies.

Well, it's one boy against five girls - so of course Ken wouldn't report it.

That admission alone is enough to leave Ken unfit for anything other than shoveling his usual shit.

[Georgiana]

This. And God may forgive you, but society still requires payment for the crime. That's why we have prisons/juvenile detention facilities/probation etc.

Exactly. God may forgive a murderer, but he/she still has to serve his/her sentence.

And more to the point, God's forgiveness is great....for the one being saved.

But for the victims and their families, it doesn't mean much. It wont bring back someone who was murdered. It wont undo injury. It wont heal the scars of abuse.

God's forgiveness is great and a part of healing for some. But it doesn't just undo the crime like Lori/Ken are pretending it does.

[Sundaymorning]

Note the bolded. Everyone does make mistakes, and for Josh, this was HUGE. Please remember that there is a difference between excusing his behavior and supporting him.

There will be those who totally excuse the behavior, and that is WRONG.

It is entirely appropriate, however, for Josh to remain within the church unit, and the family unit, (to an extent) while receiving the help and counseling which he really needs Tossing him out of the family or Church will simply sever him from ANY support he has, while making it more difficult for him to receive appropriate treatment. One of the biggest barriers to treatment is to send the offender away from the support group he has; to just hash it out on his own.

Edited to remove opinion.

Well, first of all, of course everybody makes mistakes. But what Josh did, isn't simply a common mistake that can happen to everybody, it is a crime.

And as for Josh remaining in the family/church unit. Not if his victims are also there. Protecting the victims trumps the fact that the offender would profit from not being kicked out.

Yes, Josh should have received real! treatment, same goes of course for the victims. But forcing the victims to be in the same vincinity as their molestor is simply wrong.