If you can stomach it. :( More tales from life inside ATI

[MerryHappy]

http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2012/04/ ... rotectors/

 

http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2012/04/ ... rs-part-2/

 

 

I have not posted fondly about Recovering Grace before now because I had no use for their very Christian spin on life post ATIA but I will give them huge props for the latest series of articles tackling sexual abuse within ATIA and Gothardite circles.

 

Disclaimer: The links contain stories with graphic and potentially triggering content for sexual abuse survivors.

 

I am posting this here because I want the pro-Gothard/Duggar/Bates/Fundie living readers to understand what they are supporting. This is what you are defending, people. Open your eyes.

 

Updating links (assumed correct ones):
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2012/04/exploited-innocence/
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2012/04/sexual-harassment-part-2-arent-you-making-too-big-an-issue-of-this/

[formergothardite]

I am trying to think of some way to make it well known that the Duggars support the fucked up cult. People need to see through the fake smiles and see what they are really supporting.

[GeoBQn]

Would TMZ or Radar Online be interested?

[MerryHappy]

I would like to see Huffington Post or someone like that pick this up.

[Deleted03]

I am trying to think of some way to make it well known that the Duggars support the fucked up cult. People need to see through the fake smiles and see what they are really supporting.

They make it clear they attend ATI events (like Big Sandy) so it would not be a stretch to post those stories as "sexual abuse at organization supported by the Duggars" However, they'll say for sure they did not (which might be the truth, they are after all sending Jana there). So I think it would bring more light to ATI but I don't think it would bring bad reps for the duggars, depends on what your goal is then

[Rachel333]

I was really upset to read the ones about Gothard himself sexually harassing girls. Why have I not heard about this before? Someone I know on facebook posted a link to that article and someone else who had been around Gothard in Chicago responded saying that Gothard has always kept a few girls for himself, and his favorites would live in a house near his office. That's so awful and gross, and so hypocritical.

[apple1]

As I posted on another thread-

There is history of various "moral issues" with Gothard going back to 1977. In 1977, there were board member resignations (resigned and/or forced to resign) over several issues.

The stories from girls/young women that he has brought to his facilities for various projects/roles being subject to his "indiscretions" span many years, and are far from isolated or exceptional.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how he continues to get away with this. And I cannot understand how parents of these girls allow him to get away with it. I realize that many of the girls have been intimidated/coerced/brainwashed into silence for years, but there are stories of those who did tell their parents. It seems like even the parents who believed their daughters just quietly left Gothardism.

It does appear that the huge attendances in years past at Gothard events are becoming a thing of the past. But Gothardism is still out there, and there is still influence. And this fact disturbs me more and more as time goes by.

[deelaem]

Wow, it's beginning to seem like if you sniffed near Gothard, you'd smell Warren Jeffs.

[Mela99]

Wow, it's beginning to seem like if you sniffed near Gothard, you'd smell Warren Jeffs.

Said it before I could.

So, in terms of size and crazies, how does the Gothard movement compare to the Jeffs atrocities? I'm almost too scared to click on that link, I dunno if I wanna hear more about that guy. Him holding hands with David at his wedding was just too weird for me.

[Seven Severn]

Is Jana his type? I wonder if she's being "groomed."

[shesinsane]

Said it before I could.

So, in terms of size and crazies, how does the Gothard movement compare to the Jeffs atrocities? I'm almost too scared to click on that link, I dunno if I wanna hear more about that guy. Him holding hands with David at his wedding was just too weird for me.

Gothardism doesn't specifically endorse the marriage of underage girls to older men. Gothard doesn't have the public in his control like Jeffs did in Colorado City/Hilldale (where you could lose your job and home because they were owned by the church and when you went to the cops, the cops were church bullies too). While Gothard wants women to dress modestly, he didn't specificy the dress pattern and ban the color red. And of course, by only allowing one wife, Gothard limits the number of children that could be born into his cult.

There are an awful lot of simliarites. Jeffs was considered a scriptural wiz, always able to come up with some bible quote that supported his way of seeing things. Both FDLS and ATI encourage huge families living in squalor, with any excess funds going to the church. Both Jeffs and Gothard use twisted religious doctrine to keep the people in line and turned a blind eye to reports of abuse. Last but not least, both Gothard and Jeffs will tell you their way is the only true path to salvation.

[Visionoyahweh]

I will point out Gothard's brother had several sex scandals that led to his resignation.

Make sure you have the right allegations to the right Gothard Boy.

Can we get a 'Bill Gothard is a sexual harasser' a la 'Doug Phillips is a tool' going?

[Georgiana]

Is Jana his type? I wonder if she's being "groomed."

Jana (and any of the Duggar girls, really) are too high profile. People would ask a lot of uncomfortable questions if she began to live in a questionable house near Bill G. Plus Jana, already having fame and some connections, wouldn't have to go to her parents with this, she would have the ability to go to the media and break the story there. The Duggars (and to a lesser extent the Bates as well) are as much a liability as they are a boon for ATI. Things were great while the kids were kept withing their own family. But now, as they get older, they could get involved with a...less perfect family. And if or when they do, the whole charade will come crashing down like a house of cards. I sometimes wonder if this is why there are less elder Duggar courtships than one might expect.

[Mela99]

Interesting...

So where/what does Gothard base his school of thought on?

[Mela99]

Read the article, finally.

I don't even have words to come up with.

In what world, what religion, what anything... can exist to make a parent turn on a child like that?

[Anxious Girl]

Somebody should e-mail these stories (if they are allowed to) to the Duggars and add to the end of the e-mail: don't send me links, just explain to me why you and Jim Bob support this group if it abuses people. I wonder if I should do it...

[Visionoyahweh]

I wonder what the CPS report on that family looked like. I mean, naked beatings, obvious emotional destruction, and the kids weren't removed?

For god sakes, I'd rather leave my kids with Emily!

[xReems]

I got through halfway and could not read anymore of it. It's sickening to think that the Duggars look up to Gothard as God and worship him as if he's the model Christian. I don't know if any of those posters on Recovering Grace covered it but have any of these victims reported these claims to the police? For some reason, this reminds me of the Hephzibah House allegations and how some of those women have yet to seek justice but cannot because HH prevents girls from speaking the truth and since they're non-profit.

[Bookworm89]

That is sickening to me, that that abuse and manipulation went on for so many years. My sister and brother-in-law seem to be flirting with the idea of Gothard but so far have stayed away because they don’t like some of his views (but they hold some pretty extreme other views, go figure). If they even strongly hint they are going this way I am printing all of these stories out and giving them to them! I couldn’t be around them if they swallowed all this BS because if they ever told me the abuse I suffered as a child was MY fault, I would completely stop talking to them in civil tones and trying to understand their views (which I do to maintain a good relationship with my niece and nephews), and that would break my heart because I know they would cut me off from my nephews and niece if it came to that point.

[Witsec7]

I read this stuff and was sickened.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Jana (and any of the Duggar girls, really) are too high profile. People would ask a lot of uncomfortable questions if she began to live in a questionable house near Bill G. Plus Jana, already having fame and some connections, wouldn't have to go to her parents with this, she would have the ability to go to the media and break the story there. The Duggars (and to a lesser extent the Bates as well) are as much a liability as they are a boon for ATI. Things were great while the kids were kept withing their own family. But now, as they get older, they could get involved with a...less perfect family. And if or when they do, the whole charade will come crashing down like a house of cards. I sometimes wonder if this is why there are less elder Duggar courtships than one might expect.

I'm not sure if being "high profile" would protect them. Look at all the A-list celebrities who are deeply involved with $cientology. I doubt their kids are any safer from the crazy than other kids, especially since more $$$ and high name recognition means you're attending more classes, more camps, more seminars, etc. which gives the weirdos more access to the kids.

[Clementine]

Completely heartbreaking. It sounds more like a scene from a concentration camp than from christian family life.

[geniebelle6901]

I just lost my breakfast. I have no words for this.

[jesssnerch]

Somebody should e-mail these stories (if they are allowed to) to the Duggars and add to the end of the e-mail: don't send me links, just explain to me why you and Jim Bob support this group if it abuses people. I wonder if I should do it...

The Duggars will just say that this family twisted Gothard's holy teachings.