Full disclosure. I never watched the Duggar's television show. Heard about it, of course. But the show's entire premise left me feeling nauseous. The focus on fertility and a constant state of pregnancy as some kind of prurient proof of religiosity, as if god has his head up everyone's groin, set alarm bells ringing.
Turns out my alarm bells were working just fine, thank you.
According to the police report, Jim Bob and Michelle, paragons of parenting, hid Josh’s crimes from the police and the public. In Touch reports, based on the police report it obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, that:
Josh Duggar was investigated for multiple sex offenses — including forcible fondling — against five minors. Some of the alleged offenses investigated were felonies. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar were interview [sic] by the Springdale Police department on Dec. 12, 2006. The report says that James told police he was alerted in March, 2002 by a female minor that Josh — who turned 14-years-old that month — had been touching her breasts and genitals while she slept. This allegedly happened on multiple occasions. In 2006, Jim Bob told police that in July, 2002 Josh admitted to fondling a minor’s breasts while she slept. “James said that they disciplined (redacted, Josh) after this incident.” The family did not alert authorities.
The police report reveals that Jim Bob Duggar “met with the elders of his church and told them what was going on” rather than contacting law enforcement. Josh was then sent to “Christian counseling” for three months, which, according to his mother’s admission, was not any sort of licensed counseling facility:
Once again, the religious right's obsession with sexuality, and the control there of, is revealed as deeply twisted. No surprise to those of us who have paid attention through the years, and yet far too many typical responses blame or silence the victims of Josh Duggar's molestations, while excusing his actions and his parent's cover up of the same.
In faith communities like the Duggars, abuse victims are encouraged to be filled with grace. It’s not that simple
As usual, the victims of sexual abuse are being called to forgive and forget, to give grace, while none is being given to them. In the Duggar's
Biblical Patriarchy, all things masculine have worth and are redeemable, while all things feminine are not.
Girls and women are reduced to property, to things, whose only virtue is in submitting to men, no matter how harmful those men may be.
...God reveals Himself as masculine, not feminine.
God ordained distinct gender roles for man and woman as part of the created order.
A husband and father is the head of his household, a family leader, provider, and protector.
Male leadership in the home carries over into the church: only men are permitted to hold the ruling office in the church. A God-honoring society will likewise prefer male leadership in civil and other spheres.
Since the woman was created as a helper to her husband, as the bearer of children, and as a “keeper at home”, the God-ordained and proper sphere of dominion for a wife is the household and that which is connected with the home.....
According to Rachel Held Evans, the biblical patriarchy movement is "committed to preserving as much of the patriarchal structure of Old Testament law as possible."[8]
Apparently the defining characteristic of god and men is the phallus, and the right to wield it. In an act of supreme hubris, the Biblical Patriarchal movement compresses a supposedly infinite god into the size and shape of a penis. That is the supreme definition of God and man. Not empathy. Not insight. Not creativity. Not caring. Not wisdom. Mind boggling, isn't it?
But in the world of the Phallus Cult, anything goes. Including molesting young girls, even one's sisters. Including excusing it all away, because - "God."
I have read the Bible countless times, along with Biblical and comparative religion scholarship, and have a copy of the The Nag Hammadi Library on one of my bookshelves. I'm betting that the Gnostic Gospels that comprise the Nag Hammadi would give the Phallus worshipers fits.
Especially the gospels of The Sophia of Jesus Christ and The Gospel of Mary Magdalen.
",...Thus the aeons were completed quickly in the heavens and the firmaments in the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area from which every aeon and the world and those that came afterward took (their) pattern for their creation of likenesses in the heavens of chaos and their worlds. And all natures, starting from the revelation of chaos, are in the Light that shines without shadow, and joy that cannot be described, and unutterable jubilation. They ever delight themselves on account of their unchanging glory and the immeasurable rest, which cannot be described among all the aeons that came to be afterward, and all their powers. Now all that I have just said to you, I said that you might shine in Light more than these."
Mary said to him: "Holy Lord, where did your disciples come from, and where are they going, and (what) should they do here?"
The Perfect Savior said to them: "I want you to know that Sophia, the Mother of the Universe and the consort, desired by herself to bring these to existence without her male (consort). But by the will of the Father of the Universe, that his unimaginable goodness might be revealed, he created that curtain between the immortals and those that came afterward, that the consequence might follow ... [BG 118:] ... every aeon and chaos - that the defect of the female might , and it might come about that Error would contend with her. And these became the curtain of spirit. From aeons above the emanations of Light, as I have said already, a drop from Light and Spirit came down to the lower regions of Almighty in chaos, that their molded forms might appear from that drop, for it is a judgment on him, Arch-Begetter, who is called 'Yaldabaoth'. That drop revealed their molded forms through the breath, as a living soul. It was withered and it slumbered in the ignorance of the soul. When it became hot from the breath of the Great Light of the Male, and it took thought, (then) names were received by all who are in the world of chaos, and all things that are in it through that Immortal One, when the breath blew into him. But when this came about by the will of Mother Sophia - so that Immortal Man might piece together the garments there for a judgment on the robbers - then welcomed the blowing of that breath; but since he was soul-like, he was not able to take that power for himself until the number of chaos should be complete, (that is,) when the time determined by the great angel is complete....
Instead of being subservient, the feminine principle embodied by Sophia is the co-creator of all things. She is the "Mother of the Universe."
But even if the Duggar's chose to ignore the Gnostic Gospels and their exclusion from the Canonical texts that came to be known as the Bible, Sophia as God's Wisdom still speaks in the Proverbs of the Old Testament.
Proverbs 1:20–33
The Call of Wisdom
20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
25 because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
27 when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30 would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
32 For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Proverbs Chapter 8
1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
"He that sinneth against me," indeed. The Duggars and those like them have erected a false idol, a phallus defined empty masculinity. The Duggars and the Biblical Patriarchy Cult have chosen selected passages from the Old Testament as proof of their religious authority. All while ignoring other sections of the Bible that contradict their preferences. Their choice says everything. They worship their own graven image while demanding obedience and grace from those they harm.
This family is going to be in the spotlight for awhile because they’ve always been in the spotlight–as the embodiment of ‘family values’ no less. But it’s not just about them. It’s important to recognize that this one instance (or this one perpetrator) reflects the heart of fundamentalism, and what it does to women, children, and other vulnerable parties. I don’t care if the group in question is Christian, Muslim, or a secular cult with a self-proclaimed prophet and a series of doomsday billboards along the highway. It all amounts to the same fear and silence; the same cost to human dignity; and the same looming question:
Who’s looking out for the girls?
They sin against our daughters, sisters, friends, and mothers. They sin against our LGBT sisters, brothers, and children. The prurience of the Biblical Patriarchy Cult is not purity of any kind. Multiple pregnancies are not proof of wisdom. Abusing girls and women is not proof of god. Demonizing the LGBT community is not righteousness. There is nothing pure or righteous about the Duggars, their mentor
Bill Gothard, or any of those who disguise their prurience in religiosity.
What their choice to believe and their actions reveal is a self-serving lust for power. There is no wisdom to be found.
I didn't want to wade into all this. I'm a survivor of sexual and physical abuse. Reading about how Josh Duggar abused young girls, including his sisters, has not been easy. Reading about how he was protected by his family and the authorities made it even more difficult.
I know the same is true for every survivor and we are legion. The recent revelations about the Duggar family are merely the latest in an on going epidemic of Religious sexual abuse and it must stop. As long as our culture denies, excuses, and enables the ongoing criminal sexual assault upon girls and women, it has no justification asking for forgiveness for those who do harm. None.
My thoughts and prayers are for those who have been hurt. My thoughts and prayers are for all of us who have survived in spite of harm done and our society's demands for silence and invisibility.
For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
We survivors have a hard fought for wisdom of our own. We have had to. We will speak at the gates against anyone who attempts to excuse their harmful behavior by draping themselves in religiosity.
We will speak in the marketplace and the churches because we know that others are being harmed even as we do so.
We know that a man who said "harm not the little children" would do the same.
We know that the man who hung out with the lost and forsaken would do no less.
We know that good caring people of faith and no faith will do the same. Love is the common denominator, the motive force. Without that, there is nothing. Only whited sepulchres worshiping false idols made in their own image.