Is Josh Duggar Finally Being Held Accountable For Years Of Abuse?

#BREAKING #JoshDuggar “Duggar is charged by indictment with receiving and possessing child pornography.” pic.twitter.com/xwijXUYNyN

— Garrett Fergeson (@Garrett_Photo) April 30, 2021

“Child porn. I guarantee it’s child porn” one tweet read before the charges were released. Sadly, that tweet proved to be correct, and Duggar now faces a possible maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a $500,000 fine — 20 years and $250,000 for each of the two counts he’s been charged with. He pleaded “not guilty” to both.

Take a gander at the #JoshDuggar hashtag on Twitter and your timeline will be peppered with news and opinions of the latest scandal, including information that his wife Anna is pregnant with their seventh child and that Duggar, if released on bond, must reside with a third party with no minors in the home. 

If you want a full, in-depth review of the events leading up to these latest charges, I highly recommend this Twitter thread. My own timeline of relevant events is below.

You mean to tell me that the model family for Pentecostal extremism in Arkansas fostered a child porn secret for years? #JoshDuggar pic.twitter.com/dq2y5094ib

— Ozark Anonymous (@ozarkanonymous) May 1, 2021

Any time a family covers up SA it is an immediate red flag. Been saying for years #joshduggar is a major risk for this & I wish I had been wrong. Yet when I would express my concern, I would be met with the narrative that I was bitter & not extending grace & forgiveness. pic.twitter.com/pr8NpbS7Cy

— brooklyn (@brklynsttzmn) April 30, 2021

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”…a phrase which apparently also applies to failed addiction treatment attempts. As previously mentioned, Duggar was sent to a training center for treatment as a young teenager, after his parents and church elders became aware of the ongoing occasions of abuse. Said training center (which father Jim Bob Duggar claimed to not remember the name of — for good reason) was one of many founded under the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), a Christian organization founded by pastor Bill Gothard. Years later, Gothard would resign from the ministry amidst sexual assault allegations from numerous young women who were involved in IBLP. 

The treatment facility Duggar was sent to in 2015 was strikingly similar. Reformers Unanimous is a program with a similar treatment method — namely, physical labor and Bible study — that notably has a history of ties to the IBLP community. And RU co-founder Paul Kingsbury is allegedly financially supporting missionary and accused sex offender Richard DuVall, while still serving as President of the Board of Directors at RU. So, yes — this is all very messy.

I could go on a long tirade about Christian communities attempting to deal with situations of abuse internally. So often abuse is covered up with platitudes about the “grace of God,” which apparently can’t still be exercised while in a jail cell. Reformers Unanimous’ own free resources page features resources with titles such as “How to Be a Psalm One Overcomer,” “What Does the Bible Say About Addiction?” and “God’s Simple Plan of Salvation.” I even clicked on the dropdown titled “7 Daily Task (sic) For Recovery,” hopeful that this would be a helpful resource. Instead, I was met with the following “tasks”:

1. Search the Scriptures (Acts 17:11)

2. Pray (Psalm 86:3)

3. Praise God (Psalm 119:164)

4. Exhort (Hebrews 3:13)

5. Take Up Your Cross (Luke 9:23)

6. Die to Yourself (I Corinthians 15:31)

7. Perform Your Vows (Psalm 61:8)

I grew up heavily immersed in Christian culture, and I barely know what half of those 7 “tasks” want me to do. Not to mention that it looks like all of RU’s resources are created internally, and I can find absolutely no evidence of any of it being influenced or endorsed by actual addiction specialists — the closest mention to any sort of medical expert I could find on their website references having a “Doctor of Internal Medicine of Millennium Physician Group” as a member of RU’s Board of Directors.

Look, I’m all for faith-based and spirituality-based approaches to addiction recovery. Many addiction treatment centers are heavily spiritual in nature. There’s a lot to be said for having something to anchor yourself to that’s outside of yourself — for some people that’s God, or Jesus, or the Universe, or any other external greater power that inspires one to overcome. 

But there’s an argument to be made that addiction treatment centers that are too religious in nature can actually perpetuate the abuse cycle. Combine teachings of unconditional grace and forgiveness with the overwhelming patriarchy present in too many religious conservative cultures, and you can end up with a toxic cocktail that emphasizes grace and minimizes accountability, essentially conditioning men to believe (consciously or subconsciously) that they can get away with abuse without suffering any here-and-now consequences. And I haven’t even mentioned the toxic teachings on sex, “purity culture,” and gender roles present in many conservative Christian traditions that teach men and women that sexual “sin” on the part of men is the woman’s fault. 

Josh Duggar has been sexually abusing for almost twenty years (that we know of), and Thursday was the first time any actual accountability entered the picture. The unconditional grace and love of God does not negate (Scriptural!!) calls for justice and accountability. I have been told countless personal accounts of women who have suffered sexual abuse within their religious communities, even from their pastors or religious leaders — men who have yet to face any real consequences. These men (abusers) have the grace of God bestowed upon them by their churches — meanwhile, offenders re-offend, and victims are re-victimized.