On June 2, 2023, Amazon released a four-part documentary on the Duggar family, Bill Gothard, Insitute in Basic Life Principles located on the former Ambassador College Campus in Big Sandy, Texas. It is a fascinating expose of how religious fundamentalism rips apart people's lives who are involved in it.
On several Facebook pages dealing with Armstrongism and its damaging effects on the lives of former members, many are discussing how this show eerily parallels many of the things we were taught in Armstrongism, particularly when it comes to obedience, patriarchy, and power structure in the church.
If you ever watched the Duggars show or even just saw a few clips you quickly saw how subservient the mother was to her husband, how she spoke in a soft voice, and how she dressed in prairie style colting with Puritan collars. The children were always happy with smiling faces and obedient to their parents.
Michelle Duggar dressed like many women in the Worldwide Church of God did, and how some still do in the extreme legalistic groups of Armstrongism today. I remember one Pasadena deacon's wife who always walked behind her husband when they entered the church and stood one step behind him whenever they stood together. She was never exactly beside him or in front of him. Make-up-free and no hair coloring all because of Herbert at one point in the 1980s's forbade makeup for the third or fourth time just to spite his wife he was divorcing. Her dress was always long dresses like what Michelle Dugger wears. This deacon's wife was not the only one like that in the church, there were many others and still are today in the church.
The Gothard empire had several campuses around the country that trained young people and adults in its far-right, fundamentalist, reconstructionist teachings. Many of its extreme teachings centered around sex and the proper place of a woman in the hierarchy. Victims of rape and abuse in this empire were accused of causing the problem because women tend to be harlots that lead men astray. It is always the woman's fault, much like how Armstrongism treated its women at times. Whenever problems of child abuse, rape, and sexual assault came up in Armstrongimsm it was always quickly hushed and the church never talked about it. Most of the time the woman was made out to be the problem for causing it.
A lot of the focus on the show is the arrest and imprisonment of one of the Duggar boys for child pornography and how the Duggar family covered up his abuse. Like the Gothard empire, Armstrongism had a huge problem with sexual predators in the church, from the abuse of children to sexual assaults, stalkings, rapes, and other things the women had to deal with, many times from ordained ministry! All of these things were swept under the rug and hidden from members. Incidentally, that deacon who lorded over his wife was also found out to be sexually abusing Imperial High School boys on trips to Camp River Glenn where he was to be a chaperone. This is the same guy who went on to help start the Global Church of God and Living Church of God where the leadership was all aware of his proclivities.
The Duggars, like all followers of Gothard, homeschool their children with lessons that are so far out there that it borders on absurdity. Sadly, I remember several Pasadena families that used those same lessons to homeschool their kids because Pasadena's schools were too worldly and god forbid, they taught evolution!
Gothard was sued by several women for sexual abuse and they tell of their ordeal in the show. It is also interesting to watch as they kick him out of the Big Sandy Hall of Ad building soon after all of these allegations emerged. The Big Sandy buildings are pictured frequently when it discusses the IBLP and Alert Academy - it's a pseudo-militaristic training ground for teenagers and men in the church with the goal of making them leaders in the world to change society.
It is also interesting to watch the video of the conventions this group had and still does. It looked like a Feast of Tabernacles gathering of Armstrongism with the same slick-talking preachers hoodwinking members with heretical teachings.
Like with Armstrongism, there are thousands who have left the church and they too are not afraid to tell their stories. The daughter of the Duggars and her husband, relatives, and former members tell chilling and shocking stories about what they believed and how it was to be a member of this fundamentalist cult.
The parallels at times with Armstrongism are eerie. You will not be disappointed in viewing this program.
22 comments:
Are the Duggars any kin to the Duggar of Duggar and Dodd?
Guys, whatever you do, NEVER get married if you are in some church. You will be powerless--castrated--and your brainwashed wife will do whatever the ministers say. And she will have the police and divorce courts on her side. She and the ministers can make false accusations against you with impunity and you will be destroyed financially and in every other way.
These attempts to impose a self-reinforcing bubble around children and adults is ALWAYS harmful and rarely successful in accomplishing the intended isolation from the outside world. After all, the human mind was designed to be curious and explore. Indeed, experience has demonstrated that such efforts often backfire - serving to ensure that the targets of protection are even more determined to explore what they have been protected from! Better to understand alternative views and see the world as it is than to present an ideal which is totally divorced from reality and unprepared to face it!
Miller Jones
Exactly. Christ prayed in John 17:16 "My pray is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one." How is the bride of Christ supposed to help people in the millennium if they lived in some artificial bubble?
Again it's bully morality that prevails in Herb splinter groups and similar with their cultish milieu (environment) control.
This is an excellent series demonstrating what rigid fundamentalism can do to people. We see this being demonstrated in the COG today in the likes of RCG and PCG. It is sad to watch peoples lives be destroyed in these groups just because of a charismatic leader.
Bring back the patriarchy! People were happier then. Surveys show that women were happier in the 50s, before feminism, than they are now. On the other hand, men have fewer responsibilites, and feel liberated, spending more time on computer games and less time fending for their wives and kids. Yeah, men get treated like crap today, but they can always play their computer games and watch NASCAR.
... just because of a charismatic leader.
Who thinks any of these leaders are charismatic?
That's what happens when they don't read the Bible consistently by themselves. The Holy Spirit is replaced with the cult leaders voice turning them into slaves. It is impossible to set other people free when they walk into a prison cell themselves.
They create a bubble of secrecy for predators to hide their abuse.
Sad, all of this. I still like the Duggars. Michelle's attire is so refreshing when compared to the styles out there today. It's sad, but sometimes families have prodigals in the family. The Duggar parents are looked up to by most of their children. I saw one program where the Duggar couple was in the midst of others in society. When I looked at Michelle, who was by another woman, I was shocked at the appearance of that other woman. That woman was so made up that she almost looked like a drag queen from a drag queen story hour. While they (the Duggars) may have been taught error they had many good points, too. Leadership in these groups are usually the downfall. Truly sad. BTW, the Duggars' banana bread recipe is quite good. Another positive for them
NOTE: These Duggars are not in any way connected to the DUGGERS of the Cog 7th Day history.
It is self evident that the Holy Spirit, does not lead thru an organized and centralized human hierarchy thru power, control and accountability to other humans.
Well, before the current crop of "back when the styles were still good" resistors, we always had the Amish who didn't even believe in those new-fangled buttons. They used hooks on their shirts and blouses, and found "looking plain" to be the most desirable standard.
There are a lot of attitudes that go along with clothes. Books could be written about them. The bottom line seems to be that clothes are given their allure by the charisma of the person wearing them. Most people don't "get" that. Many evaluate them based on conformity, or the merits of the current style. One of the best examples of charisma and style were the Pointer Sisters, who, at least in their early career, were totally retro, obtaining their clothes from thrift shops in the various towns in which they performed. People who never would have shopped in thrift shops would be on their way to Goodwill right after a Pointer Sisters concert!
What kills the joy you can experience through your clothing is some arbitrary authority figure mandating or forcing you to wear clothing that you dislike, look poorly in, or which does not fit your personality. That's why God gave us our middle fingers. People in the ACOGs are unfortunately not allowed to address the problems caused by their ministers using it, so it atrophies!
@8:41, my, someone’s not too bitter, eh? Sounds like a smart woman IMHO. And @ 3:56, patriarchy? Laughable.
It's old men that control these churches so surprise, surprise, they define modesty as the cloths wearn by their generation. The result is that the righteous look is wearing "old people's cloths."
I've read complaints on other denominational dissident sites about having to wear "1950s cloths."
Miller,
It is our duty to protect the minds of our children. Children do not need to see the ugly and more contentious side of life, and yes, of course they will see some, but even then helping frame it is generally beneficial to their development.
This is nothing new; the Lord in many verses teaches protection of children and that they are not to be treated as adults. Even Plato taught that children should be protected and not exposed to some things…plato even pointed out that curiosity was not necessarily a good particularly if just to titillate.
Children should be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Not exposed to things until they are ready to handle them…until that time the parent should carry those heavy things as illustrated by Corrie Ten Boom’s interaction with her father when she asked her wise father about something she was not yet prepared to know.
Miller/Lonnie,
I agree largely with your comment in regard to adults, but children thrive in stable environments which requires not just physical but emotional and mental protection from inappropriate influences till a later time. This doesn’t mean unchallenged.
Well, hey! At least things have progressed by about ten years. Back in the day, the standard was 1940s attire. The thing is that now in the 2020s just about everything has been tried in the fashion world. Stuff that was once shocking is commonplace and just gets rotated in and out of fashion. Armstrongites have always had difficulty dealing with change, because it seems that they have been conditioned to believe that there should be one inflexible set of standards that never changes, regardless of what ever else is going on in the outside world. There is a hyperdependency upon constants. I would imagine that church members were some of the last to go with cellphones, big screen TV sets, and computer technology in general. And yet, here we are, living in times when mainstream career women die their hair pink, blue, purple. Housewives have their bodies littered with tats, and it is not uncommon to see men with African earlobe stretching jewelry.
Personally, I like contrast. It is great to have a car with all the computerized amenities and safety features for the work week, but to have an old car with no power steering or power brakes, no AC, a two speed automatic transmission, and roll up windows for the weekends. I recently looked at some new motorcycles, and was blown away by such features as keyfob ignition, ABS brakes, computerized fuel injection, cruise control. full on stereo systems with automatic volume control which self adjusts for varying conditions, and a windshield which can be raised, lowered, or changed in angle at the flip of a switch. The Sons of Anarchy and Mayans didn't even have such features! I ride a 41 year old beast which was still somewhat contemporary when I rebuilt it in the early '90s, but is a total dinosaur today.
I guess it's a common human thread to long for simpler times while living in an ever-changing world. But, it's annoying to have the old ways and trends enforced upon one as a gold standard. Your church should not arbitrarily impose unnecessary things upon you which make you a pariah. A big band nostalgia dance for which you dress up in 1940s attire may be fun. But enforcing it on members as a permanent lifestyle marginalizes them unnecessarily. Still, I have to remember that some actually thrive on the sheer bizarreness of being part of a cult.
Earl,
I, of course, agree with your assertion that God expects us (parents/adults) to protect and nurture our children and raise them to know about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. God expects us to prepare our children to face life on their own - without the benefit of our assistance and guidance (because they WILL have to do without us someday). As a teacher, I believe that the very best way to do that is to expose them to the world as it is, to paint as vivid a picture as possible of what the world should look like, and to teach them how to think for themselves. This is modeled on Paul's assertion about putting on the armor of God - When we are truly prepared, we are able to face whatever Satan and this world has to throw at us (even up to the loss of this physical life).
Where was my protection from all of the abuse my parents learned from the child beating booklet, and the ways in which the ministers amplified it in sermons? The natural feelings and emotions that were killed during that process are gone forever and do not come back. In the early part of my career, I was an insurance agent in an African American community. I met some nice families who were involved in foster care. I thought to myself, "Crap! I wish I had known that there were people and programs like this when I was a kid! I would love to have been raised by a loving family like this one!"
Thankyou, I say read your own Bible for yourselves.The true GOD will himself write his word in your mind and heart, just as he has promised.
Anonymous Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 1:39:00 PM PDT,
I am so sorry that you did not receive the protection that you deserved as a child. Using God and the Bible as an excuse to abuse children (especially your own) is reprehensible! I pray that you will be able to heal and regain some of what you lost during that dreadful period in your life. I hope that you currently have lots of love around you!
Their followers think they are charismatic, they are too lazy to read scripture for themselves. So they are misled by the very ones this site exposes and the Bible warns about.
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