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In just one week, Josh Duggar will go to court for his trial. A few days later, the jury will issue a verdict.
Most families of such a disgraced and disgusting person would defend him, condemn him, or just keep quiet.
But for Michelle Duggar, even a scandal isn’t a good enough reason to not fire another shot in the “culture war.”
She’s raising hell about an “assault on Christianity.” Where was that energy when her actual human daughters were assaulted?
Josh Duggar is not going to trial for the sexual abuse of young girls that he committed as a teenager.
Jim Bob and Michelle actively covered up those crimes, keeping them hidden for years until the world learned about it in 2015.
Instead, Josh is facing potential decades behind bars on charges of downloading photos and video of the sexual abuse of extremely young girls.
But it is impossible to discuss one without the other.
After all, following the revelations about Josh in 2015, two of his victims — now adults — were marched in front of cameras to defend him.
Still firmly under the thumb of their parents, church, and cult, they claimed that the allegations against Josh were overblown, that he was not a “pedophile.”
Experts on child sexual abuse knew better. Anyone in the world with common sense knew better.
But the Duggars and their cult conspired to help Josh lead a normal life without getting any real counseling.
Josh’s arrest earlier this year over that heartbreaking material of little girls’ lives being ruined was not inevitable.
It is not just how Jim Bob and Michelle protected Josh after his crimes as a teen, but about who they didn’t protect.
Four of his victims were their own daughters, two of whom came forward and identified themselves in the wake of the 2015 scandal.
What did Jim Bob and Michelle do for their daughters after they were sexually assaulted? Did they even care?
What Michelle does care about, clearly, is signaling her fundamentalist values.
In this case, “values” mean things like Christian Dominionism and a hefty persecution complex.
This week, Michelle promoted a book claiming that American culture is assaulting Christianity at every turn.
“I just finished listening to this audiobook!” Michelle wrote on Facebook.
“This powerful book by Dr. Erwin Lutzer has been extremely helpful and thought-provoking,” she claimed.
She signed the message: “I highly recommended it for every Christian in America! — Michelle.”
The book is titled We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture’s Assault on Christianity.
That’s a bit of a mouthful, but at least the title tells you what it’s all about.
In case you were morbidly curious about what it’s all about, however, there’s a full blurb on Amazon.
“Each day, you watch America turn further from Christian values and the core principles of liberty,” the blurb claims without explanation.
“It’s frustrating to feel you can’t assert biblical truth without facing condemnation,” the Amazon post continues.
“And,” it claims, “fearful to witness outrage and victimhood replace respect and reason.”
“Amidst this dissent, how can you not only stay rooted in your own faith, but continue publicly testifying for Jesus?” the blurb asks.
“In We Will Not Be Silenced, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer prepares you to live out your convictions against a growing tide of hostility,” it alleges.
The blurb encourages people to “Gain a better understanding of nonbelievers’ legitimate hurts and concerns regarding issues like racism, sexism, and poverty.”
“And,” the blurb continues, “identify the toxic responses secular culture disguises as solutions.”
The blurb promises that “In the process, you’ll see how you can show compassion and gentleness to those outside of the faith.”
All of this is to then be done “without affirming their beliefs.”
You are so welcome for messing up what Amazon’s algorithm thinks that I like just to tell you what the book’s about.
As you can see, there are aspects there about addressing real problems like racism, sexism, and economic injustice.
But the book’s blurb has a very “love the sinner, hate the sin” vibe to it, and sounds more about making yourself sound nice than actually being nice.
The core of the book, judging by the title and blurb, is less about feigning compassion and more about a persecution complex.
In real life, a whopping two thirds of all Americans are Christians of some form or another. That includes all Presidents.
Christian symbols and phrases and words and values and references are enshrined in government documents, on the walls of courthouses, and on our money.
The book refers to nonbelievers (in this case, both the non-religious and people who are of religions other than Christianity).
To be honest, they wouldn’t know how to begin oppressing or marginalizing Christians even if they wanted to.
How do you oppress or “silence” two-thirds of the country, a group entrenched in the nation’s culture, and one that wields vast financial influence?
You don’t. In fact, it usually works the other way around.
We could spend all day doing a deep dive into how the Duggars and other bad faith demogogues pretend to be the underdog for financial gain.
But the absurdity of the claims is not actually what has people up in arms at Michelle, specifically.
People on social media were quick to call out Michelle for her tone deaf and poorly timed post.
“If Michelle Duggar has anything, she has the AUDACITY to be promoting this book while her eldest is facing child porn charges,” commented one redditor.
“This is so disgusting that she is obviously trying to set herself up as a victim,” expressed another.
“I hope the Duggar name is dragged through utterly vile dirt during this trial,” another Reddit user aspired.
“If they’re going for the ‘poor Josh is being persecuted because he’s a Christian’ defense,” a different commenter began.
That commenter continued: “I hope he/they get eviscerated in court.”
It is possible that Michelle was hoping that followers would connect the dots to latch onto Anna’s belief that Josh is being persecuted.
But it seems more likely that the timing of all of this was for her to post this endorsement before Josh’s trial begins.
More is bound to come out during the trial, and none of it good. No matter the verdict, things could get worse for the Duggar brand very soon.
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