Hypocrites come a dime a dozen in the extremist Christian right-wing, but none have been more prominent in the news recently than the Duggar family, the former stars of a reality show called Nineteen and Counting. Members of a bizarre fertility cult called “Quiverfull”, the family is aggressively evangelical and have gone out of their way to harass, demean, and discriminate against gay and trans-Americans, especially their son Josh Duggar, who was a prominent spokesman for the Family Research Council, a Christian extremist group. Which is why social media exploded when the molestation scandal broke- the hypocrisy of daring to call gay Americans “pedophiles” while their own son was molesting his sisters was too much for many to bear. Their show was pulled and they retreated from the spotlight for a while.
But they have apparently decided it’s been long enough, because after the Supreme Court’s historic gay marriage ruling on Friday, the Duggars released a statement on Facebook which read “Praying For Our Nation” and a Bible verse which left no uncertainty as to how they felt about it:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Chronicles 7:14
It’s just astounding the way that they can still pretend to be on their moral high horse, preaching judgement and self-righteous hate while having hid real crimes and real sins from the public and authorities for years, shaming their daughters and shielding their son. They will continue to desperately wage these culture wars in a losing attempt to stay relevant in a world that had moved on far beyond them. Thankfully, the outpouring of happiness, love, and support that the American people have shown the LGBTQ community is an inspiring response, and shows that the bigots and radicals are a rapidly dwindling minority in this country.