{"id":253930,"date":"2021-05-20T00:12:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/duggar-cult-enabled-sexual-abuse-former-members-say\/"},"modified":"2021-05-20T00:12:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:12:31","slug":"duggar-cult-enabled-sexual-abuse-former-members-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/duggar-cult-enabled-sexual-abuse-former-members-say\/","title":{"rendered":"#Duggar ‘cult’ enabled sexual abuse, former members say"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Duggar ‘cult’ enabled sexual abuse, former members say<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Last month, former \u201c19 Kids and Counting\u201d star Josh Duggar was arrested<\/a> for allegedly possessing a trove of child pornography.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the latest sickening episode <\/a>for the ex-TLC reality show personality. The son of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar has also been accused of molesting four of his sisters as well as another girl when he was a teenager, cheating on his wife and having a porn addiction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These allegations are shocking, especially in light of the Duggar\u2019s ultrareligious upbringing. But people familiar with the family\u2019s particular sect of fundamentalist Christianity, the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), claim it has played a role in enabling abuse by Duggar and others. <\/p>\n

The conservative family is linked to IBLP, an organization that produces religious seminars. Michelle and Jim Bob were expected to speak<\/a> at an IBLP conference before their son\u2019s arrest. The many Duggar children were home-schooled using a faith-based program called Advanced Training Institute (ATI), created by IBLP founder Bill Gothard. Gothard even ran the facility<\/a> that counseled a teenage Josh when he admitted to abusing his sisters. Although Gothard stepped down from IBLP in 2014 after being accused of sexual harassment himself, he continued to work with families, including the Duggars. Gothard has denied the sexual harassment claims against him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Josh
Josh Duggar, his wife Anna and their six children. Anna announced she was pregnant with baby number seven just before Josh\u2019s latest arrest.<\/figcaption>
Instagram\/@annaduggar<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA lot of abuse occurred,\u201d because of the group\u2019s teachings, Lara Smith, a former ATI member, told The Post. \u201cWith [abusers like] Josh, the whole environment set him up for success in his disgustingness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up outside of Houston, Smith\u2019s Southern Baptist parents started using ATI and attending IBLP seminars when she was 12. Soon, she was travel<\/a>ing to \u201cserve\u201d at training centers in Oklahoma, Indianapolis and Michigan. Later, when she was 17, she claims she was sexually assaulted by a staffer at one of the centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IBLP and ATI did not respond to requests for comment. <\/p>\n

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\"Joshua
Joshua Duggar, after his arrest for alleged
possession of child pornography in April.<\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

After his April arrest, Duggar pleaded not guilty to both charges. \u201cIn this country, no one can stop prosecutors from charging a crime. But when you\u2019re accused, you can fight back in the courtroom \u2014 and that is exactly what Josh intends to do,\u201d his lawyers, who did not respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment, said in a statement<\/a> at the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were taught our bodies don\u2019t belong to us. They belong to God. And so in that realm, anything that happ<\/a>ens, God wants it to happen,\u201d Smith, 35, said, of the lessons she learned through ATI and IBLP. <\/p>\n

While Heather Heath wasn\u2019t abused, she heard from fellow members who had been. As a teen, she traveled from Connecticut to Oklahoma after her parents started utilizing ATI when she was 9, although she had always been home-schooled. <\/p>\n

Both Heath and Smith consider ATI and IBLP to be a cult. ATI blends traditional school subjects like math and science<\/a> with Christianity, and indoctrinates students with the fundamentals of IBLP.<\/p>\n

At the training centers, according to both Smith and Heath, the girls would attend \u201cwisdom searches,\u201d a form of Bible study. In addition to discussing verses and insights they had from God, they would also reveal their sins, including sexual assault. \u201cIf we had been assaulted, we had to confess what we did that brought the assault on us,\u201d Heath said.<\/p>\n

She remembered when a fellow teen confessed during one of these sessions that her older brother had abused her. It was such a common experience, that Heath, now a medic, said she was told she \u201cwouldn\u2019t understand,\u201d because she didn\u2019t have an older brother that she could \u201ctempt.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"Heather
Heather Heath when she was an ATI student. <\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Heather Heath<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cShe was like, \u2018No good Christian man will marry me because I\u2019m not a virgin,\u2019 \u201d Heath, now 33, recalled the girl saying. \u201cI was like, \u2018No, it is not not your fault if someone else hurt you.\u2019 And then I got locked in my room to pray about that, because I was wrong.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of IBLP\u2019s teachings may discourage victims from reporting their abuse outside their family due to the group\u2019s ideological hierarchy known as the \u201cUmbrella of Protection.\u201d God is above all else, then pastors, then fathers, then mothers, then children. \u201cAs long as you\u2019re under [your] umbrella, the rain\u201d \u2014 sin and temptation from the devil \u2014 \u201ccan\u2019t touch you,\u201d said Heath. <\/p>\n

The philosophy has far-reaching consequences: Disobeying your parents or husband or pastor can harm you for life.\u00a0\u201cEvery decision we encounter in life was basically a heaven-or-hell decision,\u201d said Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the organization did have a protocol for counseling sexual abuse: a chart published in 2013 by Recovering Grace<\/a>, a resource for ex-followers of IBLP and ATI, that the site claims was distributed at ATI counseling seminars for more than a decade. <\/p>\n

It explains how group leaders should help those who have experienced sexual assault: The onus for the attack is put on the victim for \u201cdefrauding\u201d the abuser. \u201cImmodest dress, indecent exposure, being out from protection of our parents,\u201d are all reasons that God \u201clet it happen,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

One marriage guide for women even includes a portion on what to do if your husband \u201cever sexually handles your children,\u201d author Debi Pearl, a minister whose books were sold by IBLP, wrote in \u201cCreated To Be His Help Meet.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although wives should testify and pray their husbands \u201cget 20 years in prison,\u201d they should also \u201cvisit him there, be an encouragement to him\u2026 let him see the children three to four times a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Lara
Lara Smith at an IBLP training center, around the age 17 or 18. <\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Lara Smith<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In girls\u2019 Bible study, Smith said she was told, \u201cYou need to be very careful what you do, what you say, what you wear, how you act, because at any moment, you could trigger a boy, basically.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no personal responsibility for the boys,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because of these teachings that Smith didn\u2019t speak out when a staff member at an IBLP training center sexually assaulted her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was around 17 at the time, and a 21-year-old maintenance staffer climbed into her bed in the middle of the night. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was asleep, and suddenly he\u2019s in my bed making out with me,\u201d she recalled. It became a pattern: The man would come into her room every night, since he had a master key for his maintenance job. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have sex, but we did everything else,\u201d said Smith. \u201cI didn\u2019t have the capacity to say, \u2018Hey, I don\u2019t like it.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When she returned home from the center, she and her father surprisingly received a call from Gothard, who\u2019s \u201cbasically God,\u201d said Smith. She assumes her friend had told one of the leaders about the incidents. <\/p>\n

Although she was expecting to be reprimanded, instead, \u201c[Gothard] wanted the dirty details. He started asking the creepiest questions, he was like, \u2018What time did he kiss you?\u2019 and \u2018What time did he put his hands here?\u2019 and \u2018Did he do this to you?,\u2019 \u201d Smith remembered, calling it \u201cgross.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gothard, now 86, did not respond to The Post\u2019s requests for comment. <\/p>\n

She and her parents never spoke about the assault again, and her assailant never received any form of punishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both Smith and Heath left IBLP in early adulthood. Smith\u2019s parents have also left, as has Heath\u2019s mother, although her father still follows the teachings. But while they\u2019re no longer with the group, they still feel its effects on their adult lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI dated a guy for four years because I didn\u2019t think I was allowed to say, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want to go out with you,\u2019 \u201d said Heath. Now a mom of 5-year-old twins, she plans to release a book this summer about her experience with ATI called \u201cLovingly Abused,\u201d and is looking for a publisher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sense of bodily autonomy is still really messed up,\u201d said Smith. Both she and Heath have amassed strong followings on TikTok and Instagram, where they use their platform to connect with other IBLP survivors, and tell their stories about the organization. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day, there\u2019s people like me who aren\u2019t totally convinced we were abused. But we were.\u201d\n <\/p><\/div>\n