--Christopher Hitchens, god is Not Great
At
times the phrase "methinks thou dost protest too much" doesn't even
scratch the surface of a person's hypocrisy. At times one's hypocrisy is so
massive and throbbing that it drips into the realm of comedic irony: it would
be funny if it wasn't so sad. This seems to especially be the case for
religious idealists who seek to shove their subjective faith-based morals down
the throats of other people, while simultaneously breaking the very moral code
to which they wish to force others to ascribe. This is most distressing when
shoved down the throats of children.
I
have written about evangelical pastor Ted Haggard a few times. For years the
Colorado Springs mega-church pastor railed against the "gay agenda"
in very public ways, while flaunting the moral superiority of his particular
sect of Christianity. His career as a preacher abruptly stopped when it was
discovered that he had been regularly meeting with a gay prostitute to engage
in gay sex and get high on meth (it was the gay prostitute who exposed Mr.
Haggard in order to stop Teddy from further hurting the gay community).
Don't
feel too bad for Pastor Ted, however. He went to a Christian counseling
facility and through a few weeks of prayer has cured himself of his sinful
gayness (surprise!). His wife even wrote a book about how she has forgiven him
and their new ministry is stronger than ever (despite being significantly
smaller). It seems that god truly does help those who receive direct financial
contributions from gulli-believers.
Well,
such painful and public irony has reared its ugly head among god's favorite
sexually-repressed sect yet again. A few months ago it came to light that Josh
Duggar, an "ex-reality TV star" known for TLC's "19 Kids and
Counting" and a leading member of the Family Research Council (an
anti-gay lobbying group with significant clout among credulous anti-science
sheeple), had sexually abused several of his younger female siblings and at
least one female friend when he was a teenager. The wake of the scandal nearly
caused the network to cancel the show.
His
parents, also victims of self-perpetuating sexual-repression, waited over a
year to intervene. Their rationale was that they thought it was a phase and
that he would stop as he matured. Fine. Honestly, I can't say that I would
immediately jump to criminal charges against my own child either. However, the
thing which really boils my noodle is that when Josh's parents did decide to
intervene they did not go to a licensed therapist or to an accredited treatment
facility run by doctors, but to a Christian prayer-based rehabilitation program
run by preachers.
As
an aside, the director of this program also fits the category of
"sanctimonious hypocrite" since his conviction for child pornography
and pedophilia.
Josh
has been set up to fail from the start. His parents are part of the
"quiver full" movement, which approaches childbearing like an
all-you-can-eat buffet. Their take on sex education is that abstinence is not
merely the best option, but the only option. Education about reproductive
health, contraception, and family planning are all schemes from the devil to
thwart god's plan (as if any thwarting of a plan devised by an omnipotent and
omniscient being is even possible...). Any mention of STD's should be made only
as a scare tactic to encourage abstinence.
Furthermore,
one should not engage in any sexual activity until marriage--an ideal most
assured through ignorance--and once in a life-bound commitment with someone
equally ignorant, one should not use any contraception at all to ensure the
most babies possible being born into this lifestyle of perpetuated ignorance.
With
all of these cards so neatly stacked against Josh, is it any wonder that, in
his ignorance about sex, he acted out sexually?
I
heard a podcast a while back where it was mentioned by a social worker or
therapist of some kind that in their professional experience there are two
types of people who grow up to be sexual aggressors and abusers. The first is
victims of abuse. This is fairly self-explanatory. Victims perpetuate a cycle
of abuse because this is what they were taught.
The
second type of abuser is one which has been sexually repressed and their only
reference for sex is the bible. Think about this. Think about the implications
of only learning about sex from the bible. King Solomon's sonnets about tower shaped boobs are only the tip of a rather perky biblical ice berg.
Remember
the story of Lot? Remember when he threw his virgin daughters to a mob of horny
men so they wouldn't rape his angelic guests? Remember when his daughters got
him drunk so he would get them pregnant? All of the concubines, the sex slaves,
the incest, the virgin girls given to warriors as a prize for conquest, the
mosaic laws favoring the rights of rapists over the rights of women--all of it
paints a picture of that women are less than men, and that sex is a form of control
and a symbol of power.
If
this is the only place a young Christian boy learns of sex, his sexual acting
out, although reprehensible and scary, becomes understandable. Young boys (and
girls, for that matter) who are born in to this unrealistic and repressive
lifestyle do not really stand a chance at becoming healthy functioning adults.
They are victims.
This
is why it is a bittersweet experience for me to learn that Josh Duggar--a
leading member of a political organization which seeks to legislate their own
warped view of morality on to our children--has been found to have multiple
accounts on the Ashley Madison website (a website which allows paying customers
to seek out extramarital affairs). On the one hand, I revel in the irony.
People like the Duggars have more political power than they deserve and do more
harm than good with their anti-science idealism. Their hypocrisy deserves to be
exposed, if for no other reason than to sap them of their influence.
On
the other hand, Josh is a victim of circumstance. He had no choice but become a
pretentious hypocritical sexually confused bigot. He was given no proper
education about his sexuality and had no sexual outlets. When his hormones
began to rage and he had no healthy way to process or contextualize his budding
libido--not to mention the changes happening to his sisters and female
friends--he lashed out in his confusion. I honestly think that he had no idea
what he was doing.
But
he is an adult now. He should know better. He should have been educated and
sent to a therapeutic facility to learn how to manage his sexual urges
appropriately, but his parents failed him. He is now lobbying against the
rights of others because he was mistakenly taught by his ultra-conservative
politician father that this is behavior becoming of a decent person.
And
to think that Josh's parents are now in the process of pitching a new cash-cow TV show to "The Learning Channel" in which they, the creators of the
monstrous hypocritical mess of a man that is Josh Duggar, will advise others on
matters of sex and relationships. I have no punch line. These people terrify me.
My only solace is that TLC has not accepted their offer.
FSM help us.
BONUS MATERIAL:
Roy Zimmerman singing about Ted Haggard:
No comments:
Post a Comment