A Response to “Shiny Happy People”

 By Davis Carman - Posted at Apologia:

Published July 17, 2023

Amazon Prime Video is now streaming “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets,” an exclusive four-part documentary that purports to expose the truth lurking beneath the wholesome Americana surface of reality TV’s favorite mega-family, the Duggars. The producers turn a spotlight on the Duggar family’s views and practices regarding modesty, music, dating and courtship, having children, home education and politics, with a particular emphasis on the family’s connection to the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and its founder, Bill Gothard.

The Duggars are presented in the series as the “shiny, happy” face of IBLP, and several clips are shown of parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar speaking to large gatherings of moms and dads at IBLP events. Meanwhile, the show explores the darker side of the fundamentalist organization and its longtime leader. A significant portion of the series is devoted to on-camera interviews with young adults who were raised in homeschooling families that adhered to the controversial teachings of IBLP and its Advanced Training Institute (ATI) curriculum.

In addition to recounting the sexual harassment accusations that forced Gothard to resign from IBLP in 2014, the show also revisits past allegations of sexual abuse committed by the eldest of the Duggar children, Josh. The sexual misconduct described in the documentary is horrific.

However, in reviewing these events and the controversies surrounding the Duggar family and IBLP, the producers of this show paint with a very broad brush, taking unwarranted swipes at the wholesome ideals of faith, family, Godly values, parental rights, conservativism and homeschooling. I believe a response is in order.

Continue here.