I knew next to nothing about the Duggar family. My family was never interested in reality tv. In fact, I kinda hate it. But I love true crime, which is why I watched Shiny Happy People at all. True crime tends to reveal the worst about humanity, and sometimes it is done with excellence and sometimes it is done poorly. This series falls somewhere in the middle.
Mistake number one as I see it is insinuating that mainstream Christian homeschool families are members of a fundamentalist cult.
Even though some individuals being interviewed are clear that the IBLP is a fundamentalist cult, it is not reiterated enough throughout the series. Some of the interviewees served no purpose other than to provide a religious bias against Christianity. Not against this insane cult, but against mainstream Christianity.
That line cannot be blurred.
Some of these interviewees talk about homeschool Christian families as if all homeschool Christian families looked like the Duggars and other members of the IBLP. I've got news for ya! You're wrong! I'm a Christian homeschool graduate. I never heard of the IBLP until I watched this series. Not once. I learned math, science, history, geography, spelling, literature, and political science. I studied Shakespeare and Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I also learned about medieval history through the most awesome unit study my mother created. It was GENIUS!
Meaning that my parents weren't crazy and I actually had an education. After high school, I attended college. For an English degree. Because I love literature and writing. Yes, we are a Christian family. Yes, we studied with a Biblical focus in mind. But those Wisdom booklets are beyond the pale and my family wouldn't have touched them with a ten foot pole. For which I'm grateful.
Mistake number two is intentionally lumping all Conservatives into the same extremist bucket.
Do not, EVER, imply that every person out there who holds a traditional Christian belief system has been brainwashed by a cult. I believe gender is a fact from birth and I believe that abortion is wrong. How can we place any value on human life if it doesn't start at conception? How can we proclaim a person dead when their heart stops beating when we don't proclaim them alive when their heart starts? These are things I believe in, and am allowed to believe in. I am a Christian and I believe in the Lord's plan for our lives.
I also happen to believe that the very basic of being a Christian is simply "Loving the Lord with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving my neighbor as myself." Sometimes I suck at this, and sometimes I don't. But that statement is the simple truth of how those who follow Christ are supposed to live their lives.
I have never and will never support extremist conservatism. I loathe the ground that Madison Cawthorn rolls over. And if he and other young people like him are a direct result of the impact of the IBLP, then yes, they are absolutely the extremist result of a fundamentalist cult. And that is terrifying.
But do not use crazy extremism as a measuring stick for the rest of Christian conservatives.
And now, my biggest beef is actually with Christian entertainment companies themselves.
GUYS! What are you doing?! Expose evil when it is committed! Don't just sit on it and let it fester and pretend it isn't there until some mega company like Amazon decides to release a series that will only show the extremist crazies on the fringe of Christianity! Stop allowing that to happen! It's time for Christian entertainment companies and Christian writers to start making these types of docuseries themselves!
Because as soon as you ignore the potential of a narrative like Shiny Happy People, you've completely lost control of the narrative at all. And by not acknowledging this type of sin, by not addressing extremism as such, you are allowing the secular entertainment industry to create their own narrative based on their own belief system. Which, last time I checked, is anti-Christ.
Stop just sitting on your butts and doing nothing! If you continue to do that, more series like Shiny Happy People will be created as a not-so-subtle way of maligning mainstream Christianity because they can. To blur the line between actual believers of Christ who exhibit His love and people who are trapped in extremist ideology.
Finally, education is your best means of defense.
Watch Shiny Happy People. You have to know and recognize the threat.
I was raised in a Christian family who encouraged individualism and creative expression. I read all sorts of books as a kid and a teenager. I watched all sorts of tv shows with my family growing up (just not reality tv). For the longest time as a teenager, 24 was my favorite television show! I lived, slept, ate, and breathed The Lord of the Rings trilogy for YEARS as an older teen and young adult. There was no symbolic burning of entertainment that didn't fit a particular narrative in my family.
I was also raised in churches who encouraged you to study the Bible and not just take a pastor's word for something. Pastors are not God! They don't know everything and it is okay if you disagree with an interpretation of a passage being taught!
You know what else? After finishing this crazy series, I called my parents. I thanked them for the way they raised us, for the love and care and education they gave us. We were not a perfect family, and we never pretended to be. We had the freedom to be imperfect, knowing God loves us as we are. I love my parents. I am grateful for my homeschool education and the faith I was raised in. I follow Jesus as an adult because it is my choice. Because by my faith in Christ, I see everything else.
I am so sorry for the young people who are trapped or were trapped in the IBLP. I don't even know what to say other than I am so, so sorry. You have been brutalized by something horrendous. May you be healed of the experience and find true freedom in Jesus Christ.
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