Jinger Duggar Praises Documentary for Exposing Bill Gothard

In a recent video, Jinger Duggar explained why she didn’t expose her family in the same way that Jill did.

For many, Shiny Happy People was an eye-opening documentary into the insidious cult that warped the Duggars.

Jinger didn’t choose to participate. But that doesn’t mean that she disagrees with every topic that the doc covered.

In fact, there’s one major point that Jill and Amazon covered that Jinger would like to back up: the condemnation of Bill Gothard.

Taking to their YouTube channel on Monday, December 11, Jinger Duggar and husband Jeremy Vuolo delved into this year’s Duggar documentary.

Shiny Happy People aired on Amazon Prime, and informed many viewers about the sinister world of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP).

Jinger did not participate — but, this week, she confirmed that “everything in that documentary” was “truthful.”

Additionally, Jinger acknowledged that the “teachings of Bill Gothard were awful.”

Gothard founded IBLP. About a decade ago, he lost his leadership position in disgrace after a number of women came forward to expose his sexual misconduct.

Jinger emphasized that Gothard’s twisted teachings “were so deceptive because they were mixed in” with more innocuous ideology.

“There would be elements of truth from scripture,” Jinger characterized.

“And it would just take a twist,” she described, “where it was very damaging.”

This is how most cults and predatory ideologies function. Whether someone wants you to join a pyramid scheme, worship someone as a prophet, join a creepy man’s rural harem, or take part in a sinister political movement — they’ll use as much truth, or at least palatable ideology, as they can.

“There are so many teachers that claim to speak for God but don’t,” Jinger then lamented.

Her husband, Jeremy, chimed in to praise that “one of the things the docuseries did really well” was that it worked to “expose Gothard.” True!

It didn’t solely focus upon Gothard, The docuseries, Jeremy added, exposed “the program and the cult and the way he operated.” This went beyond just one evil man.

“There was so much isolation within IBLP that a lot of other bad things would trickle down from that,” Jinger then shared.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar raised their children within this twisted fundamentalist ideology.

Among so many other things, Gothard’s principles and IBLP teachings fostered the perfect hunting ground for predators. Bill Gothard and Josh Duggar are merely infamous; they are not the only evil men from this community.

As we previously reported, Jinger noted that she abstained from the documentary, in part, due to her past experiences appearing on camera.

She noted that she would have “little to no editing power” when it comes to her portrayal.

And Jinger also worried that it wouldn’t be a “Christian documentary.” And … it wasn’t. Many of the participants and viewers were themselves Christians, but part of existing in a society means that most things that you do will involve people from many walks of life.

Ultimately, Jinger said, the docuseries did many things right. But she found it “lacking” because she felt that it discouraged people with regard to Christianity.

A documentary designed to convert someone to a particular religion would be … a very different project.

But from the start, Jinger has given the impression that her biggest issue with a lot of evil men is that they give Christianity a bad name. She has every right to feel that way. But many other people have different priorities.