Random Politics & Religion #00

Molesting children is the manifestation of serious psychological problems. You make it sound like he borrowed his dad's car without asking.

Considering in most states sexual assault of a minor carries penalties of 10-25 years MINIMUM, no, I don't think he served an appropriate sentence.

Well yeah, he should have the full force of the law brought upon him for what he did. The article left the actual offense, the age of the children, and his punishment out of it, hence why I thought you guys were overreacting. I haven't found that info yet.

Intouchweekly? Ugh. I really wish there was a better source for any of this.

Intouchweekly? Ugh. I really wish there was a better source for any of this.

Also, I can't shake the opinion that the dad (and church elders) should be in deep ***too for not reporting this.

Well, it's something at least. It clarifies that Josh was actually just barely 14 for the first offense, but continued with the behavior for a number of months. It also seems to suggest that the girls were probably around his age. It's still awful, but it's not like he was an adult molesting young children. I'd say the biggest source of outrage should be more directed at the father and his church for taking so long to inform the police.

Where are you seeing the age of the victim?

So a 15-year-old with psychological problems should serve 10-25+ years in prison after confessing and seeking help? Sounds legit.

I think you'd agree there is a very large difference between community service and a decade in prison. No, I don't think a 15 year old should go to prison for 25 years, but the way it was hidden and the punishment he received were grossly unjust and hiding that illness could have and may have resulted in further victims, including his own kids.

I figured there was something *** with that family though, who in their right minds would want 19 children...I mean, 6 is like fringe for modern families, but if you say you absolutely want more than 6, id have to call you some kind of insane.

Police in Arkansas have destroyed records detailing the investigation into sexual abuse allegations against TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" star Josh Duggar.

“The judge ordered us yesterday to expunge that record,” Springdale Police spokesman Scott Lewis told The Associated Press on Friday. "As far as the Springdale Police Department is concerned this report doesn't exist."

Lewis also told the AP that these types of records are usually kept indefinitely.

A 2006 police report, which was obtained by In Touch before its destruction, indicates that family patriarch Jim Bob Duggar knew as early as 2002 that Josh Duggar -- who was 14 at the time -- was accused of sexually abusing an underage girl. The teen was ultimately accused of inappropriately touching five underage girls, some of whom were his sisters, between 2002 and 2003.

Police did not find out about the allegations until 2006, when they were tipped off to a letter discussing the incidents, the AP reports. A family friend had lent another person a book, and the letter was stuck inside.

The police report obtained by In Touch indicates Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar told police in 2006 that they had disciplined their son themselves.

The couple allegedly said that they sent Josh Duggar to a “Christian program” that “consisted of physical hard work and counseling.” Michelle Duggar later admitted that they actually just sent him to live with a family friend to help with a home remodeling business, according to In Touch.

Both Josh Duggar, now 27, and his parents acknowledged the incidents and publicly apologized in Facebook posts on Thursday.

TLC pulled all airings of “19 Kids and Counting” from its lineup the day after Duggar admitted the allegations were true.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee voiced his support for the judge’s decision to destroy the records in a Facebook post Friday. “There was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed -- not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims,” Huckabee wrote.

The Duggar family has “a long and active history of political advocacy for social conservative causes,” CNN noted. Josh Duggar resigned from his position at the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group and lobbying organization, on Thursday. According to the AP, Duggar was previously “a public face” of the group.

Not to mention the difficulty in actually parenting that many kids. It's bad when you have so many kids you can't even keep them from sexually assaulting each other.

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I figured there was something *** with that family though, who in their right minds would want 19 children....

They aren't in their right minds.

They are quiverfull Christians.

Also: What Is Quiverfull? Here’s a look inside the Duggars’ dangerous Christian cult

TLDR: God will do our family planing.

Also they are raising warriors for Christ.

Also, calling them a cult when they're doing more to actually do what god told them to do than most Christians ("Be fruitful and multiply" is one of the earliest commandments) is kind of amusing. It's always a "cult" when we don't like it.

Cult - a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.

They are a cult, and pretending that living your life by literal interpretation of a 2500 year old defunct book isn't strange?

What if they were a similarly devout small group of literalist Muslims or Buddhists?

I think the Duggars are weird, but us P&R regulars are probably the wrong group of people to be giving them crap for being weird.

I don't give them crap because they're weird, but because they protected a child molester instead of their victims.

Should they have gone to the authorities immediately? Yes. I'd just hope that if you were ever in the same situation you would be ready and willing to march your 14-year-old down to the police station without hesitation.

THAT would be a cult, of course, since they picked the wrong religion.

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Well, yeah. If make Buddhism into a religion you are de facto doing it wrong.

Washington (CNN)Defense Secretary Ash Carter, in his first comments since the key town of Ramadi fell to ISIS, blamed the weak state of Iraq's military as one major reason for the city's fall, in an exclusive interview on CNN's "State of the Union" aired Sunday.

"What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight," Carter told CNN's Barbara Starr. "They were not outnumbered. In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force, and yet they failed to fight, they withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and I think to most of us, that we have an issue with the will of the Iraqis to fight ISIL and defend themselves."
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