Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is making a controversial statement about a Christian family the media is crucifying. Huckabee is affirming his support for the Duggar family.
Josh Duggar on Thursday addressed allegations that he molested children 12 years ago. Subsequent revelations indicated four of the victims were his sisters. Duggar has apologized and resigned his position at the Family Research Council, but the backlash continues growing.
Nevertheless, Huckabee and his wife, Janet, are affirming support for the family, whose claim to fame is the 19 Kids and Counting reality TV show. TLC has officially cancelled the program, even as the Duggars are trying for their 20th child.
“Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, ‘inexcusable,’ but that doesn’t mean ‘unforgivable.’ He and his family dealt with it and were honest and open about it with the victims and the authorities,” Huckabee says.
As he sees it, no purpose whatsoever is served by people who are working to trying discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story. Good people make mistakes, he says, and do regrettable and even disgusting things.
“The reason that the law protects disclosure of many actions on the part of a minor is that the society has traditionally understood something that today’s blood-thirsty media does not understand—that being a minor means that one’s judgment is not mature,” Huckabee says. “No one needs to defend Josh’s actions as a teenager, but the fact that he confessed his sins to those he harmed, sought help, and has gone forward to live a responsible and circumspect life as an adult is testament to his family’s authenticity and humility.”
Huckabee made a bold statement: Those who have enjoyed revealing these long ago sins in order to discredit the Duggar family have actually revealed their own insensitive blood thirst. There was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past, he says, and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed—not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims.
“Janet and I love Jim Bob and Michelle and their entire family. They are no more perfect a family than any family, but their Christian witness is not marred in our eyes because following Christ is not a declaration of our perfection, but of His perfection,” Huckabee says.
“It is precisely because we are all sinners that we need His grace and His forgiveness. We have been blessed to receive God’s love and we would do no less than to extend our love and support for our friends. In fact, it is such times as this, when real friends show up and stand up. Today, Janet and I want to show up and stand up for our friends. Let others run from them. We will run to them with our support.”
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