Josh Duggar & ’19 Kids’ Homeschool Founder Slammed With Sex Abuse Claims: Duggars’ Lessons Blame Victims [Video]

Josh Duggar and the 19 Kids And Counting Duggar family were known to have followed a fundamentalist home school curriculum founded by Bill Gothard. Now 80, he posted on Facebook for the first time in months. And since that initial resurfacing on social media, Gothard has found himself blasted with allegations of sexual abuse as well as physical and emotional abuse, reported Gawker.

In 2014, Bill left his position as president of the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP). His exit was due to a Web site called Recovering Grace, which shared what some previous members described as sexual abuse from Gothard.

After more than 30 women stepped forward with sexual harrassment allegations, Gothard left his post. But apparently, the man who founded the curriculum used by Josh Duggar, his brothers, and his sisters felt that now was the ideal time to resurface on social media.

However, what Gothard is now doing on Facebook is to delete some comments while keeping ones that share their support. His post focuses only on the positive and his faith.

“I am so thankful for the outpouring of thoughtfulness and support during the last 18 months as I have faced the greatest trials of my life. God has been so faithful and even in discipline has stood with me and encouraged me like never before,” wrote the homeschooling curriculum founder.

In addition, although Gothard in general has remained under the radar since Josh’s scandals, he did discuss the “cleansing” following the molestation revelations that Duggar received at an Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) center, reported Salon.

Josh received what was described as faith counseling designed to cleanse him of sexual actions and thoughts. Gothard also has described what Duggar did to his sisters and a babysitter while declaring it as blown out of proportion.

“Josh acknowledges it, he tells his parents and they tell the sisters and that was the first time they have learned about it. Same thing with the babysitter, she didn’t know about it….It is not like he is a sexual predator…What he did, touching over the clothing, is not nearly what you think it is. It was wrong, but unfortunately there’s a lot of this going on in many families today.”

Moreover, although Gothard did admit that Josh had fondled his sisters, he claimed they had no idea of what Duggar had done.

With that in mind, precisely what does the homeschooling curriculum that the Duggar family used say about sexual abuse? A prior student describes the program as blaming the victim of sexual abuse, reported the Huffington Post.

IBLP is the parent organization of the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), and the documents reportedly published by ATI list possible rationales why the victims of abuse are at fault, including indecent exposure, dressing in an immodest way, and harmful friendships.

John Cornish of Recovering Grace revealed that when he was a teenager, he listened to Gothard review one of those documents about sexual abuse.

“He was basically telling us that sexual abuse wasn’t all that terrible because it only affected one’s body, and not the more important parts of our being: soul and spirit,” said Cornish.

John also noted that the documents fuel the view that the victim is to blame.

[Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images]