Duggar Son-In-Law, Ben Seewald, Shows His Liberal Streak (Again)


The Duggar family is openly conservative. Duggar conservative isn’t like no-bikini, pray-before-eating conservative. Duggar conservative is the kind of conservative where birth control is off-limits, collarbone and shoulders are covered (if you’re female), there’s a secret code word to yell so males don’t accidentally see an immodestly dressed woman, and homeschool curriculum includes an explanation of why girls are at fault if they are the victim of molestation or rape. But then, if you’re familiar with the Duggar family, you probably already know that.

You may also know of Michelle Duggar’s campaign against transgender rights, and the time Jessa Duggar basically blamed the Holocaust on science education — specifically, evolution. (More here on the Duggar family’s beliefs and how they’ve gotten the family into some major scandals.)

Well, Jessa Duggar is actually the relevant Duggar at the moment — or rather, her husband is. For almost two years, Jim Bob Duggar’s third daughter has been Jessa Seewald. Her husband Ben has, of late, been showing off a little liberal streak that has to be worrying Mr. Duggar’s patriarchal heart.

[Image by Duggar Family Official/Facebook]

In their book, Growing Up Duggar, the four eldest Duggar daughters — Jana Duggar; Jill, who is now Jill Dillard; Jessa, mentioned previously; and Jinger Duggar — explained that they aren’t allowed to listen to Christian rock music.

“…rock-and-roll and its variations such as hard rock and heavy metal We avoid these types of music altogether.”

The Duggar ladies’ book continues:

Our family does not support the idea of Christians adopting this type of music or putting Christian words to it, and bringing it into the church, because the underlying message of the music is still the same.

Thus, Jim Bob Duggar couldn’t have been too happy when his son-in-law befriended a Christian rapper, and TLC brought him on the show.

That’s only the beginning, though.

As we’ve recently discussed, Jim Bob Duggar’s other son-in-law, Derick Dillard, has been supporting his own mom in the idea of a boycott of the NFL, since some players have mounted a protest over the death of unarmed black men at the hands of police.

[Image by Derick Dillard/Twitter]

Ben, of course, responded by doing interviews in which he acknowledged the problem and asked black men (including the aforementioned rapper, Flame) for their views.

It’s not the only brush between the Duggar family and the Black Lives Matter movement. Anna Duggar was criticized last year when she retweeted a post hijacking the movement to promote anti-abortion beliefs.

[Image by Anna Duggar/Twitter]

Now, Ben Seewald has taken a position on the protests again, and while Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar haven’t openly addressed them, Seewald’s position is definitely outside the mainstream conservative view.

Speaking in support of Colin Kaepernick, who started the protests, Seewald tweeted a link to this Desiring God article, which calls for readers to empathize with the history of racial injustice in America.

Can this fit with the Duggar family philosophy? Again, it’s not in direct contrast to anything Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have espoused, but it definitely runs counter to the typical conservative line. An example can be seen in a favorite conservative politician often supported by the Duggar family, Governor Mike Huckabee, who has said such things as, according to Politico, that the Black Lives Matter movement would appall Martin Luther King, Jr and that racism shows “a sin problem, not a skin problem.”

So, is it causing tension between Duggar and Seewald? Well, Ben is still quite conservative on most issues — he promotes anti-abortion views, as in his post below; named his son after a conservative evangelist; and seems content with the lifestyle prescribed by Jim Bob Duggar.

Maybe Duggar-in-law Ben Seewald’s liberal streak is a narrow one, but on this issue, at least, he’s showing it regularly.

[Featured Image by TLC/YouTube]

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