I have two new readers as of a few days ago. Hi, Mom and Dad!

I actually have a great relationship with my parents. If they harbor any disappointment that I’ve turned out not exactly the way they wanted, they don’t really express it. And for that I’m immensely grateful. I don’t have to have kids of my own to realize what awesome parents I have.

But I was going to talk about the Duggars. Because I’m pretty sure that’s what the world needs – one more blog post on the Duggars.

I’m going to be upfront and say I never watched “19 Kids and Counting” – was never interested. I got my information from the latest People magazine, as well as articles on the Internet.

And I have watched the atheist sites jump with glee – glee, I tell you – on the Duggars. And yeah, okay, if they paraded their faith in front of the camera as much as the People article implies, maybe they asked for some of that.

But really, doesn’t anyone have any compassion for this family?

As someone who doesn’t have kids, I can only imagine what they’re going through: finding out that their son molested four of their daughters and another girl. That’s got to be an awful position to be in.

I’m not excusing anyone. The mandatory reporters should have reported. The parents had a duty to their daughters as well as their son. The counselor they sent Josh to was not certified, according to People. There is no mention of what sort of counseling the victims received.

And watching the parents’ reaction, watching the victims’ reaction (those that have come forward), my feeling is – while giving the caveat that I’m not a psychologist – the problem here is what I’m going to call religionitis. This is defined as an unhealthy excess of religion. (And if you’re sitting there thinking there’s no such thing, congratulations, you have religionitis. I used to have this disease, so I can talk.)

Our lives are a mixture of many things; religion is only one facet of our lives, and that’s if you’re a believer. If you’re not a believer, then religion is not even that. We need balance. My guess is the Duggars did not have that balance; hence, you have the parents sending the son to a Christian counselor and the one daughter saying Josh is not a child molester, even though he is. Oh, and turning to God will fix everything.

They sound like the Catholic approach to the child sexual abuse cases. “It’s an internal affair.” Yeah, right, except for the fact that laws were broken.

I’m more than a little disturbed that the statute of limitations on this is only three years. Why isn’t it longer? In fact, why is there even a limit? A victim may not feel free to come forward immediately, or even in three years.

I’m going to end by expressing the hope that the Duggars will get proper counseling for both Josh and the victims, so that perhaps some real healing can take place.

Your comments are always welcome. Please feel free to leave a reply below.