{"id":182053,"date":"2016-01-07T19:47:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T00:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2016\/01\/07\/the-elmer-gantry-of-home-schooling\/"},"modified":"2016-01-07T19:47:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T00:47:00","slug":"the-elmer-gantry-of-home-schooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2016\/01\/07\/the-elmer-gantry-of-home-schooling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elmer Gantry of Home Schooling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christofascist and home schooling leader Bill Gothard has been accused of rape and covering up rape by his staff<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Ten women on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Bill Gothard, who for decades was a major force in the conservative Christian homeschooling movement, charging him and leaders in his ministry with sexual abuse, harassment and cover-up.<\/span>

<\/span>Gothard, who urged Christians to shun things like short skirts and rock music, is accused of raping a woman. The same woman says she was raped by one of the ministry\u2019s \u201cbiblical counselors.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>The lawsuit is part of a battle between dozens of women and the Institute in Basic Life Principles, which was until recently an influential homeschooling ministry, and its charismatic leader Gothard, who urged Christians to focus on their \u201cbiblical character\u201d and have large families. Gothard has never been married.<\/span>

<\/span>Gothard, 81, resigned from the ministry in 2014 after more than 30 women had alleged that he had molested and sexually harassed women he worked with, including some who were minors.<\/span>

<\/span>Reached by phone on Wednesday, Gothard said he has not seen the lawsuit and denied allegations that he had raped one woman. \u201cOh no. Never never. Oh! That\u2019s horrible,\u201d he said. \u201cNever in my life have I touched a girl sexually. I\u2019m shocked to even hear that.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>Gothard denied sexually harassing women. \u201cThat really is not true,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d rather hold off to comment until I see what\u2019s in the lawsuit.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Gothard\u2019s ministry was once a popular gathering spot for thousands of conservative Christian families, including the Duggar family from TLC\u2019s \u201c19 Kids and Counting.\u201d Gothard\u2019s Advanced Training Institute conferences, where families would learn from Gothard\u2019s teaching, were popular among homeschooling families. He has also rubbed shoulders with Republican luminaries like former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.<\/span>

<\/span>Wednesday\u2019s lawsuit includes an undated letter in which Gothard allegedly wrote to the women who were accusing him. \u201cI was very wrong in holding hands, giving hugs, and touching their hair and feet. I was also wrong in making statements that caused emotional turmoil and confusion,\u201d the letter reads, describing what he did as \u201csin.\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>In Wednesday\u2019s interview, Gothard declined to confirm or deny whether he had written the letter. \u201cI need to get more facts here, okay?\u201d<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Although Gothard resigned, his affidavit makes clear he intends to return to the ministry he started in 1961.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The specifics are pretty horrific:<\/p>\n

The lawsuit in DuPage County Circuit Court in Illinois, where IBLP\u2019s headquarters is located, charges that IBLP, its employees and board members received reports of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and \u201cinappropriate\/unauthorized touching\u201d from women and girls. But, the women allege, the defendants never reported the \u201cpotentially criminal allegations\u201d to law enforcement authorities or the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services as required by state law.<\/span>

<\/span>One of the Jane Doe plaintiffs in the lawsuit alleges that she was raped by her father and other relatives and says she was sold by her father through human trafficking when she was a minor. She said she reported the abuse and trafficking to IBLP staff, which failed to report to authorities.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When people believe that God is on their side, as opposed to worrying if they are on God’s side, corruption is the most common result.<\/p>\n

Still, this is kind of shocking.<\/p>\n

It makes the Borgia Pope<\/a> look like an amateur,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christofascist and home schooling leader Bill Gothard has been accused of rape and covering up rape by his staff: Ten women on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Bill Gothard, who for decades was a major force in the conservative Christian homeschooling movement, charging him and leaders in his ministry with sexual abuse, harassment and cover-up.Gothard, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1052,969,1051,972,1075],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crimes","category-evil","category-hypocrisy","category-justice","category-sex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}