Though it was the size of their seemingly ever-expanding brood that first landed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar in the national spotlight, it’s the couples ultra-conservative religious and political views that have made them enduring subjects of both derision and fascination.
That fascination has come at a significant price, as the family has been beset by a string scandals ever since it was revealed in May of 2015 that eldest son Josh Duggar molested four of his sisters when they were young girls.
So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the Duggars recently found themselves at the center of an uproar involving both their controversial religious beliefs and one of the more widely criticized policies of the Trump administration.
On Sunday, protestors gathered at the Cross Church in Springdale, Arkansas to protest Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement – a global initiative designed to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions.
The reason for the location may not have had anything to do with the Duggars, but rather with the church’s founder, Ronnie Floyd, who was reportedly a valued “spiritual advisor” to Trump during his campaign.
The peaceful assembly was covered by a local reporter named Katie Davidson:
“Protestors have assembled in front of Cross Church in Rogers to ask Ronnie Floyd, who was a member of a spiritual advisory panel for President Trump during the campaign, to help the poor and the climate,” Davidson wrote on Facebook yesterday.
It is not known if the fact that the Duggars attend the church was a factor in the protestors’ choice of location, though some have speculated that they might have been motivated by the additional media attention they would receive at the Springdale Cross Church, as opposed to one of the other places of worship presided over by Floyd.
Like Bill Gothard, founder of the “Quiverfull movement” that forms the basis for many of the Duggars beliefs, Floyd has been wrapped in numerous scandals over the years.
Most recently, Floyd has come under fire the excessive “tithing” demands he makes of his parishioners, as well as for homopohobic views expressed in his book The Gay Agenda: It’s Dividing the Family, the Church, and a Nation.
While the Duggars political beliefs have long been a source of controversy, TLC has consistently attempted to separate the family from the ideology, so as not to alienate viewers or advertisers.
It’s a task that’s become increasingly difficult over the years and may soon prove impossible.
Watch Counting On online to try and pick out all the scenes that have been carefully edited so as not to reveal the Duggars’ most far-right wing beliefs.
