I will reiterate my purpose for venturing into the sensitive topic. The number of people who are leaving the church completely is accelerating. But the data from surveys (measured primarily on church attendance) only captures the tip of the iceberg. Among those who are staying, many are leaving the historical foundations of Christianity. As I’ve said many times, Christianity is simple. Jesus says if you are unselfish (deny yourself), willing to face hardships for your willingness to follow him (take up your cross), and follow him, that’s it. No further requirements. He further defines elsewhere that to follow him is to love others as yourself, especially the least in our society. Full stop.

On the conservative side of Christianity, among those who are counted as staying, there is a mass exodus from historical Christianity into politics, mainly, Trumpism and Christian Nationalism, which have teachings that are the antithesis of those of the historical Jesus. In the progressive church, among those who are staying, there is a mass exodus away from the simple essence of historical Christianity, as I have stated, into a nebulous spirituality without foundations. I have spoken to individuals, even within my own church — good people — who told me that whether Jesus existed is extraneous; however, having a spiritual experience of some kind, any kind, is paramount. So, not speaking in a tone of judgment, this is not about who is good or bad, or who is going to “burn in hell,” but as a sociologist or a philosopher, how do you define who is a Christian?

Traditionally, when hypocrisy is addressed within the church—as I can still remember country preachers screaming about it—it is to condemn the people committing the acts of “hypocrisy.” Especialy a hypocrisy that the preacher is not guilty of himself. That is not at all what I am trying to do here. I want to examine the philosophical and cultural climate of the Christian subculture that makes such hypocrisy so contiguous. There is something unhealthy, systemically, about this Christian world that I have lived in. I want to identify it and explain how we correct for it.

The Cover Up

The first thing I want to look at is the cover-up of Christian mischief. I suspect that there are those of you reading this who are already mad at me for bringing up this dark side or secret lives of Christians. Whenever the underbelly of the church is revealed, the anti-gossip campaign begins to try to stifle the truth via guilt manipulation. And the abuse continues.

In my opinion, this mischief falls into three interrelated categories: sex, power, and money, in that order. The story I’m about to tell is a typical sex abuse case. When I was part of a much larger–post Christian–group, I was surprised by how many men and women have been sexually abused inside the walls or jurisdiction of a church.

We all know the stories of sexual abuse, over a hundred thousand children worldwide (possibly in the millions when you include those who suffered in silence), in the Catholic church, and the intense efforts of cover-up that included some of the highest echelons of power within the church. But cover-ups are not unique to the Catholics. I think the conservative protestants, where I grew up, it is worse. More insidious. The cover-up? Lighter.

I’ve already shared about the pedophilia and adultery that not only took place in my boyhood church, but also how it was intentionally buried. But in Appalachia—the infamous Bible Belt—such mischief is buried in shallow graves.

We did have one pastor, Rev. Long, who tried to deal with the pedophilia going on in our church, but the perpetrator’s parents ran him out of town on a rail by that night. I have also encouraged you, if you don’t believe me, to do your own searches online for how many pastors and pro-family politicians have been caught in sting operations, soliciting sex from children, or visiting prostitutes where prostitution is illegal. Of course, the pastors and politicians are not uniquely guilty, but there is no way to search for the parameter “Christian person.”

Shiny Happy People

I wrote about this documentary series, titled Shiny Happy People, on Amazon before. The Duggar family, with 19 children, became TV stars and icons in the evangelical world as the perfect Christian family. This series dives into the secrets of the family, including sexual abuse, and about one son, Josh, who has served time in prison for the possession and distribution of child pornography. But those are not the main points I want to make here. I must restate that my writing is not about the perpetrators but the general climate within Christianity that creates the environment for such mischief. While making the series, the producers came across a side story, the family’s involvement with the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP). This is where my life intersects with the Duggar family.

During my college years, as members of an intense discipleship group, we were devoted to this IBLP organization. I attended two of the week-long seminars, held in major metropolitan areas, with almost 20,000 in attendance. The founder and president, who spoke at these conferences, was Bill Gothard. While he never had children of his own or even married, he was held up as the absolute expert on godly family living. We each had our big, three-ring red binders from his conference in our bookcases, like trophies of our own godliness.

However, as the Amazon series investigates, there were rumors that Bill Gothard had questionable relationships with young girls (many teenagers or college-aged), and the IBLP board covered this up. Thirty-four girls filed lawsuits for sexual harassment, and one for rape. Finally, under legal pressure, the organization conducted its own investigation into the matter. In their conclusion, they found that Bill Gothard had behaved inappropriately, but not illegally, and he was removed from the board.

Emily Anderson, one of his victims, shared how Bill started to groom her at age 13. But the main takeaway for my purpose in this writing is how he got away with it for so long, with so much cover-up. I have embedded an hour-and-a-half interview with Emily below. While I find her story compelling, some may not recognize the abuse, the grooming that took place. “After all, he didn’t rape her,” as I heard one man say.

Some people reading this may be mad at me for bringing up such “dirt.” The Christian culture, like all subcultures, does not like exposure of its dark side. But this smoke-screening and the pretentiousness that we are so godly, in my opinion, is the reason there is so much hypocrisy. To criticize the Christian culture is considered the greatest of sins. Self-preservation.

I know this video is long, but it is informative. If you do watch it, pay close attention to two things: how righteous the perpetrator portrayed himself (and saw himself) and his followers, how cleaver his grooming was, and how hard he worked to suppress the truth.

Respectfully, Mike