"Shiny Happy People": Come for the Duggars, Stay for the Fundie Christian takedown

The Prime Video series shows viewers why a patriarchal religion, propped up by the Duggars, isn't disappearing anytime soon

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On Friday, Prime Video premiered the long-awaited docuseries Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets. It was a close look at the rise of the quiverfull Duggar family, stars of the hit TLC show 19 Kids and Counting; the fall precipitated by the criminal conviction of their predatory eldest son Joshua; and the aftermath with two of their daughters, Jill and Jinger, who are now speaking out publicly about what they went through.

Most importantly, though, viewers got a much needed introduction to the Institute for Basic Life Principles (IBLP), the harmful Christian movement boosted by the Duggars and whose beliefs are still promoted by a new generation of fundamentalists.

While Amazon may have attracted viewers by highlighting the Duggars, the bulk of the four-episode series actually shows how dangerous IBLP is.

IBLP was founded by the (unfortunately named) Bill Gothard, who, in 2014, was placed on leave after 34 women claimed he had sexually harassed them. He was also accused of molesting kids and failing to report child abuse. While an internal investigation found no evidence of any crime (shocking!), it nevertheless said Gothard acted inappropriately. He subsequently resigned. (Gothard, incidentally, never married or had children despite all his public proclamations touting both.)

What the series revealed was that Gothard’s bad behavior was not isolated. Neither was Josh Duggar’s. Both subscribed to a patriarchal vision of Christianity where physical abuse was condoned, if not encouraged, and women didn’t have much (if any) agency.

What does that look like in practice? Jill (Duggar) Dillard says her father made her sign a contract she hadn’t read, on the day before her wedding, committing herself to another five years of being filmed for television.

“I felt like, if I said ‘no,’ and I’m not obeying my parents, then bad things are going to happen to me,” Jill says. “IBLP and the teachings draw in people like my dad who want this control. It can foster this cult-like environment. I absolutely think people would be drawn to that.”

Jill and her husband never saw the money from that contract, which led to the show Counting On. The cash went directly to her father. If she or her siblings wanted to receive any of it, Jim Bob Duggar demanded that they sign a lifetime production contract with his own company, which Jill refused. That’s the level of control men have in these families.

My favorite clip from the show features Eve Ettinger, who was raised in the IBLP movement, reacting to the awful concept of “training up” children with the blunt line, “Michael and Debi Pearl are some motherfuckers.”

Eve has a point. The show specifically highlights “blanket training” as one example of Pearl-promoted discipline used by the Duggars.

Training, as described in the documentary, started at an early age with “blanket training,” where an infant child would be put on a blanket with an object placed nearby but off the blanket. If the child left the blanket or reached for the object, they would be hit.

The goal was “breaking the rebellious spirit they’re born with,” says Eve Ettinger, an ex-IBLP member featured in the documentary.

When TLC elevated the Duggars by giving them a national spotlight, they inadvertently gave free PR to that version of Christianity without ever mentioning IBLP by name. Just like Tom Cruise became a popularizing vessel for Scientology, says pastor Josh Pease in the series, the Duggars were the vehicle to legitimize IBLP. It’s only in recent years that more IBLP victims are speaking out—and being heard.

For their part, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have responded to the series by calling it “sad,” “derogatory,” and “sensationalized.” But there’s no polite way to describe the Duggars’ beliefs. Accuracy will always make them look bad because the version of Christianity they subscribe to is cruel and controlling. No amount of Jesus can whitewash their delusions.

Their statement also says any conflicts between the family members should be kept out of the spotlight: “We have always believed that the best chance to repair damaged relationships, or to reconcile differences, is through love in a private setting.”

If there’s one thing we can learn from the Duggars, though, it’s that privacy, at least when it comes to discussing their conservative Christian beliefs, is the enemy. When they attempted to keep Josh’s actions under wraps—the fact that he molested five underage girls, including his own sisters—nothing got fixed. The more people who know about their faith-based batshittery, the better.

The last episode of the series gets to the heart of that by showcasing how IBLP principles are not going away anytime soon. Even if the Duggars are no longer on television, there are younger Christians espousing the same principles on YouTube and other forms of social media.

For example, the wannabe Christian influencers Paul and Morgan Olliges say in the series—which they voluntarily appeared in because they crave any and all attention—that they want to be a “light” for Christianity in the world. That’s shortly after they discuss how wives should “submit” to their husbands and shortly before they’re seen parroting anti-trans talking points. (Kudos to the show’s editing team for that.)

After bragging for weeks about how they were going to appear in the series, the Olliges have spent the past few days furious over being quoted accurately:

The meme from r/FundieSnarkUncensored is accurate.

For the life of me, I have no idea what they thought would happen. Did they seriously think they could make fundamentalist Christianity look cool or hip? One reason they’re constantly mocked online is because they have no self-awareness and don’t realize that their religious beliefs are neither new nor appreciated. Shitty ideas coming out of the mouths of telegenic younger Christians who brag about meeting on Tinder are still shitty ideas. People who perpetuate fundamentalist Christianity are not good people.

In a video they put out yesterday, Paul and Morgan offered lip service to the IBLP victims but spent most of the time acting like they were the biggest victims in the whole series. They seriously thought they were going to be portrayed as cool Christians, not modern-day extensions of fundamentalist Christianity. They condemn IBLP while defending pretty much everything IBLP teaches.

The equally patriarchal and transphobic Girl Defined sisters are also shown in the series, via clips, parroting the same awful talking points.

Meanwhile, Lori Alexander, the fundie “Transformed Wife,” has spent days trashing the show. She said the Duggar children “should have worked it out privately” (horrible idea) and that Jill and Jinger are “simply harming the name of Christ.” (That’s her job, dammit!) She also says she didn’t finish the series, which is telling, yet insists it’s “all lies.”

Lori Alexander also defends “blanket training” by saying it teaches babies “self-control from a young age.” Good parents, however, will tell you that you don’t need to physically abuse your kids to teach them self control… or anything else, for that matter.

The IBLP is now attempting to downplay everything the series says about it, in part by distancing itself from Bill Gothard:

The most recent “documentary” about IBLP is a reflection of today’s culture. Its misleading and untruthful commentary mocks that which is good and moral in the most sensationalized way possible, both for shock value and for profit. Media story makers are anything but fair and balanced.

…

The founder, Bill Gothard, resigned from IBLP in 2014 and is no longer associated with the IBLP ministry. The focus of this ministry is the Lord Jesus Christ and the practical truths found in Scripture, and not any single person or family. IBLP will always be about helping people find Christ and the timeless values of the Bible that bring hope and stability to each facet of life. Ultimately, every one of us will give an account to God for our lives and choices and those will be evaluated against the perfect standards of His Word. 

There’s no way to mention IBLP without mentioning Gothard, and there’s no way to describe IBLP beliefs without them coming across as insane. Just because there are people who live by those principles without a problem doesn’t negate the harm that many victims now say they experienced. The ministry still refuses to address any of those legitimate problems, choosing instead to say their beliefs are based on the Bible, as if that should make everything better.

The biggest takeaway from the series, really, is that Gothard’s absence is irrelevant because the principles aren’t going away. Jim Bob Duggar effectively took his place at the height of his fame, and the younger wannabe influencers are the next phase of conservative Christian cruelty:

[Jim and Bobye Holt], longtime friends of Jim Bob and Michelle, said they believe the Duggar patriarch is trying to “emulate” Gothard. “From what my understanding is, it’s that Jim Bob and Michelle are now his replacement.”

The best way to combat their ideas is by exposing them. Shiny Happy People is one-sided, sure, but it’s not unfair. The beliefs discussed in the series really are held by IBLP members, as millions of Americans saw for years when the Duggars were on TV. But now, instead of sugar-coating those horrible ideas with the music and faux charm of a “reality” show, the narrators are the people whose lives were ruined by those beliefs. There’s no longer any attempt to prop up a cash cow. The people whose voices were silenced finally have the opportunity to say what their religious communities never wanted to hear. As the Daily Beast’s Nick Schager writes, the Duggars were “not quirky anti-birth control kooks, but insidious radicals with an abhorrent agenda.”

For that reason alone, you should check out the series. If the Duggars and like-minded Christians had their way, you’d never get the opportunity to hear this side of the story.

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