Hey, now, calm down. Don't lump me in with whatever stereotypes you have, that's condescending and insulting to me. I think the Duggars are weird and crazy, too, so at least we agree on that much!
I can guarantee you that if I had kids I wouldn't sit by and react the way Josh's parents did. Most of us wouldn't make our daughters think it was their fault, or given our sons a slap on the wrist with a gentle cop if they did this.
It's kind of awkward to say, but yes, child molestors and sexual predators are human beings, too. Behind their despicable acts is some sort of twisted, warped motive that clouds their judgment.
God calls on us to deliver justice and speak up for those who are opressed. Granted, that tends to be executed in a bit of a cumbersome manner by a lot of Christians, but opressed people would include the victims. I don't think there's anything wrong with seeing that this guy gets prosecuted or something, or that these girls are given some autonomy and protection from their Gotherdite parents. Maybe child protective services could take all the kids after an investigation.
But at the same time, this was not recent, like a lot of scandals like this. It was ten years ago. While the victims probably still have the mental scars, isn't there a chance that Josh was able to reform himself? If he had gone on to molest his own children or his wife, do you think the show would have been able to hide it? Probably not, they would have cancelled the show much more quickly if that had happened, or perhaps never started it at all if they had just a bit of suspicion. My point is he probably isn't as depraved as he used to be.
And one major aspect of Christian ideology is the idea that people came forgiven and reform themselves, no matter how messed up. And yet secular society seems to have this other motto: "everything is fine and forgivable to some degree unless it's terrorism or child molestation, in which case you're going to rot in proverbial Hell without any forgiveness."
It's like there's this hierarchy of sins in our modern world. But to God there is no hierarchy, whatsoever. I'm not saying that crimes should all get the same sentences, or that we should treat everyone with the same amount of contempt regardless of whatever bad things they do, but I think that as Christians we can't treat a person as if they have done this one terrible, unforgivable thing, since God looks at all of,our sins the same way we see Josh's-- as sick, depraved acts that destroy their victims, although in some cases the perpetrator and the victim are one and the same (not here, of course). so I think there's hypocrisy on both sides here--it's wrong for Josh to be worried about gay people molesting kids when that's what he did, but it's also hypocritical for people to look upon child molestation as the worst type of crime possible, when in God's eyes there is no worst crime--it's all worthy of death and in need of redemption and grace. And it seems to me that as misguided as he is, Josh eventually got God's grace, although if I'm wrong and his faith is just a ruse for political influence, which might be possible, then I'd acknowledge that.
I say he's gotten unfair treatment because this happened years ago and yet people are talking about it like it happened yesterday, and because some people genuinely enjoy seeing Christians behave hypocritically because it gives the impression that the entire Christian faith is undermined by the acts of one person. Most of it is pretty deserved, though. He resigned, the show is gone, etc. eventually the victims will be freed from their parents and it will be decided what happens. If he goes to trial, then even though he'd probably get convicted, this would stay in the media longer, which I don't think anyone would want.
And remember Michael Jackson? It was assumed he molested kids, but he was acquitted. His reputation didn't get tarnished as much as you'd think.
What would you prefer his sentence be, if tried and convicted? And do you believe there is any possibility of him getting some kind of effective counseling/reform for his issues, if they still linger?
I think I was trying to say is that the victims should be able to press charges on their own, either now or in a few years when they're adults, but I'm not entirely sure.