In recent months, Josh Duggar’s arrest on child pornography charges has been dominating the tabloid headlines — and with good reason.
The Duggars have been embroiled in one scandal after another for the past six years, and now, it looks as though Jim Bob’s house of cards might finally come tumbling down.
But just because one nauseating spectacle has been attracting most of the attention, that doesn’t mean it’s the only Duggar scandal currently unfolding.
No, there’s another revolting situation developing, and this one has to do with the family’s depraved belief system.
You may know Paul Caldwell as the father of Joseph Duggar’s wife, Kendra.
Paul is also the pastor of the church attended by Jim Bob and most of the other Duggars, which means he occupies a very lofty place in their world.
Jim Bob and Paul are so close that fans believe they arranged Joseph and Kendra’s marriage.
Those same fans believe that Jim Bob and Paul are now at it again, trying to marry off Kendra’s sister, Lauren Caldwell, to James Duggar.
So Pastor Paul is about as close as any outsider has ever been to being fully embraced as an honorary Duggar.
And while it’s disappointing to find out that the man who presides over the spiritual beliefs of this deeply religious clan is a proponent of some hateful and dangerous ideas, sadly, it’s not surprising.
Vlogger Katie Joy has obtained what she says is a pamphlet that Pastor Paul passed out to his young parishioners who might have questions about their sexuality.
To the shock and chagrin of many, Paul argues that "there are no such things as homosexuals" and says those who are attracted to the same sex are merely misguided.
After asking himself the question "Does God love homosexuals?" Caldwell offers up a truly revolting answer:
"This is a flawed question, there are no such things as homosexuals," he writes.
"God created male and female. There are males and females that engage in ‘unseemly’ acts of immorality (Rom 1:27) men with men and women with women."
From there, Paul attempts to explain that he’s actually offering good news:
"The real question is does God love ‘unseemly’ men and women? The answer is an overwhelming YES!!!!" Caldwell writes.
"He loves all sinners. In fact, Jesus died for the sins of mankind."
Asked why some people might experience attraction to the same sex, Paul offers up some rambling nonsense about eunuchs in the Bible.
Not surprisingly, Caldwell’s comments were not particularly well-received.
"How can you claim to love someone and say that they do not exist in the same sentence? Never mind, nothing about these people is logical," one commenter wrote.
"When you take believing your trash opinion is fact too far you get this family," a second added.
"Whew I can’t believe people actually think this way. They’re warped," a third chimed in.
"Warped" is putting it mildly.
Caldwell has not offered a response to the publication of his pamphlet, but there’s no reason to doubt the legitimacy of the document.
We guess "evidence of blatant homophobia" is just one more scandal that the Duggars’ most diehard fans will just ignore or attempt to rationalize.