19 Kids and Counting star Jessa Duggar recently incurred the Internet's wrath for comparing the Holocaust to abortion during a trip to Washington, D.C.
But is it really as simple as that? A closer reading of her thoughts suggests not.
The controversy arose after Jessa visited the Holocaust Museum and wrote on her Instagram about the unspeakable genocide that occurred during World War II.
In the young Duggar's mind, and everyone else's, this atrocity took place because people abused power, victimizing those whose lives they viewed as lesser.
She wasn't making a political statement in her mind, but a moral one.
Jessa, who is engaged to Ben Seewald, went on to express heartache the for innocents who lost their lives because others deemed them unworthy of it.
Yes, she went on to mention abortion as part of her post, and her apparent belief in creationism is another story, but read the full context of it below:
"I walked through the Holocaust Museum again today ... very sobering. Millions of innocents denied the most basic and fundamental of all rights - their right to life."
"One human destroying the life of another deemed less than human."
"Racism, stemming from the evolutionary idea that man came from something less than human; that some people groups are 'more evolved and others 'less evolved.'"
"A denying that our Creator -- GOD -- made us human from the beginning, all of ONE BLOOD and ONE RACE, descendants of Adam."
"The belief that some human beings are 'not fit to live.' So they're murdered. Slaughtered. Kids with Down syndrome or other disabilities. The sickly. The elderly."
Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald are now engaged to be married after an 11-month courtship. Here's a gallery of photos of their love!
"The sanctity of human life varies not in sickness or health, poverty or wealth, elderly or pre-born, little or lots of melanin [making you darker or lighter skinned], or any other factor."
"If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain."
"If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not He know it? and shall not He render to every man according to his works?" (Proverbs 24:10-12)"
"May we never sit idly by and allow such an atrocity to happen again. Not this generation. We must be a voice for those who cannot speak up for themselves. Because EVERY LIFE IS PRECIOUS. #ProLife"
Jessa's personal view that every human being is deserving of life from the moment of conception is not in dispute, and is by all accounts controversial.
She is strongly pro-life, and proudly so. You might disagree and have every right to, but from someone who believes as she does, is this really that ridiculous?
Nowhere did she "compare" the Holocaust to abortion in the sense of one being equal to the other, but in her view, both are tragic losses of life.
Note that she also decries racism or discrimination in her lengthy missive.
In a heartfelt way, she described how the Holocaust reminded her of other situations in which she feels innocents' lives are taken and should not be.
Again, it's not a point that's above debating. Or criticizing, intelligently.
But it's nothing you haven't seen before if you watch 19 Kids and Counting online or know anything at all about her family and their strong beliefs.
The Duggar parents often accompany their children on dates in order to maintain their "accountability" and "keep things from going in the wrong direction," per Jim Bob. The girls are fine with this, as being alone with men puts them in grave "moral danger." When the parents aren't available, their older siblings will often tag along, making every date a group date and a family affair.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
