If you have come anywhere near social media in the last few days, I’m sure you’ve seen the latest scandals surrounding reality star Joshua Duggar. The 27-year-old married father of four has been outed for possessing not just one, but two accounts on Ashley Madison, (a site dedicated to hooking up married people for affairs.) Thousands of account names were recently pulled by hackers, but Josh’s name is the only one I’ve seen garner such immediate and violent attention. And rightly so. In his own words, he’s been “such a big hypocrite.” This is not the first scandal of a sexual nature to come forth about Josh this year. A few months ago, it was brought to light that he had molested five minors  (including his own sisters  when he was between the ages of 14 and 15). For a guy who made a huge deal over being a virgin upon marriage and saving his first kiss for his wedding day (in order to promote purity and happiness in his marriage), this revelation calls into question everything about his worldview. 

I consider myself a casual follower of the Duggars. I’ve loosely kept track of them over the years. I’ve watched the occasional episode of their TV show “19 Kids and Counting.” As a former homeschooler from a semi-large family, I could relate to a few aspects of their life. However, I could never bring myself to fully embrace the show due to an eerie feeling the “perfection” they put forward was not quite true. 

Josh formerly worked for the Family Research Council, an organization whose stated mission is to “advance faith, family and freedom in public policy and the culture from a Christian worldview.”  In addition to this, the entire Duggar family has famously sought to promote conservative Christian values. By secretly following down this blatantly opposite path, Josh has done more harm than good for the name of Christianity and for conservatism. One  glance at Twitter will let one know anything Josh has said is being mocked and destroyed. Many people already hate Josh for his strong stance on LGBTQ issues (among other things), and this situation creates the perfect opportunity to discredit his every word.

There are significant dangers to putting people on pedestals. It creates unrealistic expectations and puts said people in the dangerous position of  believing  they are above the rules. This reality is all too clear in the case of Josh Duggar. The moment you lift up one human as higher than another, you’re destined to be disappointed. 

However, we must be careful in slamming an entire movement over the actions of one or even a few people. Many of those working to promote conservative Christian values (myself included) really do desire to walk with integrity and in truth. I personally know several people who work closely with the conservative movement and I often hear them discuss, with grace, the messy parts of life, and hear them speak with the strongest and most caring of love about those who disagree with their values. I would never discredit a movement I personally don’t subscribe to merely due to the actions of one of its members and therefore logically, we cannot do the same with Josh Duggar, as tempting as it may be in this situation.