Michelle Duggar was surprisingly forgiving of Josh Duggar after finding out that he sexually molested four of her daughters over a decade ago — she and Jim Bob let him get off with little more than a slap on the wrist, and they even helped him avoid any legal repercussions for his terrible crimes.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar tried to put a positive spin on Josh Duggar’s despicable behavior in a joint statement that they shared with People Magazine. According to the 19 Kids and Counting stars, Josh’s actions actually brought their family closer to God, and they’re hoping that their horrible story will help other people.

“Even though we would never choose to go through something so terrible, each one of our family members drew closer to God,” Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar wrote. “We pray that as people watch our lives they see that we are not a perfect family. We have challenges and struggles every day. It is one of the reasons we treasure our faith so much because God’s kindness and goodness and forgiveness are extended to us – even though we are so undeserving. We hope somehow the story of our journey – the good times and the difficult times – cause you to see the kindness of God and learn that He can bring you through anything.”

Judging from Michelle Duggar and Jim Bob Duggar’s words and actions, they believe that Josh should be forgiven and allowed to get on with his life. However, the Duggars don’t think that a certain group of people is deserving of this same kind of compassion. According to Salon, Michelle once fought against a Fayetteville, Arkansas, anti-discrimination ordinance that would have protected LGBT citizens from various forms of discrimination. Michelle honed in on part of the ordinance that required businesses to allow transgender people to use the restroom that matches the sex they identify with.

Michelle Duggar got her way by scaring citizens into thinking that passing the anti-discrimination ordinance would lead to their children being sexually molested in public restrooms, and she informed them of the “dangers” of protecting LGBT citizens by recording an offensive robocall in which she equated trans women with child predators.

“Males with past child predator convictions [could] claim they are female to have a legal right to enter private areas that are reserved for women and girls. I doubt that Fayetteville parents would stand for a law that would endanger their daughters or allow them to be traumatized by a man joining them in their private space,” Michelle said.

It’s astounding that Michelle and Jim Bob let Josh get away with what he did, but they fought so hard to prevent a hypothetical situation from happening with that horribly flawed argument against passing the ordinance. Michelle Duggar also believes that gay people should be punished for being born the way they are by having their marriages forbidden by law (Josh feels the same way, of course). However, Michelle obviously doesn’t think that the law should be used against her son in any way.

Luckily for Michelle Duggar, her son doesn’t have any “past child predator convictions” even though he sexually molested four of his sisters and one other girl starting in 2002. According to In Touch Weekly, a police report shows that Jim Bob and Michelle tried to protect Josh from serious legal trouble by coming up with their own way to deal with his actions — they talked to church elders, sent their son away to help a family friend with his remodeling business, and asked a family friend, Arkansas State Trooper Jim Hutchens, to give Josh a stern talking to. Hutchens took no official action, and he was later sent to prison for being in possession of child pornography.

Through an unusual chain of events involving Oprah and a family friend finding a letter in a loaned book, Josh Duggar’s actions were finally brought to the attention of the authorities in 2006. Jim Bob refused to produce his son for an interview with the police, and charges were never pursued because the statute of limitations ran out.

The Duggars have been hiding this dark secret for over a decade, and four of the victims, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggars’ unnamed daughters, have been forced to spend time around their abuser ever since he molested them. However, the Duggars had little to say about the victims when they were finally forced to own up to their dirty little cover-up — instead they rambled on about their faith.

There might be a reason Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar never did much to help their daughters after Josh scarred them for life — perhaps they partially blame the girls for Josh’s actions. A few of Michelle’s comments from the recent 19 Kids and Counting tell-all special hint that she might be a bit of a victim-blamer.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, Michelle talked about how women are “responsible” for stirring up desires in men “that cannot be righteously fulfilled.” Michelle delved a little deeper into the subject in a TLC blog post.

“As we studied as a family, we found we could come up with our idea of what we thought modesty was, but we really wanted to see what the scriptures said about it,” Michelle wrote. “Our interpretation was that from the neck down to the knee should be covered. By keeping those private areas covered, there’s not any ‘defrauding’ going on. My kids are taught the definition of defrauding as stirring up desires that cannot be righteously fulfilled. We don’t believe in defrauding others by the way we dress. And different people may be defrauded by different things. We can’t control their thoughts, but we’re responsible before God for our part.”

Unfortunately for Josh Duggar’s sisters, it didn’t matter that they were forced to dress modestly — he still forced himself on them.

Do you think Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar might lose their 19 Kids and Counting paycheck now that their family’s dark secret has been exposed?

[Image via: Duggar Family Facebook]