Fans Bash Duggars for Promoting Pastor Who Allegedly Encourages Child Abuse

Fans of the Duggar clan are lashing out after the family’s Facebook page promoted Fort Rock Family Camp, a retreat set to be attended by controversial No Greater Joy Ministries’ pastor Michael Pearl and his wife Debi.

“Camp Fort Rock has some big events coming up in 2018! Check it out, you definitely won’t regret it!!” the Duggar Family Official post read, encouraging parents and families to attend the retreat.

The Pearls have been at the center of controversy since publishing their book To Train Up a Child — Child Training for the 21st Century, in which they encourage the use of corporal punishment to teach children of all ages – including infants — how to behave.

“This makes me so sad. The Pearls literally promote hitting babies, actual babies. They are child abusers. Why you would promote their evil and cruel practices is mind boggling,” one Facebook user commented on the Duggars’ post.

Another pleaded, “Please stop promoting the Pearls! I know your family thinks he’s teaching biblical discipline but he’s absolutely wrong. Don’t let your love of Jesus blind you to this.”

The Pearls’ book instructs mothers to pull their infants hair if the baby accidentally bites while breastfeeding; other methods include spanking and withholding food. In 2011, The New York Times reported that three children had died “allegedly at the hands of parents who kept the Pearls’ book.”

“I tried reading the Peal’s book To Train Up a Child. It physically made me sick. Who in their right mind pulls a four month old babies hair for biting while nursing. Do you realize kids have died from this book. I mean it is one thing to spank your child, but hitting them with pvc pipe and whatever else you can find is abuse,” another person wrote.

“The Pearls are MONSTERS. They are truly EVIL. No one, NO ONE, in their right minds would ever condone beating a BABY. It is appalling and disgusting that you guys endorse the Pearls or utilized their ‘methods’. No one, NO ONE, who loves babies and children would do this to them. I can’t even…I mean, just reading excerpts from that monstrosity of a book made me nauseated,” another person wrote.

In the past, Michelle Duggar, the matriarch of the Counting On family, has been accused of “blanket training,” a method the Pearls offer to parents in order start the training process. Babies are placed on a blanket and if they attempt to roll over or crawl off the edge, parents are instructed to hit their child with a flexible ruler or another instrument. After a while, the child will learn not to venture off the blanket.

Counting On aired its sixth season in the fall. Season 7 will debut on TLC on Monday, February 26th.

Fans will be excited to see what Jana Marie Duggar, Jill Michelle Dillard, and Jinger Nicole Vuolo have all been up to since last year, but one thing that may get a lot of attention is the impending birth of Joy-Anna Forsyth (Duggar)’s baby.

Forsyth is reportedly due in late February/early March, so that could play a big role in the new season.