Direct link to article... [littlegreenfootballs.com]
Persistent sexual harassment allegations have finally ended the career of fundamentalist figurehead Bill Gothard. Gothard, 79, resigned from his post as president of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) yesterday. Thirty-four women had accused the preacher of harassment; four had accused him of molestation. Gothard had been placed on leave pending an investigation into the allegations, which span the last three decades.
Gothard and his ministries aren't well known outside the Religious Right, but they should be. His reach within the movement is extensive, and increasingly Gothard sought to reach government institutions with his brand of hardcore fundamentalism.
Gothard founded IBLP in 1961 to hawk his "Basic Seminar," which purports to teach families how to solve interpersonal conflicts. IBLP quickly expanded, and now functions as an umbrella organization for a fundamentalist empire that includes prison ministries, children's homes and a law school.An early advocate of the Christian home-school movement, Gothard also produced a fundamentalist curriculum under the banner of the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), a branch of IBLP. Gothard and his followers, as you might have noticed by now, are fond of acronyms. Most of them are meaningless to outsiders, and perhaps that's a deliberate strategy. It does, after all, make it difficult to trace the tendrils of Gothard's influence.
That's unfortunate, because Gothard's reach isn't restricted to the insular world of the Religious Right.
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