While plenty of people are praising Jinger Duggar for leaving her 19 Kids and Counting family's uber strict religious sect behind, there are a few quiet murmurs about just how much freedom she's found with husband Jeremy Vuolo. In fact, his church might be just as controlling as the Institute in Basic Life Principles is.
Jinger's new church may not be much better than her old one.
Jinger's book, Becoming Free Indeed, gave readers a deep dive into the world of the IBLP and showed how men in the cult-like group ruled over female followers of the faith with an iron fist.
The IBLP may have tried to keep people in line by using fear, but it sounds like Jeremy's religious group has a tactic all its own for keeping women in line, as vlogger Katie Joy of Without a Crystal Ball is pointing out in new Instagram posts.
Jeremy's church makes followers sign submissive statements of faith.
Katie alleges that, as a pastor at Grace Community Church, Jeremy signed a document that features "racist, homophobic, and transphobic declarations" that their flock must affirm and deny.
She also says that the Protestant church, which was founded by John MacArthur, forces women to stay in abusive marriages.
"Those that have left their husbands have been shamed, blamed, stalked, harassed, publicly rebuked, threatened, and intimidated by church members and elders," she writes in another post.
Jeremy says he needs Jinger to pray for him.
It would appear that Jeremy has decided that honesty is the best policy with his wife, and he frequently lets the former Counting On star know when he's struggling to stay faithful.
Katie claims that Jeremy had a problem with sex and drinking before he and Jinger started dating, and that he claims he was able transfer his obsession with the two into an obsession with God that requires him to ask his wife to pray for him when he gets tempted by other women.
Jeremy says Jinger 'should be afraid.'
It sounds like Jeremy has told Jinger and his followers that men who aren't devout are more likely to have extra-marital affairs. He claims that it's this closeness with Christ, and only this, that keeps him and other men from stepping outside of their marriages.
This use of fear tactics to keep the flock in line does sound eerily like what Jinger's described of the IBLP.
It seems like Jinger may have traded one cult for another.
A journalist who interviewed Jinger told Katie that she thinks Jinger is still brainwashed, only this time she's following the rules set out by Jeremy instead of her father.
It's sad to think that Jinger may have come so far only to have walked in a circle. She's already been through so much.
