Greetings Recovering Grace Readers,

We wanted to let you all know about a news article in the online edition of the Hartford Courant on Sunday, November 7, 2011 (and in the print edition on November 8). This article is a discussion of the effects of Bill Gothard’s teachings as it relates to the murder trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, who was convicted of 17 charges in the gruesome murder, arson, and rapes committed against the family of Dr. William Petit.

Featured in the article is John Cornish, one of our writers. John is a worship pastor and professional musician who lives in Grand Prairie, TX. His story, “My Childhood in ATI,” was one of the first articles released by Recovering Grace back in July, and continues to be one of our most-read personal stories.

In addition to sharing this article with you, we wanted to make a few points of our own regarding not only this article, but the Komisarjevsky case in general.

First and foremost, we would like to comment that we do not believe that Bill Gothard or his teachings are directly responsible for these horrific crimes. There were a number of factors at play, not the least of which was Joshua’s involvement with drugs and with his co-defendant Steven Hayes. That being said, we do believe that Gothard’s teachings may very well have exacerbated Joshua’s existing problems, and likely influenced his parents not to pursue the psychiatric care that Joshua seemingly needed as a teenager.

Bill Gothard has been insistent throughout the years that there are no true mental illnesses and that all mental illness is ultimately a matter of personal irresponsibility. There is a short clip from the Basic Seminar available on YouTube which has him making this claim under the guise of sharing authoritative research into the subject. In addition, the Courant news article shares the following from Gothard:

It is also worth noting that Gothard’s stance on adoption and the “sins of the forefathers” are made perfectly clear in the article:

Finally, it is worth noting that Gothard’s usage of playing the piano as an illustration for how children grow spiritually very clearly illustrates the reason his teachings are so dangerous:

The piano illustration clearly demonstrates how those in ATI are thrust into a “performance trap.” Much as one has to practice intensely to become a concert pianist, Gothard is saying that one has to work through intensely to achieve a level of spirituality that is pleasing to God. Notice that Gothard proceeded to throw Joshua’s parents under the bus by stating that they didn’t really understand the program or how it worked. Blaming someone (usually the parents…the “umbrella of protection”) is a typical Gothard response to any problem.

In closing, let us reiterate that we don’t blame Bill Gothard for what happened. Nor do we think Joshua Komisarjevsky needs to be spared the consequences of his actions because of his childhood. We simply wanted to share this article with you in order to (a) point out the dangers of Gothard’s perspective on mental illness, and (b) show you how clearly this article typifies Gothard’s response to tragedy: blame and guilt.

In Christ,

The RG leadership team