Liars are usually clever — you have to give them that. And one of the things the really smart ones know how to do is to use the last lie you caught them in as a basis for getting you to believe the lie they are currently telling. Douglas Wilson

Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, refuses to acknowledge that 24-year-old Jamin Wight violated any specific law when he physically abused 14-year-old Natalie Greenfield for his own sexual gratification. The relationship between Mr. Wight and Natalie, to the extent you can call it a relationship, was entirely one way. Jamin Wight treated her like a toilet.¹ Despite this, Douglas Wilson consistently refers to Mr. Wight’s crimes as “sexual behavior” instead of “sexual abuse,” which removes the violence from Mr. Wight’s crimes and essentially incriminates Natalie as a voluntary participant in her rape. According to Doug Wilson she “sexually behaved” in conjunction with her assailant’s “sexual behavior.”

This point bears repeating because at the time of Natalie’s abuse, the age of consent in Idaho was 18-years old and, as noted here, Douglas Wilson publicly affirmed his agreement with Idaho’s “age of consent” law in the criminal case of Jamin Wight. And for those just joining us, this is important because it means that Doug Wilson contradicted himself. It is impossible to believe that Natalie could not legally consent to “sexual behavior” pursuant to Idaho code while simultaneously believing that she legally consented to “sexual behavior” contrary to Idaho code. But if we take Doug Wilson at his word, then he actually believes this, though it may be unwise to take him at his word — which brings us to the flim in today’s post on flimflam.

FLIM

Doug Wilson Declared Jamin Wight Guilty of a Non-Existent Crime
On October 1, 2015, Rod Dreher of The American Conservative published Doug Wilson’s reply to Scandal in Moscow, which he aptly titled Doug Wilson’s ‘Reluctant Response.’ Regarding Jamin Wight’s criminal behavior, Mr. Wilson wrote 1,238 words. In the following excerpt, I stripped away the extraneous text and substituted Natalie’s name with points of ellipsis because, as noted, the state of Idaho deemed the 14-year-old girl a child when Jamin Wight abused her, and therefore she could not have legally consented to “sexual behavior,” contra Doug Wilson:

“Jamin was one of our Greyfriar ministerial students who was exposed in 2005 as having been engaging in criminal sexual behavior. . . . Jamin was guilty of sexual behavior. . . . Our elders had no problem with him being charged for the crime of sexual behavior. . . Jamin’s crime was that of engaging in sexual behavior. . .” (Doug Wilson’s ‘Reluctant Response’; emphasis added)

After removing Natalie from the narrative, Doug Wilson’s true belief emerges: “criminal sexual behavior,” “guilty of sexual behavior,” “the crime of sexual behavior,” and “Jamin’s crime was that of engaging in sexual behavior.” Doug Wilson declared Jamin Wight guilty of committing “the crime of sexual behavior.”

Merriam-Webster defines the word “crime” thus:

an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law; especially : a gross violation of law (Merriam-Webster)

Therefore, if we use the English language definition of the word “crime,” then a person must break an existing law in order for a crime to occur. Doug Wilson maintains that Jamin Wight committed the crime of “sexual behavior,” which is a point he repeated four times in writing to Rod Dreher. This means that if Jamin Wight committed “the crime of sexual behavior,” then Idaho must have a law on its books prohibiting “sexual behavior,” which it does not. No such law exists in the state of Idaho.

However, the state of Idaho does outlaw sexual abuse of children. But since Doug Wilson insists that fourteen-year-old Natalie Greenfield was not a child pursuant to Idaho code, he fabricated “the crime of sexual behavior,” which brings us to flam.

FLAM

Doug Wilson Defends Jamin Wight Against a Non-Existent Charge of a Non-Existent Crime
As above, I removed the extraneous words from Mr. Wilson’s narrative for the sake of clarity:

But the question before the court was what kind of criminal behavior it was. . . At issue was whether he was going to be charged as pedophile, and placed in the same category as one who was molesting little children. But we believed his crime was not in the same category as Steven Sitler’s crimes at all. . . . we did not want it treated as pedophilia. . . But please note well: such things were not irrelevant to whether it was pedophilia. . . . (Doug Wilson’s ‘Reluctant Response’; emphasis original)

In this excerpt Doug Wilson lays the foundation for his false narrative by misrepresenting the facts of the case, writing, “the question before the court was . . . whether he was going to be charged as pedophile.” This statement is false. The court never contemplated the question of pedophilia in the case of Jamin Wight’s sexual abuse of Natalie Greenfield, because pedophilia is not a crime. Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder.

Search the court records in the Jamin Wight Archive and search the Idaho Repository; you will not find one instance of the words “pedophile” or “pedophilia.” Then search the Idaho Statutes for the terms “pedophile” or “pedophilia” and you will not find one law that prohibits this condition any more than you’ll find a law prohibiting “sexual behavior.” However, you will discover that Idaho code uses the word “pedophilia” six times and in each case it lists it with other “sexual behavior disorders”:

“Disability shall not include transvestism, transsexualism, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, other sexual behavior disorders, or substance use disorders, compulsive gambling, kleptomania, or pyromania.” (15-1-201, 16-1501, 16-1602, 16-2002, 32-1005, 32-717; emphasis added)

The term “pedophilia” is the name of a psychiatric disorder; it is not the name of a crime. Hence the MAYO Clinic: “Pedophilia is a clinical diagnosis usually made by a psychiatrist or psychologist. It is not a criminal or legal term. . .” Moreover, Doug Wilson knows pedophilia is a psychiatric illness because he mocks the condition, as well as the experts who diagnose it, in this blog entry wherein he references the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is the standard that defines mental disorders — including pedophilia.²

But in his response to Rod Dreher, Doug Wilson conflates the distinction between the clinical diagnosis known as pedophilia and the actual crimes committed by pedophiles — i.e., child rape:

“At issue was whether he was going to be charged as pedophile, and placed in the same category as one who was molesting little children. . . . we did not want it treated as pedophilia. . . . such things were not irrelevant to whether it was pedophilia.”

However, since the state of Idaho does not outlaw the psychiatric illness called pedophilia, it follows that it was not possible for Jamin Wight to be “charged as pedophile.” Further, the Kirk elders did not object to Jamin Wight’s crimes being “treated as pedophilia” because this question never faced the court. And nothing was relevant “to whether it was pedophilia” because — get ready — this entire narrative is a big pile of buncombe flapdoodle. It never happened. Nevertheless, Doug Wilson deserves applause for his remarkable defense of convicted felon Jamin Wight against the non-existent criminal charge of pedophilia, which is a crime that does not exist.

Conclusion
Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, spun a complete circle. He began by declaring Jamin Wight guilty of committing a crime that does not exist — “sexual behavior” — and he finished by defending Jamin Wight against a criminal accusation that does not exist — “charged as pedophile.” Flim meet flam.

All of this because he refuses to concede that Idaho law deemed Natalie Greenfield a child who could not legally consent to sexual behavior, which is why he will not acknowledge that Jamin Wight violated a specific law in the state of Idaho.

I leave the reader to figure out what Doug Wilson actually believes or if he believes anything at all, because Doug Wilson is pretty clever — you have to give him that. And one of the things he knows how to do is to use the last lie you caught him in as a basis for getting you to believe the lie he is currently telling.

¹ I obtained approval from Natalie to use this analogy.
² The American Psychiatric Association publishes the DSM, calling it, “the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals in the United States. It is intended to be used in all clinical settings by clinicians of different theoretical orientations. It can be used by mental health and other health professionals, including psychiatrists and other physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurses, occupational and rehabilitation therapists, and counselors.”