Wikipedia: Quiverfull
Quiverfull is a movement among some conservative evangelical Christian couples chiefly in the United States, but with some adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and elsewhere. It promotes procreation, and sees children as a blessing from God, eschewing all forms of birth control, including natural family planning and sterilization. Adherents are known as "quiver full", "full quiver", "quiverfull-minded", or simply "QF" Christians. Some refer to the Quiverfull position as Providentialism, while other sources have referred to it as a manifestation of natalism. Currently several thousand Christians worldwide identify with this movement.
Wikipedia: Providentialism
Providentialism is a belief that God's will is evident in all occurrences. It can further be described as a belief that the power of God (or Providence) is so complete that humans cannot equal His abilities, or fully understand His plan. Another aspect of Providentialism is the belief that God's plan is beyond the control of humans, and that sometimes this may be expressed in seemingly bad things happening to good people. It may further be understood as a belief that all that occurs is for the greater good.
Wikipedia: Natalism
Natalism (also called pronatalism or the pro-birth position) is a belief that promotes human reproduction. ... Natalism promotes child-bearing and glorifies parenthood. It typically advocates policies such as limiting access to abortion and contraception, as well as creating financial and social incentives for the population to reproduce.
What? Do I lead a sheltered life? I have never heard of this particular movement but it certainly corresponds to others who choose to interpret the Bible in a literal way and strongly hold onto their beliefs. "God moves in a mysterious way" (from Olney Hymns by William Cowper) and yet these people feel they know precisely what God wants. Considering how the right-wing fundamentalist Christians seem to have hijacked the Republican Party, I see the ideology of this movement very much akin to the policy platform of the GOP. (my blog: The 2012 Republican Platform: Are ya scared yet?)
God knows best. We leave all in the hands of the Lord. He will provide. These platitudes are representative of fundamentalist believers but are in opposition to such lines as "God helps those who help themselves." (Did you know that line does not come from the Bible? See my blog: God does "not" help those who help themselves)
Jehovah's Witnesses do not accept in blood transfusions. (Wikipedia) Christian Scientists refuse medical treatment relying solely on prayer. (Wikipedia) Shakers were celibate, did not practice procreation and relied on adoption. (Wikipedia) Each of these religions based their beliefs on specific passages from the Bible. Extreme? Religious anti-gay movements support their beliefs with Leviticus 18.22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (NRSV) or Leviticus 20.13 says, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (NRSV). (see "What Does The Bible Really Say About Homosexuality?" for an interesting discussion about the Bible and its translations.)
Vyckie D. Garrision
The sidebar About of her web site states:
Vyckie Garrison started No Longer Quivering to tell the story of her “escape” from the Quiverfull movement.
Over time, NLQ has developed into a valuable resource of information regarding the deceptions and dangers of the Quiverfull philosophy and lifestyle. Several more former QF adherents are now contributing their stories to NLQ and our collective voice makes these Quiverfull warnings impossible to dismiss or ignore.
NLQ is a gathering place for women escaping and recovering from spiritual abuse.
What Is Quiverfull?
Ms. Garrison presents a Q & A describing various aspects of this movement.
Quiverfull ~ is the idea that truly godly families will “trust the Lord” with their family planning. Children are viewed as unmitigated blessings (“As arrows in the hand of the mighty man, so are the children of one's youth, happy is the man who hath his quiver full of them”) and as such, the couple is willing to have as many children as the Lord chooses to bless them with. Artificial or chemical birth control such as the Pill or IUDs are equated with abortion ~ the sin of murdering your own offspring.
Ms. Garrision points out that this is not a denomination but a family lifestyle emphasizing home schooling for children. Quiverfull is in different churches but more so in fundamentalist denominations (Baptist, “non-denominational,” Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ, etc.) as well as churches with Postmillennial/Dominionist leanings (“Orthodox Presbyterian").
The author describes some of the basic values of this belief.
Patriarchy
-this is the belief that by God’s perfect design, it is the father who is the head of the home ~ in his leadership capacity, the father serves as protector, provider and shepherd for his wife and children.
Courtship or Betrothal instead of dating
-the father’s protection of and authority over his children extends especially to the choosing of a mate.
Sheltering of the children
-the home school mindset includes the basic belief that children are to be protected and sheltered from “the world” ~ outside influences which could be detrimental to the child’s spiritual well-being.
Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
-the teaching is that God designed males and females to fulfill distinct roles and that men and women cannot be truly satisfied unless they are consistently filling their special role as a man or woman of God.
Modesty
-a girl or woman whose clothing is “revealing” is guilty of “defrauding” her Christian “brother” ~ because she is tempting him with impure thoughts in relation to a body (hers) which is not rightfully his to possess. Quiverfull females often wear dresses only ~ many will also wear a head covering as a sign of a woman’s submission to her “head” ~ that is, her husband.
Final Word
Vyckie D. Garrision has escaped. She tells part of her story in "How did you get yourself into this mess?" which has similar echoes of other stories I've heard over the years. How did she get into this? As she summarizes with one word: gradually. Like some, she was drawn into things when members of her family became born-again Christians and from there it was the slow involvement in movements whose leaders demonstrated a fanatical paranoia and xenophobia for all things not of their own personal faith. It is also interesting to note how she makes the connection between these extremism Christian fundamentalist groups and the Republican Party. As I noted in reading the 2012 Republican Platform, it is clearly evident that the party has been very much influenced by the religious far-right.
References
Wikipedia: Mary Pride
Mary Pride (born 1955) is an American author and magazine producer on homeschooling and Christian topics. She is best known for her homeschooling works, but has also written on women’s roles, computer technology in education, parental rights, and new age thought from a conservative evangelical perspective. For her pioneering role in authoring guides for the homeschooling movement, Pride has been described as "the queen of the home school movement" and as a "homeschooling guru". Stemming from her first book, The Way Home, she is also considered a pioneer in the Christian Quiverfull movement.
The Gloss - Oct 25/2010
Books Every Woman Should Read: Kathryn Joyce’s ‘Quiverfull’ by Lilit Marcus
What is Quiverfull? It’s a conservative evangelical Christian movement to have as many babies as possible. Inspired by a Bible verse about G-d filling the quivers of the righteous with as many arrows as possible, this Christian subsect believes that the best way to control governments and change society is by strength in numbers. And this means having as many children as possible. Kathryn Joyce’s thorough and well-researched book Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement does a spectacular job of explaining the roots of the movement as well as identifying key players, all without judgment. She answers the fundamental question of how women justify going along with Quiverfull and spending most of their reproductive years pumping out kids. And, as the title of the book notes, Quiverfull isn’t only about children – it’s about the rest of the movement’s ideals, including women not working outside the home, remaining celibate until marriage, and being subservient to their husbands.
my blog: Conversations with God
Neale Walsch may be an extremely nice man. Neale may have a wonderful message that brings hope to anyone who reads his book or his books. However, the premise spoiled the whole thing for me. If Neale had written that the Golden Rule is a wonderful rule and let's discuss how it can benefit us all, I would have said, "Yes". Unfortunately, he started with an idea I can't accept.
my blog: Scientology: Tom makes good movies
I began to see that for some people the need for a spiritual framework in their lives was of the utmost importance. I realized that each one of us has "something", whether it is our church, our family or our job which provides us with a place to hang our hat so to speak. It was our base, our bedrock upon which we built our lives and gave us the stability we needed to weather the storm, to live our lives.
my blog: May 21: The End of the World (Afterword May 22)
The end of the world to which I'm referring has been predicted by one Harold Camping, a 89 year old Christian radio broadcaster. His end comes in two parts. On May 21, 2011 precisely at 6pm local time, we will see the Rapture, the Biblical ascension of God's elect people, approximately 200 million people, into heaven. They disappear and the rest of us have to hang around until October 21, 2011 when the end of the world comes. However, according to Camping, instead of the rest of us going to hell - literally! - we just cease to exist. That's annililationism.
2012-09-05
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1 comment:
The first time I ever heard of it was in relation to those stupid Duggars. That is how I always refer to them, those stupid Duggars. Feeling for the daughter's of the families and their lack of power. Also, as a therapist, I'm always wondering how they bow to the head of the family in their paternalistic way If the man is say, bipolar or schizophrenic? Now I'm spiraling downward thinking of the country under the leadership of a government with these people at the helm, women with few rights and wearing ugly homemade dresses and I've made myself skeered.
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