Onward with quivers full, Christian soldiers!
With a quiverfull of children, the Duggars aim to pierce the armor of their secular humanist enemies. (Photo: flickr.com)
Sorry to sound so militant, fans of the Duggars. However, there is a war going on. The Duggar family will be introducing solider number 19 shortly. If the upcoming child had the ability to choose, I wonder what he’d have to say about such conscription.
Before entering the mine field, I must admit that I’ve never watched the Duggar family’s reality program “18 Kids and Counting.” It sounds like Michelle Duggar definitely has a system that works for her tremendously large brood. As a parent, I’m always appreciative of any information that can help me be a better father to my children. I strive to deal with each situation in a calm yet firm, instructive but non-preachy manner. Religion does not play a role in how I raise my children as it does for the Duggars. My choice is as personal to me as theirs is to them. Yet at the end of the day, if either of our families need instant cash loans, we’re eligible to apply. They’re available to all who meet simple requirements.
Duggars: Fully loaded
“Lo, Children are the heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His Reward. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them…” – Psalm 127: 3-5
The New York Daily News reports that now that the Duggars 19th child is coming, they’ll have to change the name of their show – again. Michelle Duggar made the announcement on behalf of the Duggar Family on the “Today Show.” Their last child was born just eight months previous, and Michelle Duggar has been pregnant for 12 of her 42 years on Earth. Before number 19 is born, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar will be grandparents, as their oldest son and his wife are expecting.
Isn’t that strange, having grandkids older than your own child?
Not according to Michelle Duggar. She told the Daily News that “My sister and my mother were having babies at the same time, so I have nieces and nephews older than me.”
One thing I do admire about the Duggar family (Michelle Duggar in particular) is that she has been able to run a homeschooling program for her children, with the help of the older siblings. Under ideal circumstances, that’s something I’d like to do with my own children, although it will be more of a supplement rather than their only source of education. My curriculum would not be faith-based, of course, and I’d require the same of any school they attend.
Our population is bigger than your population
Yes, the Quiverfull movement is the sect which the Duggars follow. The Daily News sugar coats it claiming they’re conservative Baptists, but let’s call a spade a spade, please. The Duggars say they didn’t plan on having so many kids at first, but the sorrow of a miscarriage caused them to abandon reason. Some who face such a tragedy abandon reason temporarily, however. It’s an understandable response. Placing it on a permanent vacation is another matter, however. Like trying to live on instant cash loans, rather than using them only in emergencies.
The standard argument for the Quiverfull/Christian Patriarchy movement is that the subjugation of women and children is for their own protection. They may also claim that it is an honor to submit to the male authority (God as head, men as the extension of His hierarchy). But I believe it is unreasonable for women to abandon all that they can create and achieve within the family architecture (and without) because a literary character says so. If a Quiverfull woman’s dreams don’t happen to coincide with those of her husband – trust me, this happens in all fundamentalist religious groups – then the woman is required to set those dreams aside.
I subscribe to doctrines of freedom and intellectual honesty
Mind you, I believe that the dream of raising a family is noble and worthwhile. The Duggars 19th child does not diminish this. I do not agree that a woman who decides to be a stay-at-home mom is somehow less worthy than a working woman who chooses job over having a family. In fact, I believe that family achievement is generally more important to the growth of a culture than professional achievement, but that’s a different argument for another time.
The Duggars may be raising children as missionaries. They may be preparing them to be part of an army against those who do not share their beliefs. It won’t necessarily be a war of physical violence, but at the very least it’s a reproductive race. A larger population could thin the resource herd and make such products as instant cash loans more plentiful, incidentally.
What’s a Quiverfull?
The Duggar family is perhaps the most recognizable exponent of the Quiverfull movement, a segment of the Christian Patriarchy Movement (Photo: babybowsonline.com)
Kathryn Joyce, author of the book “Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement,” writes for Salon that the Quiverfull movement believes in no use of birth control. Women accept the number of children “God” gives them as a demonstration of their faith and obedience. Effectively, they are “winning the country for Christ by having more children than their adversaries,” writes Joyce. While not official church doctrine, it is an evangelical and fundamentalist Protestant movement that has borrowed Catholic arguments against birth control and used the growing homeschooling movement to spread their faith-based ideals.
Will any of the Duggar family become “aberrations?”
Some will argue that apparently happy families like the Duggars are a sign that Quiverfull is an ideal that should be encouraged. However, will such a movement eventually fall upon principles of eugenics and faith cleansing? Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff, former Quiverfull adherent and mother of 11 argues that the Quiverfull movement creates isolation and grief rather than happy families. She believes that Quiverfull is a segment of society where “women and children are routinely and systematically subordinated and subjugated by the men in their lives as a matter of biblical principle.” Seelhoff observed that Quiverfull members “never talk about the victims of the movement, other than to distance themselves, to explain how it is that the victims are aberrations.” Sounds like spin control, plain and simple.
And some think that religion isn’t political?
I wish the Duggar family and the Duggars 19th child the best. I also wish them all well. While I do not subscribe to their beliefs, I believe that every family has the right to health and the pursuit of happiness. That includes women and children. If their faith permits that, fine. If not, they’re missing out on basic human rights.
Apply Now!
They may have the right to apply for instant cash loans when the situation dictates, but if a wife wants to spend that money on a vacation away from the husband, they should have the right to do so, even if the husband isn’t keen on the idea. In controlled doses, absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder.
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