America's Christian Baby-Factory

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Originally posted by Stargazer:
[b]America really scares me.[/b]

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Looking at Quiverfull and saying that it's representative of America is like looking at a zit under a microscope and saying, "Wow, this person's entire body is just a mass of pimples!!"

Stargazer, the chances that this micro-movement is going to induce millions of women to start pumping out the wee ones is zero. The trend for all developed countries is smaller families, and that is (and will continue to be) true for America, too.

ETA: The quote from Psalms on that page was funny: "Happy is the [b][i]man[/b][/i] that hath his quiver full of [children]." But what about the [b][i]woman[/b][/i]??

And, why the hell do so many people insist on using Bibles with language from the 1600s ("hath", "shall", "thee", yada-yada-yada) as though using that language is more "authentic"? That's laughable.

[ 11 January 2007: Message edited by: Sven ]

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Originally posted by Sven:
[b]And, why the hell do so many people insist on using Bibles with language from the 1600s ("hath", "shall", "thee", yada-yada-yada) as though using that language is more "authentic"? That's laughable.[/b]

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A famous anecdote from around the time that the translations were being updated, was some person objecting, as they preferred reading the words "as Jesus said them" [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]

I agree that such a group doesn’t fairly represent everyone in the US, or even the majority of Americans. But let’s face it, the religious right in general is a powerful force in the US; far more powerful than it is in Canada or other Western, industrialized democracies. I recall reading in a book (American Dynasty by Kevin Philips) that the Southern Baptist Convention has somewhere in the neighbourhood of 18 million members. According to the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Baptist_Convention) article it’s at least 16.3 million; that’s just the Baptists, who are very right-wing conservative. Start lumping in all of the other devout religious believers and it becomes pretty clear, pretty fast why Dubya was re-elected. I’m inclined to agree with Stargazer, this sort of thing scares me. The growing influence of the religious right in the America didn’t happen over night and it’s not going to “calm down” over night. Everyone is looking for answers, and unfortunately many of us feel we have to turn to a guy (usually it’s a man) with a book, standing at a pulpit talking about how he knows what God says is the answer. In a society where almost everyone has access to at least a primary and secondary education and we’re spoiled with information access, I’m not sure why people feel the need to take advice from an outdated source.

I believe the worst thing Americans can do at this point is to vote "religion"... that is where the problem lies. I think that far too often politicians run on religious issues, and get the votes from the (huge) religious following in America. As an educator, this is a serious issue I often discuss with students. Americans do need to learn all of the issues stood for by a politician, not just where they stand on “religious issues” (for example abortion, which everyone will never agree on). I too find it scary that there are so many religious right fundamentalist blindly casting votes for whoever says “God” in their campaign. I know many people like this; it is an exercise in futility to change the minds of those who stand on the bible for their decisions….look where it has taken us. The best I can do is to be active in the lives of students and teach them to THINK for themselves. 2 ponies, you are right…. it cannot be “fixed” overnight. I truly hope that the irony does not miss those who voted for Bush because of his “God bless America” speeches that have helped kill so many. Notice he did not say that in his speech last night?!
That said, although I strongly dislike my government, I love my country.

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Originally posted by Sven:
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Originally posted by 2 ponies:
In a society where almost everyone has access to at least a primary and secondary education and we’re spoiled with information access, I’m not sure why people feel the need to take advice from an outdated source.
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Ain’t that the truth. It’s mystifying.[/b]

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So, how do you two feel about the Quakers, Hutterites and the Amish?

I want [url=http://www.quiverfull.com/graphics/resources/DecalFishFam1Line.gif][b]this decal[/b][/url] for my aquarium! ;-)

[ 03 February 2007: Message edited by: Bobolink ]

I think it would be interesting to write to H&R Block and ask them what the hell they're doing supporting QuiverFull with advertising on their web site. And it doesn't look like just a randomly-generated ad - it looks like a specific sponsorship.

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Originally posted by Michelle:
[b]I think it would be interesting to write to H&R Block and ask them what the hell they're doing supporting QuiverFull with advertising on their web site. And it doesn't look like just a randomly-generated ad - it looks like a specific sponsorship.[/b]

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Hey, even religious nutjobs pay taxes. (Well, except for the churches themselves - they're tax-exempt).

In any case, perhaps H&R Block just wants to interest them in a [url=http://www.calpirg.org/blog/home/archives/000208.html]predatory loan[/url]?

Sorry if this is thread drift... It's late and I'm in a strange mood. But it does occur to me that these quiverfull folks might be a good target market for some unscrupulous businesses like H&R Block because with all those children they are probably often in need of quick cash and I doubt they are very financially sophisticated consumers.

[ 05 February 2007: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

The fear is that these people will become dominant or influential and lead us back to the dark ages.

Personally, I reject the notion of fear being involved in this at all.

Fear arises out of the unknown or unknowable.

What this type of patriarchial fundamentalist ideology does to societies and peoples is well known and documented.

I would use in place of using the words fear, or being scared, is alarm.

Because we know where this could lead, I feel we are alarmed that this type of regressive thinking is being operantly conditioned into people and are also alarmed over what the results of this operant conditioning could mean to the world at large.