Fundie arising from societal fragmentation?

[YPestis]

Is fragmentation of modern society at fault for some of the wacky fundies we see? The Maxwell and Bates both started out as mainstream fundie-lites and then became wacky fundies. I wonder if they had were surrounded by family and close friends, they would be go so off the rails.

If Steve and Teri had spent all their years living close by with parents, had siblings babysitting their kids, retained old friends from high school....would they buy into the quiverful stuff, and isolate their kids like crazy? They said they moved around for Steve's job and learned about the homeschooling, quiverful thing from Christian literature and various pastors they encountered. They became increasingly closed off to the world. By the time Steve started living near his inlaws in KS, the family was already marching off the cliff. Maybe if they had lived near Teri's parents earlier, or if Steve had close friends and siblings near by....would they be immune to the craziness?

I don't know enough about the Bates and Duggar living situation prior to their fundie conversion. I know both couples had a normal, fundie-lite upbringing and probably have family who disapprove of their quiverful lifestyle. I wonder if these couples had stayed close to family, friends and relatives, where would they be now?

Maybe I'm comparing the fundie-ness to joining a cult or criminal gang. People who join them usually lack grounding in their personal lives, feel lost in the world, and adopt a zeal for the values of the new belief. The only difference is society actively try to break up gangs and rescue people from cults. These self-made family cults are legal, seen as relatively benign and maybe even admired by others. That's how I'm explaining the situation of fundie-lite conversion to fringe right-wing nuts. These people lacked something in their lives and having a bunch of kids, and isolating them to worship "the family" is a reaction to some personal trauma that the headship probably experienced in life.

[ilovetchotchkes]

I think isolation and a lack of support network for women who are alone with their kids can definitely lead to sliding into a lifestyle that is rigid, tells you what to do, and of course, when you do it, praises you for being one of the "few righteous ones". This makes you feel special and loved and wanted. It becomes an echo chamber and you keep repeating the crap you're being told without thinking about it because you feel like you're part of a group and not so isolated.

[Guest Anonymous]

Society and family structure has changed in many parts of the world but Christian fundamentalism has not sprung up everywhere.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Yeah, I think there's something to that theory. You, your husband, and your young children move to some new part of the country where you don't know anybody. Maybe the schools aren't the greatest, so you decide to homeschool. You probably don't know your neighbors, but you meet nice people in church, including families with more kids or older kids where they seem to "have it all together." You turn to these parents for advice about how to homeschool and they tell you about these fantastic homeschooling conferences. And it goes on from there...

[gilamomster]

I think there is a couple of reasons why the OP is correct in her hypothesis.

The type of people drawn to these types of faiths are the disenfranchised and that can mean a multitude of things.

It could be a person who was abused as a child who finds safety, comfort and acceptance in a fundie church and as a results decides drink the koolaid and fly under the radar so as to remain accepted. This person may get married to someone in the church and they may become fundie lite type folks with a couple kids. Homeschooling and Sahming are maybes but church is the basis and focus of their lives, because that is where they feel safe.

Then you have an emotionally abused person who joins the church and for the first time ever they feel safe, accepted etc. They not only drink the koolaid they bathe in it. They find another emotionally / physically abused person who bathes in the koolaid with them. This couple feed off of eachother's issues and seek to find a church that is more rigid giving them rules to follow because they need the confines of rules/regulations to maintain their balance.

These are the people who are ripe for the teachings of Gothard and others like him, because now emotionally unbalanced husband is now the head of an emotionally unbalanced wife so they look for someone to tell them how to behave and Gothard is more than happy to do that.

Basically the people that fall for cults (having been one myself I understand how this happens) are people who need to heal a hurt be it one brought on by family or maybe they are in a bad place due to work or lack there of. People like Gothard, Jeffs, Jim Jones, Koresh all prey on these wounded souls offering them rules and regulations which take away their need to think or take responsibility for their actions. They infantilez them and the cycle continues until that person moves away and the blinders come off.

[Renting with Raggles]

Society and family structure has changed in many parts of the world but Christian fundamentalism has not sprung up everywhere.

This. My own theory is that social change is a factor, but it's increasing social stratification, not necessarily fragmentation. Whenever you have this weird, seemingly inexplicable gap between the rich and the poor, a lot of people turn to fundamentalism for explanation/ relief.

Like in 18th century Britain, you have enclosures, and the Highland clearances, and all of a sudden you get the rich becoming way richer and the poor even worse off than before, going to cities to live in slums. Add the South Sea Bubble and the government lottery schemes and money becomes this weird, magical entity that no one can quite explain, because you can see fortunes come and go overnight. So many of the poor, because traditional social safety nets are gone, turn to a new drug, gin; then there's all the attendant problems of crime, prostitution and infanticide, government measures to crack down on your communities, etc. Then some Dissenting preacher comes along and tells people things that help them make sense of this crazy world, plus helps them get their lives into a semblance of order, as long as they follow all his rigid rules.

That's why this fundie stuff started in the 70s and 80s - Gothard and Mary Pride and the rest. Exactly the same pattern. USA stops being a centre for manufacturing, blue collar jobs go overseas, tax cuts for the rich : again the rich are seen to get richer and the poor are screwed. Cuts to welfare and especially educational programmes that would train people to deal in this new economy result in a lot of people without hope. Many turn to drugs, drugs bring all kinds of problems to the community, government goes to war on drugs, creates further problems. So some of the poor get attracted to fundamentalism - only now they see the preacher at a conference, or on tv, or on the Internet.

End history rant.

I agree with the OP in that individual families may be attracted to fundyism because of lack of support from family and community, but I don't think that's the original reason, if that makes sense.

Edit for spelnz n gramer n stuff

[Ramona]

People who join them usually lack grounding in their personal lives, feel lost in the world, and adopt a zeal for the values of the new belief.

You've pretty much described how I was when I began attending church ~ I started off in a fairly 'contemporary' church and then moved along to more and more 'fundie' type environments.

[dairyfreelife]

You've pretty much described how I was when I began attending church ~ I started off in a fairly 'contemporary' church and then moved along to more and more 'fundie' type environments.

A factor in cult following tends to be among people who are vulnerable and looking for something. It happened to me in late high school. It started small and then grow crazy. I'm normally a logical person, which is probably why it fizzled within a couple years. Not everyone is me though and some people find a safe feeling and purpose in the beliefs. I never felt I belonged as much as I wanted to back then, which is probably another reason I left.

[Ramona]

A factor in cult following tends to be among people who are vulnerable and looking for something. It happened to me in late high school. It started small and then grow crazy. I'm normally a logical person, which is probably why it fizzled within a couple years. Not everyone is me though and some people find a safe feeling and purpose in the beliefs. I never felt I belonged as much as I wanted to back then, which is probably another reason I left.

Yep to the logic and the lack of belonging. I tried - I really did. I followed everything to it's extremes and thought that I'd find.. something. That I'd have what it seemed like they all had... (if that makes any sense).

[RosyDaisy]

I agree with everything said in this thread. However, I don't think it's on specific thing that draws people and families into fundieland. And, of course once drawn in, the brainwashing begins.