Introduce Yourself

[NovemberRain]

Hi all! Was talking with a friend about Sister Wives and she told me about this site. Spent several hours reading and decided to join up! Loving everything i have seen so far!

[bccka]

37 year old stay at home (now) married mom of three. One boy and two girls. 18,14, and 11. I live in Ny.

[MissBeaufort]

Hi all! I'm a university student studying in Canada. I homeschooled in a small town for a while (where I still live) and I am surrounded by fundies, so FreeJinger has proved to be an amazing way for me laugh, let off some steam and feel a little less frustrated by the crazy around me. It's relatively easy now to smile pleasantly and nod when the 124738th person says "oh, you're studying psychology? My cousin/niece/daughter/friend did that, he/she studied 2 years of Biblical counselling at -insert small fundy bible college here-, so basically the same thing..." or "You want 8 years of education? What about kids?". So it's been a real blessing to be enjoying sweet fellowship with you all, if ya know what I mean.

[Witsec7]

It's always nice hearing from the new folks. Welcome to all. (But I can't help wondering which of you is Elle.)

[Seven Severn]

Hi all! Was talking with a friend about Sister Wives and she told me about this site. Spent several hours reading and decided to join up! Loving everything i have seen so far!

I'm being nosy here, but are you on COLOURLovers? I ask because there's a user there with a similar name.

[emiliawasframed]

Hi, all Long time-lurker here. I finally decided to join the site because of my job. I'm a feminist Christian teaching at a conservative Christian college, and I need an outlet with some strong ladies.

[Jiraffe Jirl]

Hi! I've been lurking for a few months and after much prayer (and supplication and a glass or two of wine) finally was led to join.

I'm 20, currently studying social work (blessed to not be a SAHD) and was raised fundie-lite. Went through an uber fundie phase in high school, then sold my Vision Forum materials & went through a wild pagan stage, and am consider myself a liberal Christian. Religious fantacism fascinates me, but it's only fun with a side of sarcasm...so so happy to have found FJ!

Let the sweet fellowship commence.

[Claartje]

Hi everyone! Another longtime lurker here. Finally decided to join in and hopefully comment a lot :)

My name is Clara, I'm a 29 year old SAHM to 2 little girls. A 6 year old and a 2 year old. I grew up fundie-lite in Belgium (which is pretty rare... lucky me) and I am atheist now. I live in Arkansas... again, lucky me! LOL! But on the upside, I met the Duggars once! Back when Josie was still in the NICU. My daughter made it on the background of one of their episodes too :)

Anyways, nice to be here finally!

[Knitty]

I've been lurking for ages, and finally decided to join.

My ILs are fundies. I am probably the farthest thing from a fundie. Family gatherings are less than awesome.

[karismanic]

Early 30s, SAHM, planning to homeschool, Christ-follower...

But before you think I'm a troll -- understand that I'm shocked at how the families discussed here have totally warped the teachings of Jesus. And maybe that's why I'm so fascinated.

I grew up surrounded by charismatic fundies in rural Louisiana. I've seen late-night sessions of speaking in tongues, encountered Westboro Baptist Church wannabes with their "God hates ____" signs, and even smuggled jeans to a friend trapped in frumpers. My little town enforced racial segregation well into the late 1990s with "separate but equal" high school proms and city swimming pools. And I thought all these things were normal until my eyes were opened by college and the big city of Houston, Texas.

I hope you'll have as much tolerance for me as I promise to have for all of you. 8-)

[Jani]

Hello, everyone :)

I am a recent college graduate and I have just moved back to the beautiful state of Texas. I have been lurking for some time now and have decided to start posting as well. Big fundie families fascinate me, and I love freejinjer.

Jani

[Pensie]

I'm a 30 year old long-time female lurker in my last year of college (Family Life Education, kind of a pre-therapy undergrad choice). I work as a nanny, and want my therapy practice to be primarily with children, so promoting caring and responsible caring is important to me. It follows that I come here to rage. :evil: I was raised in a fundie-lite to fundie home, and my SO had a similar upbringing. Two of his brothers are married, one is a full-on military fundie arse and the other is a less obnoxious but still occasionally pompous arse that I like half the time despite myself. Between the two couples, there are six children under the age of 4 and they both love the Duggars. I spent a lot of my real life time trying to divert them from being jerks to their kiddos, which is somewhat impossible, but at least my SO and I can be caring, supportive, positive adult mentors. It's a fine line.

Religiously, I am Catholic, and walk another fine line between orthodoxy and social justice. It's more a personal mystical thing for me, and I get annoyed when it turns in to a political statement. My SO is an atheist. As far as our families are concerned, we're both going to hell in the same handbasket.

I think I found FJ during that big convoluted controversy about the woman who had the baby at home, and the child died. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I remember reading that thing for hours. I lurk for a variety of reasons, including laziness, conflict-avoidance, and because someone else said it first.

[ShadyOGrady]

20 something-liberal-woman loving-O. Henry enthusiast.

[quibblerclonmacnoise]

19, female, unhappily American, embarrassingly liberal, prone to snark and frequently infatuated with odd topics. Have haunted this site for several years and it only just occurred to me to make an account!

This is also the whimmiest username I've ever used. Was a split-second decision when lurking on the Duggars' site Makaziville, wanting to know was it really as propaganda-y as I thought it was (it was!) and comes from two posters on my wall.

Nice to meet you all!

[fundielicious]

30ish mom who's been lurking since the days of Emiy and DNA, but finally signed up for an account. I was raised Catholic, and attended a private Christian school for junior high and high school (probably in the midweight fundie range).

[sophrosyne]

I grew up in southern Arkansas but now live in New Mexico. Female, over 50, Ph.D., college professor, and plenty interested in how people be-in-the-world.

[SAHD in training]

29 year old, college graduate, living in sin in Europe, no children yet. I was raised as an atheist, and fundies fascinate me. I started reading Jocelyn, and then went on to read about Lina, Andrea, and thanks to you I have been introduced to the Maxhells and the rest.

[SilverBeach]

Hi Jingerites, I have been enjoying Free Jinger for quite some time now, and decided that with the new year, I would de-lurk and add some witty repartee of my own to the mix. I watched the Duggars long before I knew about this site, and fell for their propaganda at first (what a loving, well-mannered Christian family), although I always thought Michelle was robotic). Now that I know the truth, I cannot stand them (not including the poor little ones, of course).

I have always been a snarker, but until Free Jinger, I didn't know that what I was doing was snarking! This is my "go-to" website, always so may topics to read about, never a dull moment. I also appreciate that most Free Jingerites are kind, intelligent, open-minded people, which as a live and let live kind of person myself, I find appealing.

See you on the threads! :)

[fatcat]

Hi everyone!

I just saw this thread, even though I've posted here a few times before. Anyway, I'm female, 24, and currently doing a postgraduate degree in poetry. I'm half American and half German, but live in Wales right now. I've been lurking here for a pretty long time, but never really thought to post.

My interest in fundies stems mostly from the fact that I have a pretty good friend who has very much drunk the Vision Forum kool-aid. I've spent more time than you can probably imagine trying to figure out how and why she believes what she does and worrying about these people. It is especially interesting to me because before I lived in the US, I had no idea that fundies, as you talk about them, existed. I also have a few family members who could be considered fundie-lite, but they are still worlds apart from the friend mentioned above. I check in regularly here, mostly to see what Vision Forum (seriously, I hate Doug Phillips) is up to these days.

[Ruby Slippers]

::waves::

I am a high school English teacher and eductionally am all-but-dissertation. I am also a passionate reader and working on my photo skills.

One of the more interesting things about me is that I volunteer at Planned Parenthood, escorting patients past protesters. :twisted:

[Upsilamba]

Hi, I'm a 22 year old, college senior from midwestern America, majoring in history. I'm an atheist and was raised by atheist/agnostic parents (dad's an atheist, and I think my mom was agnostic). I've been a lurker for a while and recently decided to create an account.

[ndmomma]

Greetings to all from a long-time lurker! I am a SAHM of four. I previously taught high school, and I plan to do so again. I am married to a theologian/liberal college professor who can tear any pastor to shreds when it comes to scripture. We were raised fundie-lite to full fundie. I grew up in a very insular church where I also got a terrible education at an affiliated Christian school. We attended a fundie-lite college where my husband also went to seminary, during which time we came to our senses. We married at 21 and are fortunate to be so compatible given that we still had college, seminary, grad school, and his PhD to get through before seeing any real paychecks. Our first two kids have neurological and behavior issues, and I have to homeschool for now, but let me assure you that we kick ass and take names educationally!

[jericho]

Hey Everyone. This isn't so much a hello but a goodbye I guess. The mods apparently don't want me here. I have been restricted from pretty much all access to this board and for what I have no idea. I guess they just didn't want to deal with someone who had opinions which were not liberal. Who knows if this post will even surface since its up to the mods to decide, but if so thanks for some great debate. I wish it had been more good spirited though. I wish no ill will towards anyone. I'm sorry things came to this but its probably best for me anyway since I never had the proper time to fully answer all posts that came at me. I will continue to read as a lurker (such a bad term) since its pretty much my only choice. God bless Free Jinger and God bless America.

[Guest Anonymous]

Beyond the reasons he gave while feeling sorry for himself (that 'they' did not want to 'deal with' non-liberals, of course. :roll:), why was jericho put on the naughty step?

[LynnGrey]

Hi everyone--

I'm 30, female, no kids, unmarried but in a committed relationship. Grew up in the rural Midwest, attended a bible college for 4 years, and after moving to Colorado have dispelled the fundie ideologies I picked up along the way. I still consider myself a Christian, but am pretty liberal. I recently became really interested in reading about spiritual abuse and have come across a lot of quiverful blogs. I watch my fair share of the Duggars TV show but have not been deeply enmeshed in their culture personally. Quiverful and purity culture are fascinating subjects to me right now. So much so that I created a blog to talk about purity culture and my own experiences with it.

I look forward to discussion and keeping up with the latest news with you all!