Introduce Yourself

[Cordelia]

Newly signed up, but have lurked for ages.

I am in my mid-30s. Living in sin with my fiance in Western NY. We are hoping to get married this fall. We will have separate bank accounts. ;)

I am agnostic, and never grew up with a religion. My parents thought it was important to let me choose what I wanted. I went to a number of different religious activities with friends growing up, including a born again Christian youth group. I thought they were pretty crazy then, and REALLY didn't fit in.

[smores]

24 this year, married and mom to one munchkin. Grew up in a rather conservative Christian household with plenty of fundie-lites in my wider social circle. Currently live in Kentucky.

I'm Libertarian-ish. I believe that some welfare programs should exist, but for the most part, I have no faith in government to get it right. I have a BA in Political Science that I'll never use. I'm a Christian but haven't been to church since I got married a couple of years ago; I tend to not like churches because so many seem full of drama.

[DawnCorleone]

Just joined today and I'm loving this place!

40 y.o. from Canada

[2Cents]

32 years old, single mother bring up twin 13 yr old girls who are going down the path of ebil feminism. I am an Addictions Counselor as well as working towards a Masters in Indian Social Work. I was raised in a Pentecostal god fearing speaking in tongues church until I was old enough to rebel. To top it all off I was born and live in Canada.

[boysmom]

I'm mid-40's, a SAHM to 4 boys, I formerly worked as a Chemist in R&D (Bachelor's in Chem.) I have an MBA I've never been able to use and is dated and useless now. I'm in another master's program to become a speech pathologist, getting close to halfway done with that. I have all boys aged 15-7. I'm married and my husband is (finally) returning to the workforce as a sales rep. I'm Catholic and have been for life.

[Whydoyouask]

HI-

37 and hanging on to that number, single mommy to a great kiddo. Living in the southwest (and hating it). Not claiming religion. Homeschooling but ONLY because the schools here suck big time. (my kiddo takes online classes from CTY- if you know what that is great, if you don't, trust me, its NOT sotdrt)

I was obsessed with all things Duggar a few years ago, now I'm just obsessed with the whole fundie thing.

I should be WOH but jobs are scarce and hopefully I can plan my escape from the economic wasteland I am currently calling home.

Oh- I have a BA, MBA coursework and teaching certificate (but I really do NOT want to teach). I long to rejoin the ranks of corporate america. Maybe somewhere on the East coast.

[turtleyawesome]

This is my first post, but I've been "lurking" for a few weeks. I'm 24, married with 4 kids, and a SAHM. I am also a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.

I don't know much about fundies, was not raised in a seriously religious household, (my family is all christian, except for me and my brother, though.)

I have only seen 19 Kids and Counting a few times and just wanted to know how those people could seem so "Stepford-y." I thought for sure it was a front and wanted to find out, so googled it. I actually didn't find anything. Then someone posted a link to this site on a different forum I go to and I saw Josh's instagrams and had the answers I wanted. I was right.

Also, I've been looking into the Hephzibah House and was trying to figure out if anything had been done recently to close it down.

[bafleyanne]

Hey there. :) I'm Barbara, 36, originally from Tennessee but now living in Delaware. I am married and have 2 kids, a 10 year old boy and a 9 month old girl. I do a whole lot more lurking than posting, both here and on the previous board. :)

[sippin0nsunshine]

Hi :) I'm Megan, 20, from Maryland. No kids (except a fur child), Single, Studying for my GED, hopefully starting community college in fall.

I was raised pentecostal fundie lite (although my mother is Ukrainian Ortho.) - church every sunday and wednesday, skirts or dresses in church, no sex until marriage, no makeup, etc etc. But I'm a Public schooled, tank tops and basketball shorts wearing, hippie-esque child.

[Justvisiting]

I've been lurking for a couple of days and finally decided to post today. I'm married, 32, and I have three young boys.

I just wanted to say thank you for some of the things you've brought to light here. I am appalled by the nonsense and spiritual abuse that is going on behind many of these so called Christian practices. I am a Christian myself (Anglican, if you're interested), which makes this all so sickening to see truths I hold dear twisted and perverted to damage and control people. Also, you've helped me reexamine some of my own parenting practices that I might have picked up from this distorted way of thinking.

Thankfully, I wasn't raised in a fundamentalist home, although I did attend a small Christian school for several years which I'm sure had families who practiced these authority principles. And, though the one school I went to in Knoxville wasn't officially related to Gothard by any means, I now know some of the diagrams and charts we learned were from his materials. Add to that the fact that we live in the Seattle area, where we have our fair share of fundies-who-wear-hip-clothing, and I can get charged up over these things.

At any rate, I'm writing today with a little introduction and to thank you because reading this site helped me not waffle in a tiny incident that happened this week. In a non-denominatonal group my kids and I participate in, a little girl was made to get up in front of the whole class and an apology for some generic mistake was coaxed out of her. I know enough of the people who attend this group to know this was probably couched in "sin issue" and "rebellion", "repentance", and "authority" language. I'm furious with myself for not stopping it when it happened, because this little girl will have to live with the memory of being shamed in front of her peers, but I have now addressed it with the folks in charge of the organization and am hopeful that we might move forward and that parents will think twice before engaging their children (and other unwilling folks) in group discipline. !!!

All that to say, I might have hesitated or brushed it all off as parenting-I-don't-agree-with, but after reading some of the stories here I realized that it's these sort of small every day decisions that can impact a child's sense of self-worth and be tiny pieces of spiritual abuse that add up to worse things down the road.

[Justvisiting]

@Turtleyawesome. I was wondering the same thing about Hepzibah House. I cannot believe a place like that is still operational!

[jeansonly]

I'm 40 and from a small town in Michigan. I work as a library assistant in a college library and am married with an 11 yr old daughter. I'm an agnostic who stumbled upon the Maxwell's titus2 board many years ago after hearing them mentioned on a debate board at ivillage. I had never heard of people outside of the Amish living such a life. I was horrified and fascinated. I've followed them on and off over the years and have read about other fundie a bit.

[QueenSyd]

hi i'm a 19 year old fundie watcher :) i used to have a different username, but it was something i use elsewhere so i decided to ditch it since i hadn't posted much under it anyway. i am a christian, but i was raised to be very liberal minded about social issues, etc. so i am nowhere near like any of these crazies! unlike where i am from, there is lots of fundie stuff in the city where i am attending college and i would love to do some spying!

[chiccy]

Just had my 49th birthday. Married 26 yrs to a wonderful military man I've known for 49 years; we have 2 kids, 5 grandkids and several dogs. I've raised, trained and rescued purebred dogs almost all my life. I knit, crochet, cross-stitch, embroider and used to quilt (no more free time). I don't kayak as much as I used to since I developed fibromyalgia several years ago. Last week I was diagnosed with myofascial pain syndrome. I've had several types of migraines for decades and am also a Celiac. I have an MBA and am a petty beaurocrat working in Central Canada in a shortage human resources specialty for the federal government. I LOVE my work.

My gateway fundy was my Catholic first husband who refused to discuss number/spacing/planning of children on our marriage prep course, saying he preferred to "let God decide". Having been raised in a very liberal household, I didn't know what that meant. The marriage lasted less than 6 months. If I had to label myself spiritually I'd say I'm a neo-pagan witch and have ever been thus, even before I knew the label existed. I have a specific interest in Mormon fundamentalism and am very active on a blog devoted to the subject.

Terrasola, I know you from that blog! I like that blog too, and commented pretty frequently there until the show ended. My nickname was KodysFavorite. Good to see you here!

[sarahbrownie]

Hi, longtime lurker and fellow snarker.

I grew up in the Jesus Hippie movement, so I guess we were fundie-lite, but I just considered ourselves hippies. Homeschooled for years 1-5 (not SOTDRT!) My mom went to the Vision Forum LAF fundie when I was an adolescent. I remember a few years in HS where I was called "the girl in the denim skirt". I was apart of the S&S crowd for a while. Lots of historic costuming. :roll: My parents got divorce and that was the last of the denim skirt and church. There are a lot of issues there...not going to get into it. :violin: Went back to live with my Dad on the hippie commune after that and left the SAHD shit behind and decided to go to college. Mom's mainstream now, but still highly conservative.

Can't wait to snark!

[Arete]

I'm in my early 40s, live in the Northeast US, and work as an ebil scientist. Born and raised Greek Orthodox Christian, and still am, got to have my smells and bells in congregational prayer. :geek: Politically liberal. Lurked on the old board for a while, when I came back after many month saw that it had been raptured and then lurked here. No headship at the moment or children, but do meet the fundementalist stereotype of liberal single woman with cat/s. :P Duggars were my gateway fundies but it's the Maxwells that really scare me.

Nice to meet you all, I think this board is awesome.

[fluttershies]

23 in a week (the 20th), living with my parents in Hampshire, UK until university in September to study Politics in Northampton, UK. Anglican (think Episcopalian although I am probably sliiightly less liberal/high church than most US Episcopalian churches). My church doesn't do smells and bells but we do have candles and robes. Also a cute tortoiseshell cat who joins us on a Sunday morning :) The Dixons/Feelin' Feminine were my gateway fundies as at the time I was intrigued by the whole modest dress scene.

[MrsKay]

Canadian, 29 and holding, SAHM with high-functioning autism. I have three arrows in my quiver thus far. I have a 1 year old boy, a boy who will soon be 8, who has severe autism, and a girl who is going on 15, who is currently reading her way through my collection of books on all things Wiccan and Pagan. She's also Goth, and I support her evil ways both emotionally and financially (I'm the parent who buys the cool presents). We're what we call "open to life" - I have fertility issues, and we'll take what we can get in the way of babies, but that is subject to review at any time we see fit.

[NurseNell]

Canadian, 29 and holding, SAHM with high-functioning autism.

I love your avatar!!

[MrsKay]

Thanks - that's me as a fundy lol!

[bellicosebroad]

I'm 49, happily and permanently shacked up with my "husband" of four years. (We're not legally married, but at our age and status in life, "boyfriend/girlfriend" just doesn't quite cut it -- and yes, I explain that a lot, until someone comes up with a more suitable term.) We found each other pretty late in life (I was 45, he was almost 48), and both of us had been unattached for awhile, were absolutely sure we were destined to fly solo at that point and liking it just fine. My, how things change.

Sooo... at this point we're still just kind of giddy kids together, all of the advantages of "goofy in love" young marrieds with the financial stability of middle-aged folks at the same time. Neither of us has kids (and won't be having any), so we just dote on our cats and each other. Pretty nice life. :-)

I'm an "eclectic spiritualist," raised Lutheran but don't believe, dabbled in wiccanism, paganism, and Buddhism "just to see" what they were like, but eschew any organized religion on principle. I found FJ when I was looking for information about poor Josiah's possible "fault" in Michelle's miscarriage. Had heard it mentioned somewhere, but couldn't find why he was blamed.

[Wickedwickedwitch]

37 and steadily increasing. Parent through adoption. Pastafarian and licensed from the Church of he Flying Spaghetti Monster to marry. Live in the SE but from the SW. When I am not at my real job, I sew and sew.

Really glad to have found this site- been complaining about fundie crap for years. Guess I was not alone.

[ElijahsMama807]

Ehhh what the hell. :lol:

Hey y'all.. I'm Jennifer, aka ElijahsMama807. I'm the proud mother of a four year old son, I'm self-employed (home child care), currently taking cake decorating classes, and engaged to a wonderful man that I will be marrying this June who loves me and loves my son. I'm 37 years old, and live about 40 minutes away from St. Louis, MO. Was raised Catholic but I'm not practicing, I like to snark on the Duggars and the Bates family, and most of all I am glad to have found FJ :)

Favorite things: watching WWE wrestling, reading, cooking and baking, going to coffeehouses and restaurants, collecting Betty Boop stuff, going online, shopping, taking photos, and spending time with my family, son, and my fiance.

[PurpleGlinda]

Hey, I’m a female (duh!), I’m 19 and I live in Southwest MO, so yes, I probably run into a lot of people you might consider fundy. I live at home with my parents and two younger brothers. My older brother’s in Afghanistan with the Army. I’m currently a university student, so I don’t have a job. All of us kids were homeschooled, and we oldest three have gotten our GED, because we used mixed curriculum, and, as my mom put it, ‘the GED satisfies everybody.’ I got mine at 16, and then went on to get two Associates from a junior college. I’m working on a Bachelor’s now, and considering something in dental. I’ve been raised my whole life in church (Assemblies of God), and my parents pastored till I was about 10. But we’ve never been in very radical churches, and according to “Pastor†Anderson, my family and I are false teachers… :roll: We do have modesty standards, but we like to keep with the times. Frumpers make me wanna curl up and die. We usually wear skirts, but we do wear capris when we ride bikes and exercise at Curves, and I wear shorts when I swim. The men in the family have modesty standards, too: my dad’s never acted like he’s exempt. We’re not too fundy, though: my mom has her Bachelor’s and is working on her Master’s, I’m currently obsessed with Wicked after seeing it last summer, my dad loves Fiddler on the Roof, and my brothers play Halo. I found Free Jinger originally while Internet-searching for people who weren't enthralled with the Duggars, Michael and Debi Pearl, and Vision Forum. I’m interested in things like knitting/crochet, my 7 year old Pom, singing, acting, reading, and musicals.

Oh, and I’ve met Jill, and I’ve played broomball with JB, Joy-Anna, and most of the boys.

[Witsec7]

[quote="PurpleGlinda"...

Oh, and I’ve met Jill, and I’ve played broomball with JB, Joy-Anna, and most of the boys.