Introduce Yourself - Part 2

[SledCat]

I should have added a greeting before posting. Hello! I've been lurking for a couple of years at least, I think (I saw a reference to the site on the now defunct TWoP).

While I find the Duggar topics fascinating, I can relate to some of the other fundies here a bit more. Especially those with an IFB flavor. I grew up IFB in Australia (but, have lived in the US for many years). I consider myself a secular humanist now, but it's almost cathartic for me to know that I wasn't the only one that grew up in a bit of a "strange" way.  I always hold out hope that some of the kids from these families will break free, at least a little bit. Not necessarily from religion, of course. Just from some of their constraints: pursue education and a career; put off kids/marriage for a bit; maybe move out of the family house (for a start!), etc.

I am currently owned by a wonderful retired racing greyhound. Hope to have another cat in my life soon (my old kitty recently went to the bridge, sadly). Look forward to seeing you around the forum.

[Terahlyanwe]

Hello! 

I've been lurking on the fj boards for a few years now, though I never made an account, and finally decided to dip my feet in the pond.

I was raised fundie by a crazy woman - dad kept her slightly sane but he died when I was 12 and boy did that ever unleash the insanity - and am now happily liberal, atheist, freeeeeee.

Anywho, one of six kids, full on prepare-to-be-a-helpmeet-no-college-for-you fundie raising. Was told at age 15 that it was time for me to find a godly husband, was not even allowed to get my highschool diploma.

I now find fundamentalism to be interesting in terms of psychology and culture, and am working towards feeling sorry for my mum instead of just loathing her. Loathing is where I'm at now. 

I'm 21, sometimes-a-student (when I am, I'm an Aviation Science major), ski & snowboard instructor, mainly read, write, crochet, and bing watch Doctor Who in my spare time. Cheers!

[Jeebusismycopilot]

Hello!

Another long time lurker. I finally decided to take the leap and create an account. Fairly shy and quiet.I live in Toronto Ontario Canada and I was raised in an Anglican household and attended a Jewish school.  I started lurking on here a while ago and became more interested when I started teaching and had a family pull their children out of our school because we weren't providing them with the christian education they were expecting.  I'm engaged to a wonderful man and I am living in sin! Shock! Horror! 

 

I look forward to participating more as I get a bit more comfortable. Cheers!

[CrazyLurkerLady]

I'm finally posting on FreeJinger! I have been a lurker for years (hence the name). I became a serious reader when I discovered the epic saga of XGay Greg and Dede. I finally created an account the day Joshgate 2 happened. I am now trying desperately to catch up, but I'm a single mom and work full-time, so I can't keep up. I'm on page 14 of thread 3. I'm afraid to look and see how many threads there are now!

[thebestusername]

Hey everybody I'm new here. I have been lurking here for a while and decided I wanted to actively join this terrific community.

[Fascinated]

I would like to welcome everyone. I am so impressed with all of your usernames - I totally sucked at that.  I do want to give a shout out to @courtlylove, because that name is insanely good. But, I've taken notice of all of you and look forward to conversing with you in your favourite threads. (I feel like many of you are not here just to talk about the Duggars, which is fantastic!). 

[hauntedoklahoma]

Hi everyone. I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to wade in and test the waters. I live in Oklahoma. I'm an almost 30 year old woman and I do a lot of crafting (knit/crochet/quilting) when I'm not on the internet.

 

I look forward to getting to know everyone! 

[Shouldabeenacowboy]

Hello everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. Since the beginning of time, I have been fascinated (in the philosophical sense) with "extreme" lifestyles, of which there is an abundance in a lot of different religions. In particular, the question I've been asking myself is what possesses people to get "suckered in" and stick with these all-absorbing ideologies/beliefs. I am equally fascinated (again, in the philosophical sense) by orthodox Judaism, radical Islam, Opus Dei, amish, fundamentalist latter-day saints, and of course protestant fundiedom. With perhaps the exception of radical Islam, I have observed that, in general, the United States is more prone to having and exporting these more radical religious lifestyles. I am not sure why, but if I had to venture a guess, I'd say because of the history of this country, open to all kinds of cultures, thoughts, freedom of speech and no "official religion", and with a lot of space for "alternative" folks to do their own thing and fly under the radar. 

I am glad I found FJ, which I now read regularly together with other sites to continue my exploration of what's out there. I still have not answered my own question of what brings people to these lifestyles. I have a few ideas though  I am also very interested in people who leave fundiedom.

Thanks for creating and maintaining this space!

[Yes, TOTALLY]

Hi everyone,

First time posting, finally made an account after lurking here for about a year. I found freejinger through google, trying to find some discussion on the quiverfull movement as it pertained to the Duggars. I have always been fascinated by cults and fundamentalists (in an anthropological sense) and I felt sure that the Duggars weren't the wholesome, happy family that they presented themselves as. I'm from NZ, am 24 and am not religious.

[Diggingupdirt]

Hello everyone! I'm a 34 year old female from the US who just could never understand what was going on with the Duggars and why the children blindly follow whatever their parents said. And Jim Boob always gave me the creeps.I just googled and found free jinger and I'm so surprised how many fundy families are out there. I'm going down the rabbit hole!!!

[Mrsaztx]

Hi everybody! I found this site on a link...somewhere. I was probably kicking around in the muck that is everything josh-related on the gossip sites (I'm ashamed of myself, but I'll get over it). I'm having so. much. fun. here. I have relatives that were, for about 15 years, inexplicably fundie and this site has answered so many questions I had about them, i.e. How did a completely normal-seeming woman figure out how to so thoroughly brainwash her children and husband prior to the Internet? Ah! There are books on the topic. Weird... Anyway I'm so excited to learn more about this nonsense and, of course, to get wine drunk and talk about these awful Duggar specials! cheers!

[Madbetty]

Hi from Ireland, 

I have been a member for a few months after lurking a good while! I found the site while googling a fundie family. Here in Ireland we are not over run by fundies, just your day to day Catholics, and they are getting fewer! I have noticed though that a lost of Pentecostal and evangelical church's are springing up in some towns and they seem to be well received, not sure if the 'holy marys ' approve though. I have read a fair amount of the FJ archives and an often shocked,amazed and alarmed in equal amounts! 

I am wondering if anyone has come across a blog called Deo Volente ? I am fairly appalled by what I have read 're the child care displayed not to mention the gun totting and animal husbandry! A new baby has just arrived too.She doesn't believe in any prenatal or much post natal care either.I could go on but won't.. it doesn't seem so hate filled as Ireland's only fundie blog Hearts Desire, although Sarah had toned the whole thing down now?  

Enjoying my reading and learning here! 

[samurai_sarah]

Welcome to all newbies! Glad you found us! I'm looking forward to your contributions.

[Loki]

Hello everyone! Like many of you, I've been lurking quietly and enjoying reading all the fascinating discussions, but I've wanted to actually join in lots of times, so I've joined  and now I can add my twopence worth yay!!

I'm in the south east coast of England and was brought up in a Baptist Church but am now a practicing wiccan, a fact that I'm sure would send my old church congregation into an absolute tizzy.

I found this site because I am fascinated by religion. We don't have the same high profile fundies here, so it was a concept I wasn't familiar with but I've thoroughly enjoyed finding out about them. I loved this site as soon as I found it, everyone is so funny and articulate and I like the way a discussion into one subject will morph into something completely different

I'm looking forward to getting to know you all, blessings, Melanie 

 

[TequilaMockingbird]

Hello everyone.  

Wanted to make an introductory post before I jumped into any topics.  Like so many of you, I've lurked for a long time, fascinated with the subjects and families talked about here.   

I came upon the Duggars on TLC when I was watching some other show and couldn't find the remote to change the channel, and was so fascinated, that I binge watched a bunch of it that week on Netflix(they've since taken it off).   Of course I was ALL OVER Google about them, thinking it was all a put on, and found this board.   Been a lurker ever since, wondering how so many of you were reading my mind.  

Looking forward to finally posting and getting into the conversations if you'll let me, and finally having someone else besides my dog to share my snark with!

[Muskrat]

Thank you for accepting me as a new member. I've been reading and getting lost in this world for several months now. I think it was February of last year that I stumbled upon FJ. I had the flu (ironically, I'm trying to get over the flu right now) and I had been watching a Duggar show on TLC to pass the time away. It made me curious about who the Duggars really were, not just the TLC version. I wanted to know more about them. I came across DWOP and FJ quite quickly, started to read and haven't stopped since. Although I don't read DWOP anymore. I find your place way more interesting! 

I actually stopped watching TLC after Jill's wedding first aired. It was an episode about JB and JD going on a ride in JD's patrol car or something. JB was told not to leave the car while JD was doing a patrol check but good, old, goofy JB didn't listen and went off in search of junk food. It was so stupid and so boring I turned it off, looked up TLC, wrote an e-mail telling them that I thought it was time they moved on from these stupid reality shows. I took TLC off my TV list and have never looked at it since. Then all of this Josh stuff blew up. I watched it all go down on here.

But my interest has long since wandered away from the Duggars. There is so much on here and I've fallen down so many rabbit holes and have spent more hours reading when I should have been sleeping, cleaning and doing other chores instead. But that's okay. Everything gets done eventually! Right now I'm fascinated by Miss Raquel. She's a nightmare that's still cooking (by that I mean young, growing(?) and highly influenced) which makes her even scarier for what is yet to come. Jill Rodrigues has had my attention for a long time. She's crazy! Cabinetman. He was super crazy!!! The one I dislike the most is Lori Alexander. She makes me angry. I can't even read about her and I won't click on her. I commented on her blog once, using my real name because I didn't care if she knew who I was, and I never looked back at her again. She uses the bible to be a snob. Many of them do but she gets my hackles up like no other.

I'm sorry I wrote so much. I thought about condensing it but I'll just leave it as is. It's probably the most I'll ever write. Maybe.

Oh, I'll explain why I chose the username Muskrat because it's not exactly the most endearing animal out there but I suppose muskrats are people too ;). On New Year's Day my daughter looked out the living room window and said "What the hell is that coming out of the back alley?" It was a muskrat wandering nonchalantly down our street, sniffing at a tire here and a lump of snow there. We stayed inside and watched it go on it's own merry way. I think they can be mean little devils. Hopefully a dog didn't cross it's path. We live in a small town on the edge of a wetland so I suppose it lost it's way or something. My husband thought maybe it was stumbling home from a New Year's Eve party. Anyway, we decided it must be the year of the Muskrat and that's why I chose it for a name. Apparently, some First Nations people believe the muskrat means good fortune and a successful hunt. So may you all have good fortune and a successful hunt in 2016!

[Archer]

I'm really excited to finally be able to post here!

I'm Archer, and I'm from Texas. I was raised Catholic, but deconverted after many years of questioning everything. Now I'm a happy atheist who also happens to be gay and transgender. Most importantly, I'm a veterinarian which is the greatest job ever (not biased at all).

I've always had an odd fascination with the Duggar family. Ever since they had their first TLC special, I couldn't stop thinking about them. At first it was just "wow that's crazy" and it led to "wow that's crazy". I first heard about FJ many years ago when I had a friend in the facebook group who was talking about it. And I decided to come here and join in on the madness after everything happened with Josh and I just, unfortunately, needed more of this family. I'm grossly fascinated by them and fundies...I just wanted to get it, but now I realize you can't. There's no logic or reason behind any of this. 

Anyway I'm really looking forward to being able to post here and meet some of the posters who have been making me laugh at my monitor for a few weeks now. Hopefully I'll get dragged even deeper down this rabbit hole. 

[samurai_sarah]

Hi Everyone! Looking forward to reading your posts!

[Tarantula_Mom]

Hello, everyone!

Like most, I found Free Jinger while Googling the Josh Duggar scandal after it broke, and I've been lurking ever since. It didn't take me long to discover that there are families far more interesting than the Duggars discussed here, and I've wasted entirely too many evenings reading your archives.

I was homeschooled for academic reasons, which brought me in contact with a lot of fundies and fundie lites as a child, though the people discussed here are a level beyond anything I ever saw. It's terrifying.

I chose my username because I treat my pet tarantulas pretty much the way these fundies treat their kids. I stack them like cordwood and feed them two or three times a week. Except they have heat and fresh water, so they're better off than the poor Naugler kids.

Anyway, looking forward to joining in the discussions!

[Front Hugging Fiend]

Hey hi hello! 20 years old, female, sucker for hugging of the frontal-kind (heathen!!!) and Australian. Long time lurker on and off since the yuku days, though my initial lurkings were based on a fascination with the Duggars based on their show. 

Raised Catholic but never really 'got' it or believed it. Took Study of Religion at school and learned heaps about a bunch of religions and faiths, which led me to a deeper fascination with the dangerous cult-like fundamentalism.

I should clarify that my fascination is not at all positive. I just find some interest in picking apart the ridiculous/problematic elements of fundamentalism, particularly as it pertains to the indoctrination of children and homeschooling/education shortfalls. 

Wow. So much fun.

Can't believe I'm finally taking the plunge and posting as a member. I've been lurking for so long... Bear with me. Keen to get involved and get to know you guys.

[LittleSpouseOnThePrairie]

Hi everyone! I love snark and I've been a frequent participant of other fundie and Duggar-related blogs for a long time. I recently migrated to FJ because the members' posts here are far more insightful, eloquent, and intelligent than where I have been. I enjoy the freedom of varied opinions, and heaping piles of wit. :-)

I grew up a Christian with liberal viewpoints and feel like with that dichotomy I don't quite fit in anywhere. I hate how fundies make all Christians look like absolute bat-shit crazy weirdos... Not all are, at least I don't think I am. I too think religious fundamentalism is dangerous and damaging. 

I am happy to be member now, and thanks for being so welcoming and user-friendly!

p.s. I think it's funny/ironic that my iPad keeps correcting fundie to "fun die"

[withaj]

15 hours ago, LittleSpouseOnThePrairie said:

Hi everyone! I love snark and I've been a frequent participant of other fundie and Duggar-related blogs for a long time. I recently migrated to FJ because the members' posts here are far more insightful, eloquent, and intelligent than where I have been. I enjoy the freedom of varied opinions, and heaping piles of wit. :-)

I grew up a Christian with liberal viewpoints and feel like with that dichotomy I don't quite fit in anywhere. I hate how fundies make all Christians look like absolute bat-shit crazy weirdos... Not all are, at least I don't think I am. I too think religious fundamentalism is dangerous and damaging. 

I am happy to be member now, and thanks for being so welcoming and user-friendly!

p.s. I think it's funny/ironic that my iPad keeps correcting fundie to "fun die"

I am in love with your username. That is all.

Welcome  

[THERetroGamerNY]

Hey all.

I write my own retro gaming blog. Have a Steam account... Stream games... 

I'm an optimisticly-spiritual nihilist (this is a thing).

I'm a professional digital artist.

i came here because of a gazebo in Nebraska, and me and this one terrifically-sweet girl were in it, all long-skirted and courtshippy-like... And I had a panic attack and ran.

Bacon is my help meat.

Oh, and I have Mitochondrial disease... Probably kill me from organ failure someday. Until then: Pacman!

[TacoCat]

I've already kinda introduced myself in the sense that Curious and Fascinated (still starstruck, btw) replied to me in the AYTFJ poll, but hello to everyone! I've been reading here off and on for about 3 years now. After JoshGate I came by more often, but the old software was always slow for me. So, when I saw that the site would be overhauled, I finally registered. 

Anyways.
I'm 25, married to my high school sweetheart, live in Alabama, and have two beautiful cat children, Horatio and Loki. They are our overloads and saviors. I live with fibromyalgia, chronic depression, and GAD. I identify as bisexual. I'm a child abuse survivor. My health and orientation are things I don't feel comfortable or have any interest talking to people close to me, so I'm disclosing this more to find support or folks to chat with, especially my fibromyalgia.  
I am FINALLY going back to school after a long, sad, and boring story that I won't tell here. I'm pretty fucking stoked to be going back! 

I come from a rather unusual upbringing compared to most people in my state in terms of religion. My dad's side are Episcopalians and my mom's side (excluding my mom) are strict Baptists. I have some interesting experiences, good and bad, from it all. I'd say I'm a liberal Christian, still like Episcopal doctrine the most, and not much of a church goer. That's mostly because I'm not a morning person and I like being a lazy sack of shit. 

Uhh, what else? I have a huge variety of interests (and obsessions) which mostly stem from my love of learning and reading. I'm lewd, crude, and tattooed, but always polite. Because nice matters, ya fucktrucks.

My name was a bit of a throwaway. But I do love cats and tacos and my choice had absolutely nothing with it being a palindrome. And, yes, my avatar is Dame Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall smoking a joint.  

Peace, Love, and Cats to all. And if you don't like cats, you haven't met mine.  

[SpurgeonSquarepants]

Hi Everyone!

As many have mentioned before me, I was also a long time lurker, well over a year now, more like 2, but not since the Yuku days. My journey with fundamentalism is due to receiving a copy of Baby wise after my 1st child was born in 2008 by some sweet, yet slightly pushy Christian neighbors. I started to read and was horrified with the content - me and SO burned it in the fireplace.

What church gives out copies of The Message? Whatever it is, it's what they are. Mom stayed at home but did not homeschool, one child adopted due to thinking they were infertile,  then comes a boy, and boy/girl twins. Dad was, quite litterally, a professional grifter for donations regarding missions trips.

My (non-practicing) Episopalian brain couldn't understand any of this...I really had no idea really what I had stumbled upon, but what a great resource FJ is, truly. This has opened my eyes to so many more issues than I could have ever comprehended and those of you who have survived some of these things - YOU are my heroes.

So super good to be here!