Close Encounters of the Fundie Kind

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

Soooo, I came here bc I had a close encounter. My son was selling his crafts at the end of our driveway and 2 very odd people stopped. They looked like teenagers but they were dressed too neatly - for lack of a better term. They bought something from my boy and I talked to the wife for a minute - she was wearing a ring. Well, they paid by check. And its a new little quiverful family right in my backyard! The husband is the son of the founder of Patrick Henry College and the HSLDA. So fun. She's preggers with their first bb and she just turned 19.

:popcorn2:

[tuckerphez]

From a text conversation with a friend:

[paganhomeschooler]

A girl I went to high school with has evidently married into some bible banger family. She was never overtly religious that I remember in school. Her husband moved her cross country. He left some big wig marketing kind of job to work for a church as a youth pastor. Moved her when she was PG to the lovely heat of AZ. 0.o That was with baby #2. She had already quit her acceptable schoolteacher position after the birth of baby #1. She is now pregnant with baby #3, and will have 3, 3 and under. Today, when my cousin asked a breastfeeding question on FB, she gave the advice of putting almost 3-week-old baby on a strict schedule and that my cousin should check out Babywise. :angry-banghead: I promptly messaged my cousin and begged her not to touch that drivel with a 10-foot pole. I threw in TTuaC is even worse for good measure, just in case high school friend tries to recommend that one, too. :penguin-no:

[Violet]

Saw fundies outside the Bullring in Birmingham today. I think they were one big family - they looked alike. All the women were dressed in skirts to just below the knee and they all had their hair up in buns. They were singing (not very well!) and had a table with a sign about evangalising on it.

[Kellbells]

I went to college in Greenville, SC, the home of Bob Jones University. I waited tables my senior year and every time BJU students came in, they'd leave us tracts. Sometimes with a tip, sometimes not.

They'd also walk Main St near the bars on weekend nights handing them out. We were always curious how that worked with their curfew. It got to be a big joke with us as we'd act drunk(er) and flirt with the intention to try to bring them over to the dark side. They'd offer to talk to us and we'd offer to do it over a drink. :) We were sadly never successful.

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I am pretty sure I saw a fundie family today, though it was quite unremarkable as far as encounters go. We day-tripped to Newport, RI for July 4th stuff, and at one point we were walking and I was looking down and saw a little girl, probably no more than 4, wearing a long skirt, a t-shirt, and a long-sleeved shirt. Then I looked up and saw her older sister, a young teen, in a similar outfit and with long wavy hair. They were with their dad. Now, I'm not certain they were fundie, but nobody else walks around Newport, RI on a hot summer day like that, especially not a 4-y/o old girl.

[belly_button]

I live in NWA and was at an outdoor shopping center yesterday. I ran into a woman in niqab. While I do occasionally see women wearing hijab here in this area, I've never seen any in niqab or burka.

[fakepigtails73]

Today in court, I whipped out my cellphone in the courthouse hallway as a fundie family (long denim skirts, sneakers, etc..) walked by. The mom actually stopped nearby and she pointed at me and told her kids, "Cellphones are of the devil! There's no telling what people might be doing in here on one of those things."

Um...giving my lost client directions? :?

Mighty rude of her to point at you!

My mom raised me to never, ever point directly at people. As I live in a fairly big city I lost a bit of my manners, sadly, but I always remember never to point at someone.

Speaking of fundie encounters...I noticed that 9 times out of 10 the fundies I encounter have terrible manners. Whether they are fundie christians, salafi islamists, Hassidics or SSPX Catholics they often act like having good manners is optional, at least towards us hellbound sinners... :pink-shock:

[fakepigtails73]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Which one of the boy teletubbies is it that carries a purse? Some Fundies think that he's an ebil gay.

Until this past weekend at the Maxwell conference I would have said there were no Fundies around here.

But if anyone from this neck of the woods is ever in Costco and sees a chubby woman in her late fifties dressed like a Fundie, with a bandana as a headcovering on really bad hairs days, and pushing a cart loaded with 2 or 3 massive bags of dog food . . . that is not a Fundie, its ME! Say Hi! :D

Jerry Falwell stated such idiocy in the late 90s. :wtf:

[Hane]

Not Falwell himself, but one of his minions.

[nokidsmom]

A girl I went to high school with has evidently married into some bible banger family. She was never overtly religious that I remember in school. Her husband moved her cross country. He left some big wig marketing kind of job to work for a church as a youth pastor. Moved her when she was PG to the lovely heat of AZ. 0.o That was with baby #2. She had already quit her acceptable schoolteacher position after the birth of baby #1. She is now pregnant with baby #3, and will have 3, 3 and under.

paganhomeschooler, this part of your story on your friend reminds me of cousin's girlfriend, who is also a schoolteacher and is being prevailed upon to quit and move to be with him. I can see a similar fate for her if she does this.

Cousin is 43, has been on and off fundie, but it's back on "on" now for a number of years. Left job as a union plumber after spending years in apprenticeship to go to some bible college in another state to become a preacher. He completed his apprenticeship and within months decided to chuck it and do the preacher thing. He was at this bible school for 2 years then came back to area and struggled because he couldn't find a full time preacher position (he's part time at his church) and apparently made enemies with the plumbers union so can't do the union plumbing work. Moved in with his mother and now is living in a condo that a family member rented to him since it couldn't sell in the lousy real estate market. He finally found a full time position at landscaping company.

He recently met a woman, a teacher, after visiting friends out of state. This is his first girlfriend that we have ever known of. She lives in a city 500 miles away and meets all his "requirements" such has never been married. She's mid-30s. He is expecting her to move to where he lives which is going to mean quitting her teaching job. I don't know if her job is with a public or private school but even though I haven't met her, I have concerns that she may giving up a decent position given my cousin's recent track record with jobs and pissing people off. It should be interesting to see what happens.

[PennySycamore]

I went to college in Greenville, SC, the home of Bob Jones University. I waited tables my senior year and every time BJU students came in, they'd leave us tracts. Sometimes with a tip, sometimes not.

They'd also walk Main St near the bars on weekend nights handing them out. We were always curious how that worked with their curfew. It got to be a big joke with us as we'd act drunk(er) and flirt with the intention to try to bring them over to the dark side. They'd offer to talk to us and we'd offer to do it over a drink. :) We were sadly never successful.

Did you go to Furman perchance? I went to Furman in the 90s and early Aughts/Two Thousands as a returning adult day student majoring in biology. I was older than some of my profs. If I ever donate a bunch of money to Furman, I won't leave a dime towards upkeep of the grounds. It will go towards making sure there are working pencil sharpeners in Plyler Hall.

[paganhomeschooler]

nokidsmom: Oh no! I hope she gets away. :( It's really sad because I always liked O. in high school. She was in my cousin's class, but they were just a year younger than me. We went to a really small school, so everyone hung out with everyone. It's alarming to me to see so many of the people I had respect for in high school are now bat shit crazy on FB. I don't know WTH happened to people! Glad I didn't drink that water. The funniest one for me is the guy who introduced me to paganism is now a born again Xtian and spouts bible crap all the time. I've thought about reminding him of that fact, but figured it's not worth the waste of my time.

[Kellbells]

Did you go to Furman perchance? I went to Furman in the 90s and early Aughts/Two Thousands as a returning adult day student majoring in biology. I was older than some of my profs. If I ever donate a bunch of money to Furman, I won't leave a dime towards upkeep of the grounds. It will go towards making sure there are working pencil sharpeners in Plyler Hall.

Yes, I did. It sounds like we were there during the same time period too. Ironically, I made the same comment about not donating towards the ground upkeep and a friend who works there let me know that the grounds fund is an endowed fund. That so figures! If I ever donate, it would be tied to in person delivery to me in NC of one of those chicken Caesar wraps from the pden!

[nokidsmom]

nokidsmom: Oh no! I hope she gets away. :( It's really sad because I always liked O. in high school. She was in my cousin's class, but they were just a year younger than me. We went to a really small school, so everyone hung out with everyone. It's alarming to me to see so many of the people I had respect for in high school are now bat shit crazy on FB. I don't know WTH happened to people! Glad I didn't drink that water. The funniest one for me is the guy who introduced me to paganism is now a born again Xtian and spouts bible crap all the time. I've thought about reminding him of that fact, but figured it's not worth the waste of my time.

@ paganhomeschooler: Frankly, I hope she does too. It's sad as well, as I think my cousin is happy and I know my aunt has been wanting to see him settled given he's had absolutely no girlfriends around in years if ever, but his insistence that she be the one to move and give up all just galls me. I have no idea what she teaches, whether it's public or private school, what level, or anything, but I am guessing that if she's in the public school system, it's been for over 10 years so she would be giving up a lot. And no way to expect to start over in our local districts; given reductions in tax revenues, no one is hiring teachers and in fact, some of our schools have laid teachers off.

He's made some really dumb job decisions; he spent years apprendicing to be journeyman plumber, but as soon as he made that, within months he chucked it for bible college. Tried to make a go of plumbing again after no go on a full time preaching position but seems that he's blacklisted or something. So I have serious concerns about how they are going to fare if she actually moves and he's ruined a potentially lucrative occupation over picking the wrong battles. Probably over something that wasn't "biblical" enough to him. Typical fundie job idiocy. :angry-banghead:

ETA: I know the above sounds terrible, but I am all for any woman who can avoid a fundie marriage and all that it can bring. And that includes marrying the one in my family. Have no patience for it and I would rather see my cousin stay single for the rest of his life, even if he's miserable, than put a woman through that BS. Yeah, I have a pretty strong opinion on it.

[Aunt Bee]

My first post. Ahem, clears throat. I saw a band of fundie women in Yellowstone park at a viewpoint. They were wearing flowery cotton dresses, white snoods, and clutching sweaters tightly around themselves. I notice most were wearing sturdy brown shoes, but one was wearing flip flops. It was so fricken cold, I was wearing a down jacket. There were some head ships as well, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time looking at any of them because the scenery was more lovely than they were interesting.

At temple square in Salt Lake City, I saw and spoke to a family with 6 children under the age of 8. They were getting professional photos done. None of the little boys cracked a smile, but two of the little girls were chatty. The boys were in suits and ties, even the baby, and the girls were in cheap somewhat tattered dresses. Of course they all matched in blue. The mom said "they had all been so good they could now have apple slices".

The young girl missionaries chatted me up until they asked my religion. Then the excused themselves and left. No hope for atheists such as I.

[paganhomeschooler]

That is just crazy! I know teaching jobs are slim pickin's around here. One of my good friends has been trying to get an elementary job for over 8 years, if not over 10 by now. Most of our schools are also laying off or at least not hiring a replacement when someone retires.

I don't blame you for being harsh one bit! I wouldn't wish a fundie marriage on anyone.

[nokidsmom]

That is just crazy! I know teaching jobs are slim pickin's around here. One of my good friends has been trying to get an elementary job for over 8 years, if not over 10 by now. Most of our schools are also laying off or at least not hiring a replacement when someone retires.

I don't blame you for being harsh one bit! I wouldn't wish a fundie marriage on anyone.

Love my cousin, but his fundie views really blind him to how the world works. He should know better but I think the fundie stuff helps him cope with a chaotic upbringing and a life that has been overall disappointing to him. He just insists on things going a certain way because it's "biblical" and doesn't seem to learn any lessons from mistakes made because of this thinking. It's one thing for him to do it but to cause this woman to do the same to herself is what bothers me.

If they break up I will be quietly relieved.

[laura oz]

A few months ago I had to go to the dentist and posted about my encounter in an Arndt thread. The dentist witnessed to me for 2 hours, and I tried to get him to admit he was a patriarchal fundie, but he was so nice I let his nonresponse slide. I thought he was the only dentist in town, but now we have someone new. I've been dreading going back cause he made me really uncomfortable, and his assistant was whispering telling me that the girls in his large family were SAHD, etc...you know the usual. He invited my husband, kids, and me to his church, and ever since then I've been making excuses so I don't have to have Titus2 or Proverbs 31 read to me again. I'm making an appointment with the new guy to get my teeth fixed. Now excuse me while I do a little dance and a little cheer! :dance: :dance: :dance:

Fast as fast can be, that fundie will never catch me! :auto-dirtbike:

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

A few months ago I had to go to the dentist and posted about my encounter in an Arndt thread. The dentist witnessed to me for 2 hours, and I tried to get him to admit he was a patriarchal fundie, but he was so nice I let his nonresponse slide. I thought he was the only dentist in town, but now we have someone new. I've been dreading going back cause he made me really uncomfortable, and his assistant was whispering telling me that the girls in his large family were SAHD, etc...you know the usual. He invited my husband, kids, and me to his church, and ever since then I've been making excuses so I don't have to have Titus2 or Proverbs 31 read to me again. I'm making an appointment with the new guy to get my teeth fixed. Now excuse me while I do a little dance and a little cheer! :dance: :dance: :dance:

Fast as fast can be, that fundie will never catch me! :auto-dirtbike:

I remember that story! So glad you found another dentist. The unprofessionalism is mind-blowing.

[Bethella]

I remember that story! So glad you found another dentist. The unprofessionalism is mind-blowing.

Once you've seen the other dentist you might want to send a letter or call the fundy dentist to tell him exactly why you've switched practices. If he realizes he's loosing patients over his witnessing he might actually stop.

[laura oz]

Once you've seen the other dentist you might want to send a letter or call the fundy dentist to tell him exactly why you've switched practices. If he realizes he's loosing patients over his witnessing he might actually stop.

I'm usually an easy going person, and avoid confrontation, but I like this suggestion.

PS I have to brag just a little about this: Curious got my avatar to work & ain't it CUTE! Now I feel like a real board member cause I have an avatar that doesn't just say Yawsome (I was jealous of y'all who had avatars, yeah, I confess it). And I actually decided to put down my real location. I'm feeling all nice and cozy here now :wink-kitty:

[lizziesmom]

I'd also post about him on sites like Angie's list or web sites rating dentists so future unsuspecting patients are forewarned. :pray:

[nokidsmom]

Re: the dentist, that is very unprofessional. Not to mention it sounds like it took a lot of his time as well as yours. Wonder what his patient numbers are like that he can take that kind of time.

His job is to do dentistry not soul win for Jebus. If he wants to do that, then maybe he should quit and go door to door like the PP or something.

Glad you found someone else.

[HereticHick]

I grew up in the Smoky Mountains a few hours north of Bob Jones U., and there were always stories about Bob Jones students coming up on weekends & trying to go whitewater rafting in spring in dresses (when the proper attire is a wetsuit--the water is very cold) or in winter trying to ski in long skirts with ski pants underneath. In both situations, the long skirts were considered dangerous by the raft or ski guides. Even though the Smokies are very conservative, many folks though Bob Jones U. was a little too crazy for their taste.

And don't get us started on their former interracial dating prohibition!

PS I would also post about the biblethumping dentist on as many social media ratings sites as possible--Angie's List, Yelp, and everything else you can find!