Fundie ad in mainstream magazine

[darkplumaged]

I was dismayed to see a full-page ad for the "The Art of Homemaking" conference given by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the latest issue of Southern Lady magazine. (The title makes the magazine sound sort of absurd, but it's just a lifestyle/decorating/cooking magazine with lots of pretty photos.)

Here's the link to the conference site: swbts.edu/riley-center/conferences/the-art-of-homemaking-conference/

The Art of Homemaking Conference will focus on topics such as: God's paradigm for the homemaker, the impact of feminism on the home, spiritual formation through family worship and more.

Sigh...

In case that description didn't grab you, perhaps a talk by JChelle will! She's such a blessing. Check out an excerpt from her bio:

The Duggars, who married in 1984, began their marriage using the birth control pill. After Michelle conceived and miscarried while on the pill, though, the couple realized that the pill does not keep a woman from conceiving 100 percent of the time, and that when it fails to do so, the medicine often forces the woman’s body to miscarry. The Duggars were grieved. From that point on, the couple decided to leave family planning to the Lord, asking Him to show them how to love children like He does and trusting Him to give them the right number of children.

Quadruple sigh. They are still trotting out this Pill BS like it's true, like it happened yesterday, and like it's the most salient fact about their family. Nineteen living children, and a miscarriage she had 25 years ago gets more coverage than all of the kids combined.

It's unnerving that nonfundies will see this ad and think it's just an ordinary Christian conference. I see plenty of less formal evidence (mostly on blogs) that fundie influence is seeping into evangelical Christianity. Now they're advertising their conferences in regular old newsstand magazines. What's next?

[Drina Adams]

When they decided the pill wasn't for them, did they never think of condoms? Or were they so stupid they just went from the pill to babydom?

[Marianne]

These are not magazines choosing advertisements. Here, the Nouvel Observateur (a magazine that helped legalize abortion in 1975 by publishing a list of 345 sluts who aborted") has published an advertisement for a pro-life foundation. It was a scandal.

But it is true that it is shocking to find that in a mainstream magazine. It is especially dangerous... (and this is why I only read newspapers that say they're atheists and anti-religious/secularists)

[darkplumaged]

I don't really blame the magazine. I'm sure the publisher was happy to get the ad dollars, and I'd bet that plenty of the readers consider themselves to be "Christian homemakers," so on its face, it seems like a relevant ad.

I guess I have to give the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary a tiny bit of credit for offering an affordable conference--it's $50 ($25 for students) for two days. If Dougie offered a homemaking conference, he'd find a way to charge $500 per person.

[alba]

When they decided the pill wasn't for them, did they never think of condoms? Or were they so stupid they just went from the pill to babydom?

Pretty sure it's the latter, though I doubt a lot of what they say about this event. They claim Jichelle conceived then miscarried, and a "Christian medical doctor" told them the pill caused the miscarriage. Now, the pill does cause changes to the endometrial lining that theoretically could interfere with implantation, and, although current medical consensus is that it doesn't (because the primary mechanism is so effective it rarely fails, and when it does fail pregnancy occurs), I'm willing to acknowledge that a non-crazy doctor might have believed it 25 years ago.

However, the doctor could only have had this conversation with Jichelle if she continued to take the pill after getting pregnant, so either she's an even bigger idiot than I thought or she never knew she was pregnant. In theory she could have conceived on the pill and then miscarried so soon she didn't know she was pregnant, the same way that women not using hormonal contraception do because the embryo isn't viable. The miscarriage is no different from an ordinary period, however, so while Jichelle's bleeding was likely lighter on the pill than without it I doubt she'd have noticed she had been briefly pregnant.

The only way this story makes any sense is if Jichelle realised she was pregnant, continued popping the pills for reasons known only to her, then had a miscarriage (unrelated to the pill, because if the pill prevented implantation she would have miscarried before finding out she was pregnant), and some crackpot doctor blamed the pill.

[2xx1xy1JD]

These are not magazines choosing advertisements. Here, the Nouvel Observateur (a magazine that helped legalize abortion in 1975 by publishing a list of 345 sluts who aborted") has published an advertisement for a pro-life foundation. It was a scandal.

But it is true that it is shocking to find that in a mainstream magazine. It is especially dangerous... (and this is why I only read newspapers that say they're atheists and anti-religious/secularists)

Really? Doesn't that give you a pretty limited outlook on the world? I mean, the New York Times is hardly a fundie paper, but they aren't pushing an atheist or anti-religious agenda either.

[HereticHick]

A Wonkette-affiliated blog, Happy Nice Time People, recently posted about this upcoming conference: http://www.swbts.edu/riley-center/confe ... onference/

and making fun of Michelle Dugger as one of the speakers.

My favorite part about the conference is this breakout session:

"Touching Lives through Taking Tea with Laura Leathers

Enjoy a cream tea while collecting ideas for how to use your tea cups to minister to others. A variety of tea themes supplemented by practical preparation hints and infused with scripture will stimulate you to leave this seminar excited about practicing biblical hospitality. "

This proves that 1. Indeed, ANYTHING can be a ministry, apparently. and 2. "Laura Leathers" would make a great name for a dominatrix.

[PennySycamore]

A Wonkette-affiliated blog, Happy Nice Time People, recently posted about this upcoming conference: http://www.swbts.edu/riley-center/confe ... onference/

and making fun of Michelle Dugger as one of the speakers.

My favorite part about the conference is this breakout session:

"Touching Lives through Taking Tea with Laura Leathers

Enjoy a cream tea while collecting ideas for how to use your tea cups to minister to others. A variety of tea themes supplemented by practical preparation hints and infused with scripture will stimulate you to leave this seminar excited about practicing biblical hospitality. "

This proves that 1. Indeed, ANYTHING can be a ministry, apparently. and 2. "Laura Leathers" would make a great name for a dominatrix.

Oh, barf! That session just sounds bad and boring. I agree that Laura Leathers would make a great dominatrix name.

[ThatSnark]

I wouldn't call Southern Lady all that non-fundie. It was founded by Phyllis Hoffman, who used to write the editor's note and gush on about blessings and Jesus, and finish off with a Bible quote. This isn't off the map for anyone writing from Birmingham, Alabama, but I always found it off-putting. Then the whole content of the magazine is domestic bliss; cooking, tea parties, lacy Victorian clothing, etc. She also resurrected Victoria magazine but did it with her editorial slant, so it's not so much a historical magazine anymore than a VF-type whitewashing of an era.

Anyway, it doesn't surprise me at all to see this ad in that publication.

[nelliebelle1197]

A Wonkette-affiliated blog, Happy Nice Time People, recently posted about this upcoming conference: http://www.swbts.edu/riley-center/confe ... onference/

and making fun of Michelle Dugger as one of the speakers.

My favorite part about the conference is this breakout session:

"Touching Lives through Taking Tea with Laura Leathers

Enjoy a cream tea while collecting ideas for how to use your tea cups to minister to others. A variety of tea themes supplemented by practical preparation hints and infused with scripture will stimulate you to leave this seminar excited about practicing biblical hospitality. "

This proves that 1. Indeed, ANYTHING can be a ministry, apparently. and 2. "Laura Leathers" would make a great name for a dominatrix.

Dear lord, Lady Lydia has been doing THAT for years. So Poor Lady Lydia is having her tea act copied by a cream sucking dominatrix with the same alliterative letters!

[JMarie]

A Wonkette-affiliated blog, Happy Nice Time People, recently posted about this upcoming conference: http://www.swbts.edu/riley-center/confe ... onference/

and making fun of Michelle Dugger as one of the speakers.

My favorite part about the conference is this breakout session:

"Touching Lives through Taking Tea with Laura Leathers

Enjoy a cream tea while collecting ideas for how to use your tea cups to minister to others. A variety of tea themes supplemented by practical preparation hints and infused with scripture will stimulate you to leave this seminar excited about practicing biblical hospitality. "

This proves that 1. Indeed, ANYTHING can be a ministry, apparently. and 2. "Laura Leathers" would make a great name for a dominatrix.

Tea themes??

[Mary C Doates]

A Wonkette-affiliated blog, Happy Nice Time People, recently posted about this upcoming conference: http://www.swbts.edu/riley-center/confe ... onference/

and making fun of Michelle Dugger as one of the speakers.

My favorite part about the conference is this breakout session:

"Touching Lives through Taking Tea with Laura Leathers

Enjoy a cream tea while collecting ideas for how to use your tea cups to minister to others. A variety of tea themes supplemented by practical preparation hints and infused with scripture will stimulate you to leave this seminar excited about practicing biblical hospitality. "

This proves that 1. Indeed, ANYTHING can be a ministry, apparently. and 2. "Laura Leathers" would make a great name for a dominatrix.

C'mon--this is a parody, right? Right? I realize it's hard to tell actual fundie stuff vs. take-offs of them, but...

Lady Lydia should sue these folks for stealing her ministry and her alliteration. At minimum, she should have been a guest speaker.

Frankly, Elizabeth George the mystery writer would have been a better choice than the Elizabeth George they signed up.

[danvillebelle]

I flip through Southern Lady occasionally because sometimes there are really good recipes. But yeah, it doesn't surprise me that ad is in there. It's a pretty fluffy magazine.

Phyllis Hoffman's writing style makes me heave - sticky-sweet and flowery and waaaaaay too many adjectives. She RUINED Victoria magazine. I used to read it in the late 80's/early 90's and loved it. Now it's just a slightly more Victorian version of Southern Lady.

[2xx1xy1JD]

C'mon--this is a parody, right? Right? I realize it's hard to tell actual fundie stuff vs. take-offs of them, but...

Lady Lydia should sue these folks for stealing her ministry and her alliteration. At minimum, she should have been a guest speaker.

Frankly, Elizabeth George the mystery writer would have been a better choice than the Elizabeth George they signed up.

Hey, I come from a religion that makes heavy use of food and hospitality in outreach efforts, so this didn't strike me as crazy. I also had a grandmother who loved all things English, bore a striking resemblance to the Queen and was constantly inviting folks over for tea.

[FloraKitty35]

Touching Lives with Tea sounds like a something out of the Handmaid's Tale.