The Future of the Quiverfull Movement

[Kira]

In the "Upcoming Baby Season" thread, singsingsing had a great point about the abundance of babies and the lack of courtships. The children of fundie parents seem willing to do what they've been taught(get married and have lots of babies), but many of them are still at home waiting for "Prince Charming" or a "biscuit maker".

 

Will any families follow the Bates' example and change some of their courtship rules?

 

In the future will there be more Sara Maxwells or Erin Bateses?

 

What do you think is the #1 reason for the growing number of SAHD and SAHS?

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think a large amount of the second generation fundies will leave or drift away as they get married and leave, as the system does not work.

[E Street Fan]

I think a large amount of the second generation fundies will leave or drift away as they get married and leave, as the system does not work.

I agree, but there will always be more intimidated, impressionable, possibly poorly educated or uneducated people who think that following a strict lifestyle determined by a leader is the way to stave off threatening social change. In short, there will always be more Jim Bobs and Gils and Steve Maxwells.

[Kira]

I think a large amount of the second generation fundies will leave or drift away as they get married and leave, as the system does not work.

Some will leave when they get married. Leaving is the easy part, it's the marriage part that seems unlikely. I was thinking about the second generation kids who are likely to follow in their parents footsteps. Why aren't they married?

[ILoveJellybeans]

I think the ones who choose to stay will get less educated with each generation. The second generation were poorly homeschooled by parents with normal education, some even by parents who are educated enough to graduate college. The third will be homeschooled by parents with poor education, so will get an even worse education, and their kids will do worse. Thats also adding to the fact that with how Quiverfull people are such a small amount of the population, and those numbers are made up of loads of huge families, at some point theyre going to run out of families to marry into and new blood coming in through converts, and start inbreeding.

I think what will happen with the current generation as they are growing up, is that the ones who dont leave will have high numbers of SAHD's past the age of 20 and unhappy awkward couples as courtship doesnt work in anything but theory as their parents dated like normal people and dont know what it is like to court. I also think some of them will realise this and start getting a bit more lenient as they are realising it doesnt work. There are more adult children living at home in fundie culture because courtship doesnt work-if you dont let your kids meet other kids, they are never going to be noticed by potential partners, and it isnt the natural way to find love.

I think the second generation as adults will be worse off than the first as they were raised in such a bad way. How is a man who was blanket trained and beaten into complete submission ever know how to be a strong, dominant headship? How many of these kids who were raised fundie are going to have attachment issues from having their needs ignored as a child, or have PTSD from the traumatic childhood being raised the Pearl way, or be completely unemployable from the bad education, lack of critical thinking skills and helplessness from never being allowed to make a decision for themselves. This will affect their children as the ones who dont escape or drift away will carry on the abusive cycle and beat their kids as they are brainwashed into thinking its the best way.

[Kira]

I agree that that the kids need to meet other kids to make courtship successful, but so many of these families fellowship together. It shouldn't be that hard to find a spouse.

If the Quiverfull followers fix their issues, I think they'll have lots of new followers. The comment sections of fundie blogs used to be filled with people who wanted to join the movement. When cracks started to show, the commenters backed off.

[mrs]

I agree that that the kids need to meet other kids to make courtship successful, but so many of these families fellowship together. It shouldn't be that hard to find a spouse.

If the Quiverfull followers fix their issues, I think they'll have lots of new followers. The comment sections of fundie blogs used to be filled with people who wanted to join the movement. When cracks started to show, the commenters backed off.

I often wonder if some the next generation will become even more extreme. They were born into the lifestyle. The children are technically more righteous because they never had to "kiss dating goodbye" or decide to dress "modest." I think we are already seeing a progression of extremism. For example, young fundie couples can't just court anymore, the have to save the first kiss for their wedding.

I predict in the future we will see arranged marriages where the couple met for the first time at the church, on the alter, during their wedding. It will be such a blessing to watch the couple meeting for the first time, minutes before they become husband and wife!

[snarkopolis]

There are only so many home based self employable businesses (that don't need anything more than a license to operate) that these folks can run and live off of. They eschew education and don't want their kids in the world workforce so working retail or even warehouse work is out. Who can afford to get married? And look at the choices? Some of these SAHD live nice. Now you're asking them to move into a mobile home with Ned, who sells Godly bookcovers door to door making 3.45 a day. Sign me up (NOT)

[RosyDaisy]

To put it simply, the movement isn't sustainable for all of the reasons above. I also think pop culture is what has kept the Quiverfull Movement from being successful. Unless their kids are locked away forever, they will be exposed to some elements of pop culture and begin questioning everything they have been taught. We just need to make sure there are safe places for ex-fundies to turn to for help.

[FloraKitty35]

To put it simply, the movement isn't sustainable for all of the reasons above. I also think pop culture is what has kept the Quiverfull Movement from being successful. Unless their kids are locked away forever, they will be exposed to some elements of pop culture and begin questioning everything they have been taught. We just need to make sure there are safe places for ex-fundies to turn to for help.

Even Stevehovah can't totally control some elements of pop culture from seeping into to Maxwell Hell.

[crawfishgirl]

I often wonder if some the next generation will become even more extreme. They were born into the lifestyle. The children are technically more righteous because they never had to "kiss dating goodbye" or decide to dress "modest." I think we are already seeing a progression of extremism. For example, young fundie couples can't just court anymore, the have to save the first kiss for their wedding.

I predict in the future we will see arranged marriages where the couple met for the first time at the church, on the alter, during their wedding. It will be such a blessing to watch the couple meeting for the first time, minutes before they become husband and wife!

I agree that they may need to turn to arranged marriages. That's the only way to overcome much of the extreme isolation.