Real Life Fundie Encountersâ„¢ Part 2

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I'm just finishing up that episode on Hulu right now. I believe that scenario is one they're reshowing from a previous episode. I was disgusted by that family's reaction then and now. Regardless of one's religious beliefs, the gay couple are still people, not a damn side show/freak show. Honestly, given what they said on the show, they likely believe that the couple are headed straight to hell. Is that really such a laughing matter for them? I thought Jesus came to "seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10) not laugh as their sin leads them down the wide road to hell (their perspective, not mine)?! :angry-banghead:

I know right? I figured they must be very sheltered about this sort of thing, like children, since they were so immature. Of course, they have done the same scenario with large women in bathing suits and people have done the same thing, pointed and laughed :(

[jozina]

A girl I went to primary school with was at minimum fundy lite. For some reason she couldn't be seen eating with us and had to go home everyday at lunch time. Her parents had a mini-van and she had at least 4-5 brothers and sisters, one of which also came to my school. Her mum wore denim skirts and head coverings and never said a word to any of us other kids. Once the elder girl graduated primary school, her sister mysteriously left too.

Exclusive Brethren for sure. They're proper fundie. They can't eat with non-believers, seem particularly fond of denim skirts for some reason and were big on taking their kids out of school after primary to homeschool/send to their own schools in the 80s-2000s because of computers (gasp!) which are evil.

[felinefundie]

I'm LDS, so I guess I'm pretty conservative, even if I consider myself pretty liberal within my church. However, I have a friend whose grandparents are the closest thing I've encountered to "fundie" Mormons (besides the FLDS, of course). I have never seen her grandma in anything less than floor length black skirts, opaque back stockings, and long sleeves, which is pretty atypical. Mormons have modesty standards, but they aren't that strict. However, it's the grandpa that really pings my radar. I have never once seen him acknowledge his granddaughters in any way (even when he was there specifically for my friend, his oldest granddaughter's, mission farewell), and he'll only give or allow his wife to give Christmas or birthday presents to the grandsons that will carry on his family name. Also, my friend's dad is one of twelve siblings.

It's not much, but I do think that its very strange.

[nausicaa]

I'm LDS, so I guess I'm pretty conservative, even if I consider myself pretty liberal within my church. However, I have a friend whose grandparents are the closest thing I've encountered to "fundie" Mormons (besides the FLDS, of course). I have never seen her grandma in anything less than floor length black skirts, opaque back stockings, and long sleeves, which is pretty atypical. Mormons have modesty standards, but they aren't that strict. However, it's the grandpa that really pings my radar. I have never once seen him acknowledge his granddaughters in any way (even when he was there specifically for my friend, his oldest granddaughter's, mission farewell), and he'll only give or allow his wife to give Christmas or birthday presents to the grandsons that will carry on his family name. Also, my friend's dad is one of twelve siblings.

It's not much, but I do think that its very strange.

Wow--what a douche!

My LDS friend married into a very established and very conservative Mormon family in southern Utah, and even they don't pull crap like that!

[LovelyLuna]

That would certainly screw up football watching for those of us college and pro fans. As it is, I put my phone on mute and check scores during the sermon. I know, I know.

I grew up with Blue Laws and it was frustrating to run out of something you needed from the market as the market was closed.

:pink-shock:

I would skidaddle my ass on up to Canada if this happened.

[HarryPotterFan]

There are two Mormon/FLDS missionaries hanging out in the center of my home town. I saw the same two guys there the other day. I've never seen missionaries here before, and it's like good like with trying to convert people of all different religions in an incredibly liberal town. :roll-eyes: In the Dillard missionary thread someone mentioned that Mormon missionaries are moving away from just trying to convert people to actually helping communities. But my town is pretty much the opposite of a community in need. It is incredibly rare here for someone not to get a college education, and families who live here tend to be doctors, lawyers, teachers or work for the government, in finance, or IT. Very upper-middle class.

[HumbleJillyMuffin]

I had what you could probably call a Fundie Encounter on Monday. I was switching trains at Chicago's Union Station when I saw a very unique scene - dozens of Old-Order Amish in a waiting area, only outnumbered by Dead Heads in tie-dye and looking very grungy. There was a Grateful Dead Reunion Concert Series at Soldier Field this past weekend so apparently they were waiting for the spirit of Jerry to fade away before heading home. It was one of those times I was so bummed the camera on my phone doesn't work - but then again, the Amish don't wish to be photographed. So I guess that's some comfort. But yes, it was a rather intriguing experience to say the least.

[chris]

Wow, I have never seen full-on fundies (prairie dress and bonnets) here in Omaha..until today, at the Omaha zoo. And two separate groups! The first was a family of 9 kids and the mom and dad. The 3 girls had prairie dress with pigtail braids and black socks and heavy looking shoes/boots. The 6 boys had plaid, shirtsleeve button ups and jeans. Mom had the bonnet (and prairie dress) and Dad had suspenders and a flat, wide brim hat. Very little house on the prairie.

The other group was 2 girls in their early 20s, wearing ankle length denim skirts and t-shirts. They didn't stand out too much, but when its July, outside, hot, humid and in Nebraska...I was getting sweaty in shorts and a t-shirt (and yes, flip-flops).

[greycat]

I had what you could probably call a Fundie Encounter on Monday. I was switching trains at Chicago's Union Station when I saw a very unique scene - dozens of Old-Order Amish in a waiting area, only outnumbered by Dead Heads in tie-dye and looking very grungy. There was a Grateful Dead Reunion Concert Series at Soldier Field this past weekend so apparently they were waiting for the spirit of Jerry to fade away before heading home. It was one of those times I was so bummed the camera on my phone doesn't work - but then again, the Amish don't wish to be photographed. So I guess that's some comfort. But yes, it was a rather intriguing experience to say the least.

I used to work in a portrait studio and I had Amish mothers bring their kids in to get their pictures taken to hand out to their friends at school. I thought that they didn't like their picture taken either. Maybe its just a new generation thing or a regional Amish thing.

They never spent a lot, but they were always my favorite customers.

Oh and to add, I had a JW pastor tell me recently that only a man could do my job. So I called for a male manager to assist him who I knew had no clue on how to do my job. :lol: It was wonderful watching.

edited because I'm a horrible speller.

[HCB]

Saw my first Fundies today (we are in southern AL). I'm sure there are many in this state but we haven't lived here that long. We were at a splash pad and the mom was pregnant, wearing a long skirt, and had 5 or 6 children. The girls had skirt bathing suits with rash guards on and the boys had rash guards on with their swim trunks. She was with a non fundie looking friend discussing homeschooling and finding long skirts in her size at a thrift store. One of her sons, probably 8, returned from reading a sign in the park that said "No wading, no fishing, no pets, no alcohol" and was puzzled over the word 'alcohol'. He didn't know what it was. Not that that's a big deal. We don't usually keep alcohol in our home so our girls probably don't know what that word means. This mom changed the subject while he struggled to figure the word out instead of just explaining what it was. There are many conservative Christians here but these were my first fundies!

[paganhomeschooler]

I used to work in a portrait studio and I had Amish mothers bring their kids in to get their pictures taken to hand out to their friends at school. I thought that they didn't like their picture taken either. Maybe its just a new generation thing or a regional Amish thing.

They never spent a lot, but they were always my favorite customers.

Oh and to add, I had a JW pastor tell me recently that only a man could do my job. So I called for a male manager to assist him who I knew had no clue on how to do my job. :lol: It was wonderful watching.

edited because I'm a horrible speller.

I think it depends on what Order they belong to and how strict they follow. Strict Old Order Amish who close their clothes with straight pins would probably never allow a photo. Less strict Amish....eh, they don't mind. We have tons of pics of our Amish friends with my grandparents. When they were younger, they used to vacation together often. My favorite pics are from all of them at Dollywood!! lol

We had some Baptists knocking on the door last night. This is only the 2nd time in 3 years we've had anyone. JWs came when my husband and I were out of town and my SIL was watching the kids. The best part about last night....my 7 yo slammed the door in the guy's face!!! lol We heard the knock, and he thought it was the neighbor boy coming over to get them after dinner, so he ran and opened the door and didn't look like he's supposed to. He saw the guy standing there with the bible, freaked, and slammed the door. We all got a good laugh out of that. Even the man did. I was amazed he said you didn't have to go to his church or any church for salvation....you could seek salvation in your own home, as long as you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. Way to keep it fresh, fundies!

[justoneoftwo]

There are two Mormon/FLDS missionaries hanging out in the center of my home town. I saw the same two guys there the other day. I've never seen missionaries here before, and it's like good like with trying to convert people of all different religions in an incredibly liberal town. :roll-eyes: In the Dillard missionary thread someone mentioned that Mormon missionaries are moving away from just trying to convert people to actually helping communities. But my town is pretty much the opposite of a community in need. It is incredibly rare here for someone not to get a college education, and families who live here tend to be doctors, lawyers, teachers or work for the government, in finance, or IT. Very upper-middle class.

I don't think the FLDS have missionaries, they are not as into sending their kids out into the world, and are not large enough to allow them to do so without actually interacting with outsiders.

I don't know that I buy the LDS doing more good works than conversions. Our neighbor asked if some of the local boy scouts could rake our leaves as they needed to do something in their community (or something, it wasn't clear) and we said okay. Turns out it was actually the missionaries. Once they were done they wanted to talk about the church with us and kept coming by. I live in Utah and actually feel a little sorry when they stop by and then ask if I know anyone who would be interested, the answer is just no, everyone knows about the church and would have joined if at all interested. Imagine spending your life waiting to go on your mission and convert people and do things only to be sent to Utah where there is literally no one you can try to spread the word to . . .

[rosethorne]

Being from Alaska we have our share of Fundies and Fundie Lites, but this last weekend I was traveling and spotted my very first Amish group!

I was waiting to board the Monorail in Seattle, and there was a small goup, 2 women, 3 men waiting as well. They were in the dark blue gowns, and the stiff bonnet like head covers. Because I knew some Amish are opposed to photographs I didn't whip out my phone and start snapping photo's like a fangirl at SDCC :embarrassed: until they took a selfie with a friend. Then I figured fair game, as we're in a public place and many people were taking pictures of the monorail and scenery around them anyway.

Spoiler tag to limit size of comment

[3DMommy]

My cousin, who is still in her teens, just defended the Duggars because Jesus and his sisters forgave him. I knew my family was fundie superlite but I wasn't expecting that after an offhand comment about 19KAC being canceled.

[SoybeanQueen]

Around here, the Amish don't strictly follow their church rules until they're adults and choose to officially join. It's typically expected when they get married. We have a friend who claims he will never marry because he doesn't want that expectation and he's pretty happy not joining up.

The kids through teen or young adult don't have an issue with photos because they haven't committed to joining the church yet. Amish adults here who have married/joined strongly prefer not to be photographed.

My daughter's junior high track relay team is her and several young ladies from Amish families. The girls happily posed for a pic with my daughter after their last meet. They run in their dresses and bonnets. They also play basketball on the same team as my daughters, with the team jersey over their dress.

The Amish families here are not nearly as strict about interaction with non-Amish, either. One of the fathers of the girls on the basketball team is quite chatty at games. He told me to have my daughter do box jumps onto a hay bale to improve her speed. He was right!

There are a lot of Amish young adults who play softball on the local rec league, too. Many of the women play barefoot, which looks so painful to me, but they're really fast and it doesn't seem to bother them at all.

[morri]

today at the waterfront. i just got off the train and crossed a bridge leading to the jetties( longest jettie in the world apparently) and there was this bunch of poc's waving german flags and while others held some banners with pictures of sunsets etc and biblical quotes. very strange combination. If U had to guess their ethnicity i 'd say indiegenous South americans which would make it more weird. maybe it was a satirical actions to highlight cultural approbiation or it was real . only the other day i said duggars should come and proselytuse the heathens of hamburg xD but then this is rather interesting.

[HereticHick]

This weekend I decided to observe the dress of all females that I saw in my downtown Washington DC neighborhood, which is the neighborhood where Josh Duggar used to work. Its a popular museum/restaurant/nightlife/live theatre area, so we have a real cross section of people--very ethnically diverse, lots of tourist families (both foreign and domestic & school groups), young hipsters, teens that that live in government-assisted housing, wealthy older couples going to the theatre or a fancy restaurant, people going to Sunday morning church services. I observed about 300 females, on a hot, humid weekend (temperatures up to 95 F [34 C] or so). My sample includes a number of south Asians in traditional dress, Muslim women with headscarves, and 1 or two (I think) Orthodox Jews.

The verdict: Only about 2% of the women would meet Gothard (or Bates Family ) modesty standards, and of those 2% about half of them probably had clothing that was too tight for Gothard's taste or skirts that weren't quiiiiite long enough. [i was looking for skirts that covered at least a little bit of kneecap]

About 55% of the sample were immediately excluded because they were wearing pants/capris/shorts. [i allowed a couple of salwar kameezes that were pretty baggy].

Half of those remaining had skirts that weren't covering any knee at all (when standing). Then, of those remaining, most either had exposed shoulders (I was looking for at least a bit of shoulder coverage) and/or too low necklines. (I was looking for no more than 4 inches or so below the collar bone) A few remaining had maxi skirts, but with slits up the side to the knee or more, so those were out (Gothard rules often specifically ban skirt slits of any time).

The verdict: Although I agree that the popularity of maxi length skirts has allowed fundy women like Duggar and Bates girls to blend in more fashionwise, they still are very much a fashion minority in the summer-- at least in a liberal metropolitan area like Washington, DC.

PS Some of the Muslim women with scarves didn't make the modesty cut, because they were in pants. And I included one Cabinet Member in my sample, but she didn't make the cut either, because she was in pants.

[morri]

i had looked in the last days and in 5 days f being out in busy areas i saw only one person with a skirt .

[GenerationCedarchip]

I got curious and took a look around the courthouse today. Since it's a more conservative environment, I'd say we hit maybe 10% folks who would meet Gothard standards for women, closer to 25% if we're talking reformed fundie. Reformed folks tend to allow for clothing being a bit more tailored as long as it's not skintight. There were a few muslim women in hijab and indian or pakistani women in saris or salwar kameez. A good number of litigants and witnesses opted for maxi skirts to be appropriate for court, though quite a few had skirts with slits up to mid-calf or knee (verboten in Gothard/ATI, but acceptable in reformed fundie as well as the slits aren't too high). And then there were several clerks and female attorneys whose skirts at least covered their knees while standing, and so I counted them.

[HereticHick]

I think in my DC neighborhood, women miss the Gothard mark the most on weekends when it is extremely hot and humid. When I observe women walking to/from work, I'd guess that about 10% are meeting Gothard standards, just like Generation Cedarchip observed. And when they get into over-airconditioned workplaces like mine :? that might rise even higher when they throw on jackets & cardigans.

When the weather gets a little cooler, more women might be in Gothard compliance because they'd be covering the shoulders more. [On the other hand, more might choose to wear pants, so maybe it is a wash overall!]

[Leftitinmysnood]

I was behind a van with a conservative political bumper sticker at the gas station the other day. The logo in the corner had the initials 'JBS.' I didn't think much about it until Lance Seppi got out to pump gas. They live about an hour away from me, but I'd never seen them around town before.

[Ralar]

Driving through Jerusalem, I saw this woman, accompanied by a man with payot and a kippah. Clearly, she is Jewish. I think she is one of the Lev Horim, otherwise known as "Jewish Taliban." I love the nickname for her outfit -- frumka. It is s play on two words: frum (Yiddish for religious) + burqa.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haredi_burqa_sect

[Imrlgoddess]

This isn't a sighting like in the flesh... I had a Facebook... thing.... (Can't call it a debate) with a friend of a friend. An older lady who was playing the "love the sinner/hate the sin" card. The question was posed about loving a child or family member if they turned out gay or were a serial killer. There was a disclaimer saying that the two were not in any way equal.

I stirred some ole lady up with talk of morality & law not being synonymous and Constantine & the bible. Now I feel kinda bad for semi-hijacking my friends post.

[Wenny]

Husband is a waiter.

He got trapped by Hare Krisha couple for a good 30 mins

[Crocoduck]

I grew up near, and knew a couple members of the House of David cult. They were the opposite of Quiverfull and eventually died out because of their belief in celibacy. The House of David baseball team was quite famous during the Depression and WWII. They toured the U.S. and played semi-pro baseball and attracted quite a crowd because the men did not cut their hair or shave. Wikipedia has a decent article with some pictures of them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_ ... commune%29 (link not broken b/c wikipedia)