Prayer closet?

[AnnoDomini]

Before coming here, I never heard of 'prayer closets'. My family, while fundy-lite (I think--I'm not sure how these things are judged) never had anything like that.

[sugaree]

I always thought it was a reference to Carrie. Her mom would lock her in the prayer closet. Do people outside of Stephen King's universe really have them?

[StarrieEyedKat]

If I recall correctly, the Duggars had one in the blue prints for their house...

[Lillybee]

The Duggars really do have a prayer closet upstairs. I am not sure how they use it, but I think that it is used.

[Jessica]

They have a picture of Jill in the prayer closet reading her Bible. That's what I thought they were for, a nice quiet place to read and reflect... But then I came here and from comments that have been made I guess they're for punishment? Sad. :(

[sugaree]

Holy crap, I had no idea that prayer closets were real. Wow.

Jessica, I don't know that there's any evidence that the Duggars use it for punishment. I really thought the "Go to the prayer closet!" comments were jokes based on Carrie.

[Lillybee]

I remember Ruth of RazingRuth saying that she was locked in a closet with a bible as a punishment.

[Chrystal-J]

What ever happened to Razing Ruth? She hasn't posted on her blog in 3 months.

[marmalade]

recoveringgrace.org posted a compelling story about the prayer closet (later called the prayer room) at the Indianapolis training center. I believe it was posted Tuesday 9/6, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

Speaking of that blog, I'm hooked! I love that they post a new story daily and while most of the survivors have remained Christians (think Anna Duggar's sister and BIL who posts at IBLP Detox), but they had to question and restructure just about everything they thought about religion and faith.

I think what was meant for the prayer closet when the Duggars originally moved into the TTH became Michelle's "office."

I miss Razing Ruth. I hope she's doing well in her continued recovery.

[CanadianHippie]

They have a picture of Jill in the prayer closet reading her Bible. That's what I thought they were for, a nice quiet place to read and reflect... But then I came here and from comments that have been made I guess they're for punishment? Sad. :(

I'll admit, being a skeptic and all, I figured the reason a teenager would bother with a prayer closet in a family like the Duggar's would be "exploration". It's like, the only place they have privacy.

[apple1]

In my own fundy background, the words "prayer closet" WERE used. But not in a physical "closet" imprisonment sense, nor in a punitive way. The context was a personal time of meditative prayer.

It actually distresses me to see a phrase like this turned from the positive of meditation to a punitive thing.

[purpleeee]

I'm sure they get it out of their beloved KJV. http://bible.cc/matthew/6-6.htm

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Most other translations call it a room, or an inner room, which makes the symbolism clear - especially when you read the verse before.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

It's about praying in silence instead of out loud and not yakking on all the time about how religious you are. But the fundies are literalists and it is sad, how this has been twisted into the very look-at-me thing it's not supposed to be.

[AnnoDomini]

I checked out recoveringgrace, and found the prayer closet article. I have yet to read that, but I read this: recoveringgrace.org/2011/09/a-different-kind-of-sexual-abuse/ and am horrified. There is something wrong with that father, even more wrong than usual with fundies.

[maybeizfundie]

In my own fundy background, the words "prayer closet" WERE used. But not in a physical "closet" imprisonment sense, nor in a punitive way. The context was a personal time of meditative prayer.

It actually distresses me to see a phrase like this turned from the positive of meditation to a punitive thing.

Same here. It is a concept that I've always been familiar with, not necessarily an actual "closet" but some space to go where it is possible to study and pray in quiet. For dh, that is the couch after everyone else is in bed. For me it's early in the morning before everyone is awake. For the kids, it's wherever their siblings aren't, lol.

Never seen it used punitively, or even heard of such a thing until very recently.

[Kaylee]

purpleeee beat me to it, but that's the gist of it. The Bible reference to the closet meant your room or private area (the most similar room to what is referenced in the Greek would be the king's inner chambers - the private room where he would meet with trusted friends and advisers). In other words, don't make a big deal about praying in public or on the street corner - go in your room, shut the door, and pray to God in private, not to make a big show about it to others.

Some people took that idea and set up a small private place for prayer, either in the corner of a room (really common with some Eastern Orthodox & Catholic people, and used to be with Protestant "family altars) or in an actual closet if space was a premium. Of course, some the same sort of twisted fucks who abuse children in other ways in the name of religion, decided to use the "prayer closet" as a place to lock children up for punishment like in the scene from Carrie.

I hate the way people take something like this and turn it into a negative thing or a punishment. I have a "prayer closet" at home - a corner of my home office with a prayer kneeler, Bible, notebook, and CD player so I have a quiet, private place to pray and worship God. I could never imagine locking my child in a closet and making them pray for punishment. I feel the same way about using Bible reading or copying scripture verses as punishment - it just seems like a way to turn the child against God and religion.

[luckylassie]

I remember a pic of Jana in a closet reading. Maybe it can be used for both private time and punishment. From Gothard's teachings about discipline, I wouldn't be surprised if many fundy kids go there when they step out of stepford line.

[lilwriter85]

Stephen King in a 2002 release of Carrie said in the preface that he based the character of Margaret White on the mother of a girl he knew. But I wonder if he found about prayer closets somewhere else and decide to include them in the book to make Margaret more crazy.

[Guest Anonymous]

The first time I ever heard of a prayer closet or anything that functioned like one, was as a kid reading "Little Women". When Beth came down with scarlet fever, the Marches sent Amy to stay with Aunt March for her own safety. Amy hated being there so much, that one of her aunt's other servants suggested that she set aside a portion of her closet as a place where she could meditate, pray if she felt like it, or just be alone. The purpose wasn't punitive, or intended to cow Amy into submission. Rather, it was to be a place where Amy could either get away from everybody else, vent in private or simply think. If I recall, Amy set up the space as a chapel and since the other, older woman was Catholic, Amy acquired a healthy respect for Catholicism even though she never converted to the faith herself. Fundies would hate Amy's idea of a prayer closet.

[Kitty]

I remember a pic of Jana in a closet reading. Maybe it can be used for both private time and punishment. From Gothard's teachings about discipline, I wouldn't be surprised if many fundy kids go there when they step out of stepford line.

That's what I always thought too. I figure in a huge fundy family, say a family of 10-12 in a house made for a family of 4, would need a closet or small room set aside for privacy and quiet time, and I could definitely see that a room would be used for both prayer and punishment.

[xReems]

One of my roommate's friend's family were extremely conservative. They had a prayer closet in their house but it was used for punishment purposes. Whenever she or one of her siblings misbehaved, they were sent to the prayer closet and had to read and pray until God told the parents they were forgiven. Depending on how bad they were, determined how long you were in the closet.

I know it's rare for fundies to use the prayer closet for punishment reasons but I know there are some who might be consider it.

I thought I read somewhere that Gothard approved of a prayer closet for punishment purposes? I could be wrong but I remember reading an article about it a while ago.

[Kitty]

In reading some stuff about the Duggars elsewhere, one article said something along the lines of "many conservative Christian families have prayer closets." It was a bit of a throwaway line, but they're probably more common than we think.

Of course, a lot of fundies would happily ignore the "don't make a show of prayer, instead do it privately" verse, if they even got around to reading it.

[MerryHappy]

I'm surprised the Duggars would publicize that they have one, being Gothardite and all.

Especially after the horrible ways prayer closets were used to force kids into solitary confinement at the Indy Training Center.

You know, the center that the evil Indiana ACLU had to go in and help rescue children from?

Gothardism+prayer closets= bad.

[mystweaver]

The (Christian) summer camp where I worked had one, but it wasn't that big of a deal (and was one of the few places at that camp where you were guaranteed to be safe from verbally abusive **** and patriarchy in action). The room had candles, tea, and the best couch at the camp--and best of all, it had an occupied sign for the door.

For big families, I can see how having a prayer room is a good thing--they call it a prayer room, but I'd bet they use it for Bible reading, prayer, quiet time, etc. For children with no privacy, it might be a nice sanity break.

[Daenerys]

Well, I suppose there are many fundies who need to come out of the closet...