Tell your story- do you know the Duggars or grow up fundie?

[homeschoolmomma1]

Hi!

 

I was wondering if anyone ever grew up knowing the Duggars or in that lifestyle. I read a post on here and Razing Ruth but if anyone else did I love the stories- so interesting:)

 

If this is OT sorrry I can move it

[Soldier of the One]

I grew up secular humanist :) I found fundies because I am too darn interested in what the internet has to offer.

[crassy]

I was raised by atheist parents and grandparents (at least on one side). I didn't actually meet any fundies or fundie-lites until I was well into my 20s. I knew people who went to church but they were of the Christmas and Easter variety.

[itsthatonegirl]

I grew up Catholic but never felt any satisfaction from it. I felt a strong pull towards the spiritual at a very young age, but it wasn't anything that was satisfied from my church attendance or Catholic rituals. In middle school and high school I was curious about several faiths including Taoism, Wicca, and New Age, however I never practiced any of them. At 14 or 15 I learned about Christianity from a magazine and felt a very strong draw towards it. It took several years, though, before I became a Christian at age 21. I went to a Lutheran church for a couple of years but found my home in an independent church with Pentecostal leanings, although even there I don't agree with everything.

A little over a year ago I became interested in Biblical femininity and what it means. I started reading blogs (some of the very blogs that FJers snark on), I have spent the last year very curious about fundamentalist beliefs, however, I am also fascinated with Amish culture and Christian agrarianism.

[emmiedahl]

I grew up with a secular Jewish mother (well, she has been Buddhist and a whole bunch of stuff, but Jews consider her secular :D ) and a mainstream Christian father. I was gifted with a second-hand father, my stepdad, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and neighborhood. Buy used and save the difference! Even with parents! I went to a fundie-lite Lutheran school for a few years, and I have an aunt who is fundie-lite Pentecostal/involved in a cult-ish church.

I became interested in fundies after joining a Yahoo group on budget homemaking. They were almost all fundie. I was shocked. I belonged to MOMYS for a while and began to see a trend. So I began reading the fundie goodness on the internet and a mild obsession developed. Then I began homeschooling and began meeting them in person. I am a little afraid of them as a political force, but interested in them as individuals. Outside of that, I have little personal experience with them.

[ilovetchotchkes]

I grew up catholic and converted to Judaism.

I have ALWAYS been fascinated by fundies. They horrify and fascinate me at the same time, like a train wreck.

[razingruth]

If you have questions, I can answer based on what it was like in our family. I'm also going to try and get my brother to register an account here so that he can give the male perspective on being raised QF and leaving.

[Gizmola]

OT: RR, nice to see you out again. I've been sending good thoughts your way lately. Hope things are going well.:)

[She Who Laughs]

I grew up Baptist and it was pretty legalistic, but not as extreme as the fundies that get snarked on here. For instance, women generally wear skirts or dresses to church, but they certainly wouldn't be looked down on if they were to show up wearing slacks or even jeans. As kids we weren't allowed to go to movies, go to school dances or play with regular playing cards (my mom thought they were "of the devil"). But we did go to public school, were allowed to go roller skating, and played with the neighbors down the road who didn't go to church. My Dad was definitely in charge, but I never got the idea that it was because it was biblical, it came across more like that's just how both my parents were raised and therefore that's how they thought things should be. But my Mom was never abused and she definitely let her feelings be known about things, especially about us kids. Mom worked outside of the home very briefly before they had any children and she hated it. She said she never wanted anything more than to be a wife and a mother. We had very happy childhoods (all 9 of us) and I've never heard any of my siblings say they thought our church's teachings were oppressive.

I still am very active in church, but we go to a more liberal church with the same basic core beliefs but none of the legalistic stuff. We have a band for worship, sing contemporary praise music and nothing is ever taught about movies or dancing, those decisions are left to each family. I know we have some families at church who are very conservative and some who are pretty liberal and every "flavor" in between.

I mostly came here after seeing some things on another forum and was curious as to what these fundies are all about. I actually had very little knowledge about how extreme some of these families are. I had heard about Bob Jones Univ and knew it was pretty strict, but I guess I just didn't realize how far some of these groups go with the patriarchy teaching and such.

[genericJname]

OK - here is my story about how I got interested in this stuff. I grew up Evangelical/ fundie super-light I guess. We went to public schools (though my youngest siblings ended up homeschooled.) My parents are generally smart and rational, but at church I definitely got exposed to all the creation, rapture, etc sorts of ideas. We were exposed to a lot of different types of christianity - my mom was baptist, dad was an adult convert, we attended mostly Reformed theology types of churches and lots of extended family were charismatic. Purity was huge in our culture, but we were allowed to date. I was very intense about faith growing up and went to an evangelical college. I had my first real exposure to QF/ Patriarchy with a guy I got involved with whose family seems to have run in those circles. "The lord" led me to be submissive with him and it ended up pretty abusive, but fortunately a short relationship.

My husband and I met at church, while we were both in the slow process of our deconversions. I guess what draws me to the whole fundie-snarking thing is just seeing how close some of the crazy is to mainstream christianity. Also, because of my past, I see how close I got to getting into a submissive kind of marriage. I like to keep an eye on what is going on in the fundie world, since I still have some emotions, my family and friends so invested in evangelical christianity.

[pomology]

I grew up catholic and converted to Judaism.

I have ALWAYS been fascinated by fundies. They horrify and fascinate me at the same time, like a train wreck.

Same. Except that I was born a Jew.

[Kitty]

I grew up kind-of-sort-of Southern Baptist, basically meaning my parents would drop me and my sister off at AWANA once a week to get us out of their hair, and went to church on Sunday for something to do, and went shopping afterward. Or to the beach, during warmer months.

We went to public schools, as did everyone in our church, but most of the people I knew growing up were fundy-lite/evangelical. The preacher would pontificate about homosexuality and abortion from the pulpit and tell us how to vote, secular music was frowned upon, and of course everyone was creationist (except me, because that's bullshit and I figured it out early on). Dating was also frowned upon unless the parents were heavily involved. Wives were supposed to be submissive, and most of the women in the church seemed to be SAHMs, or they had "feminine" jobs, like being the church secretary. Pretty much the only way to hang out with other women at my last church was to go to a Pampered Chef party. Men and women weren't supposed to be alone, ever, unless they were married to each other. Most of this my parents brushed off, fortunately.

I left the last church several years ago, but when I do hear about it it seems to become that much more fundie. They seem to want to start a real school at some point, for some reason. I think it's because the church has members from two states, and the Virginia kids hate the North Carolina kids.

I wasn't really aware of fundamentalism until this year. I knew they were there, but not much else.

[freejoytoo]

I didn't grow up religious at all and didn't know many religious people at all, or rather, not many fundies. The main fundies I've encountered are thought of as being rather strange by the majority of people I know and mass Christian fundyness seems to be contained to America. I've always found it baffling how such a group of people can have such strong influence, especially when their views have been proven wrong time time and time again, like with evolution. Even the fundie-lite people I know accept evolution. I just have a weird fascination with people who are so obsessively religious and whose lives are so utterly different from mine. I guess the gateway to it was coming across a nauseating show called Seventh Heaven, which would be laughed here, and then reading somewhere about the Duggars online. I looked them up and could not believe what I was saying and then couldn't turn away. It's like a car crash. What frightens me is how many people actually take them seriously and respect them...glad they aren't from here!

[Jenesis Jexodus]

Raised a Lutheran (church every Sunday, holiday, confirmation), converted to Catholicism as adult, now Independent meaning God can reach anyone without the obstacle of religion. God is not dependent on religion although most organized religions would claim otherwise.

[booksnbeats]

I was raised Catholic, but just went to Sunday School. We only had to go to church as punishment, which should tell you that to my parents religion was all about image. My paternal grandmother was Episcopalian and her church was the only one I ever actually enjoyed attending. I stopped believing in God on a church retreat in eighth grade, after I told one of the leaders that I didn't think the existence of hell made any sense. His response was to pray over me and invoke Mary to help save me from sin and it totally creeped me out. I'm interested in fundies because of their ridiculous internet presence, I love snarking on anything on the internet!

[slh12280]

I was raised conservative evangelical (mostly Baptist). I am familiar with some of things discussed here (submission, young earth creationism, purity thing was huge). I went to one of those purity things and ended up making a purity pledge, no ring though, and yes I still intend upon keeping that. The more extreme fundies are fascinating to me. I was allowed to listen to secular music and wear pants, also went to public school so some of this stuff is surreal. What drew me in was the quiverfull movement. Somehow I found out about it and was hooked. I think my gateway fundies were the Duggars and then the Botkins. In recent times I have become more "liberal," and I use that term loosely since I am still pretty conservative. Meaning, I am okay with things like drinking (big no no for Baptists!), some secular music, dancing and woman pastors. I attend an United Methodist Church.

[BayLee_10]

I considered myself to be Presbyterian as a child. Then, since I was an 'Army Brat' Presbyterian became 'Protestant.' The first 'Fundie' people I ever heard about were the Duggars and they interested me, however I had no idea that their brand of Fundie is also a political movement. Looking back, my parents were quite liberal, but so were my friends parents. We dated, danced, went to movies, etc. and no one thought it sinful. Perhaps Fundies aren't big on joining the Armed Services. Now I am an Athiest for the most part. I would like to believe but religion just doesn't seem rational to me. If it gives comfort to some people, I'm happy for them, it just is not for me.

[pixydust]

I grew up fundie lite with a lot of crazy thrown in. i'll answer any questions anyone has, but it's too long and complicated to write my "story" here.

[ADoyle90815]

I wasn't really raised in a religion because my dad resented his Catholic childhood since that church was basically forced on him and his siblings. My mom was raised Episcopalian, but stopped practicing as an adult. I think what got me into fundies was being married to my abusive ex-husband who called himself Mormon, but he didn't live as a Mormon should. By that, I mean he basically used the church for its welfare program instead of supporting himself. I got into fundies through the FLDS and other polygamist groups, then through the Duggars and blogs including Crazy Janis's blog.

[chaotic life]

My father was raised secular jew and my mother was raised completely devoid of religion. My father was converted to Christianity through Jews for Jesus and then joined the Jesus Movement. He went to seminary and became a Mennonit minister. My parents always referred to themselves as Evangelical Christians. I cannot tell you where that diverges from Fundamentalism because they entered the fundie world by the time I was in high school. There were three of us raised more mainstream, public schooled and Dad had a vasectomy so no more kiddos. Then my mother jumped the shark. They adopted a passel of kids, homeschooled the and isolated from the world. I caught the tail end of that and was groomed to be what mommy dearest wasn't able to be, thus entering the movement myself as a young adult.

I got out, much happier out, but ow with eight kiddos to finish raising. It's all good now. I love my kiddos. And, next fall, we'll be at al place where all but 3 can enter public school. Right now, 3 are in public school but two of those are virtual academy. I'm working on my education, and we're moving to a strong future where I am NOT grooming my children for that world.

[TheSassyOne]

Maybe I misunderstood how it was posted, but I just had to say, we Catholics are Christians too.

Hope everyone's new year is going well. GO SAINTS!

[QAF_Rocks]

I grew up atheist. :)

Most of the religious people I've encountered were either liberal or moderate. I've never met any fundies in real life, but I'm interested in the Duggars primarily because religious subcultures fascinate me. It's the same reason I'm interested in the Amish, Hasidic Jews, etc.

[hagia sophia]

Hi,

New here. (waves.) I was born into a family that was no religion. But I was invited to ride a bus to "Fundamental Bible Baptist Church" (Really! That was the name!) and got "saved" when I was 13. I really got into it. I smashed all my record albums. (Like Andy Gibb. So evil! :roll: ) I even sent myself, using a small insurance settlement account I had (dog bite when I was ten) to a fundamentalist christian school. My mom believed the pastor/principal when he said they had students at Rutgers. (Yeah, he didn't tell us they had to take the GED first...) 70 students from kindergarten through 12th grade. I was the only senior. I tell people I was the class president, most likely to succeed, best dressed...

When I graduated high school I went to a bible college. The principal of my H.S. was not happy with my choice. They had "mixed bathing." :shock: Actually, I was a little wigged out at first. I walked out of a Steve Camp concert in tears. What had I done? They were so liberal! But I stuck with it, graduated and started working on paying my student loans. When I was finished paying off the loans I was going to be a missionary. Well, ten years later, the loans were paid off but I had a problem. I know longer believed any of it. I remember at a bible study once, someone telling me, "I wish I knew the bible like you do." I replied "I wish I believed it like you do." (Not capitalizing "bible" on purpose. Ha!)

Eventually I could no longer deny it. I was an atheist. When I told the daughter-in-law of the head pastor that she said, "I wouldn't want to be you when god snaps you back." Wow, how could I turn my back on a god like that? :roll: It's been 14 years since that conversation. Still waiting for the snap.

[holierthanyou]

Maybe I misunderstood how it was posted, but I just had to say, we Catholics are Christians too.

What!?! Surely you jest... ;)

[sera]

This is my first post, but I have lurked here quite awhile. When I was 5 years old my mom remarried a Jehovah’s Witness and honestly the religion is quite cultish. They do a lot of the same things fundamentalist do, but they keep is a bit more hush hush. They disfellowship (aka shun), they don’t want their members to associate with non Jehovah’s Witnesses etc. I was able to get away from the religion, but it’s too long of a story to put here. Because of my religious experience I have always been interested in fundamentalist type religions and I’m so happy to have found FJ; I never would have found so many fundie bloggers on my own.