Obviously infertility is not an issue I have had to deal with. We could hardly stop getting pregnant! For many in the church though it is a very real and very heart-breaking topic and it is one that doesn’t get a lot of conversation in the church because it is so hard to talk about in a culture that by and large gushes over the blessings of children. Especially for people like myself and others who have and embrace large families, talking about infertility is something that is often easier to just not do. So I appreciated reading an interview by a sister in Christ with a large family, speaking to another sister who has struggled with infertility: Viewing the Quiverfull World Through the Lense of Infertility, Part 1.
The interview is excellent, open and honest in a way that is kind of rare in the church. I would encourage you to read it especially if you are someone who is a “big family” person or someone who is or has struggled with infertility (or know someone who is).
Showing posts with label quiverfull. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quiverfull. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
NPR piece on quiverfull now available
The report on large families, esp. quiverfull families, is on NPR this morning, you can read it or listen to it here (it is about five minutes long): In Quiverfull Movement, Birth Control Is Shunned. From the intro...
Among some conservative Christians, a movement is giving new meaning to the biblical mandate to "be fruitful and multiply."
The movement, called Quiverfull, is based on Psalm 127, which says, "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
Those in the Quiverfull movement shun birth control, believing that God will give them the right number of children. It turns out, that's a lot of kids.
It is a pretty fair article, without the usual “opposing view” people screaming about how we are eating up all the food and destroying the environment. You can tell that it is a completely foreign world to the correspondent Barbara Bradley Haggerty, as it is to many people.
This is something I am assuming was taken somewhat out of context…
That's also the hope of Nancy Campbell, a leader of the Quiverfull movement and author of Be Fruitful and Multiply.
"The womb is such a powerful weapon; it's a weapon against the enemy," Campbell says.
I don’t know that the way it is portrayed is all that accurate and I hope it wasn't chosen for shock value. We didn’t have a bunch of kids because we thought they were useful tools in the culture wars. We had them because God blessed us with them and we embraced that blessing. I also don’t know that the way it is written really is representative of what Ms. Campbell is trying to say. I get what she is saying when she says stuff like: "We look across the Islamic world and we see that they are outnumbering us in their family size, and they are in many places and many countries taking over those nations, without a jihad, just by multiplication," Campbell says.. It is not all about that, but if God’s people won’t have children and won’t raise their children up to follow Christ and won’t evangelize, well pretty soon we won’t have many Christians left over, will we?
What is really instructive is to read the comments that follow at the end of the article. Here are some samples…
I hate to see christians pigeon holed like this... not all are crazy, right wing conspirators that want to topple whole religions and societies in the name of christ.
I really wish the tax laws in this country were overhauled so that people who choose to have more than 2 children actually had to bear the full, complete cost of each additional child. No Federal or State handouts, no exceptions or exemptions, no nothing!...Then if they want to go on a population jihad fueled by irrational, archaic religious beliefs fine, but the entire cost comes out of their personal pockets, not mine or anyone else's!
This story about the Quiverfull movement is frightening to me on so many levels! It seems that their idea is to multiply to such great numbers that they will be able to take over the country (perhaps the world!) in order to deny those of us with a different perspective our right to live as we see fit. One of the very things that make this country great, and I might add something that enables THEM to do as they wish. There is room for everyone at god's table. Although with such irresponsible breeding, and giving no thought to the fact that this world does have finite resources, there may be no food for anyone to eat there.
Certainly it is rational to view stay at home moms with more than 2.1 children as being terrifying! Eeek, she has five kids, run! That is just the first few comments I read, I can imagine that the tenor of the conversation will continue to reflect this sort of narcissism. I am tempted to reply back but I figure that is just a waste of time. NPR is aimed at a particular audience and it is apparent from the comments already posted that no one is interested in having an intelligent conversation. It was just a few years ago that women had twice as many kids as they have today, but these people make it sound like some crazy movement that sprang up out of nowhere.
npr quiverfull national public radio quiver full quiverful
Among some conservative Christians, a movement is giving new meaning to the biblical mandate to "be fruitful and multiply."
The movement, called Quiverfull, is based on Psalm 127, which says, "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."
Those in the Quiverfull movement shun birth control, believing that God will give them the right number of children. It turns out, that's a lot of kids.
It is a pretty fair article, without the usual “opposing view” people screaming about how we are eating up all the food and destroying the environment. You can tell that it is a completely foreign world to the correspondent Barbara Bradley Haggerty, as it is to many people.
This is something I am assuming was taken somewhat out of context…
That's also the hope of Nancy Campbell, a leader of the Quiverfull movement and author of Be Fruitful and Multiply.
"The womb is such a powerful weapon; it's a weapon against the enemy," Campbell says.
I don’t know that the way it is portrayed is all that accurate and I hope it wasn't chosen for shock value. We didn’t have a bunch of kids because we thought they were useful tools in the culture wars. We had them because God blessed us with them and we embraced that blessing. I also don’t know that the way it is written really is representative of what Ms. Campbell is trying to say. I get what she is saying when she says stuff like: "We look across the Islamic world and we see that they are outnumbering us in their family size, and they are in many places and many countries taking over those nations, without a jihad, just by multiplication," Campbell says.. It is not all about that, but if God’s people won’t have children and won’t raise their children up to follow Christ and won’t evangelize, well pretty soon we won’t have many Christians left over, will we?
What is really instructive is to read the comments that follow at the end of the article. Here are some samples…
I hate to see christians pigeon holed like this... not all are crazy, right wing conspirators that want to topple whole religions and societies in the name of christ.
I really wish the tax laws in this country were overhauled so that people who choose to have more than 2 children actually had to bear the full, complete cost of each additional child. No Federal or State handouts, no exceptions or exemptions, no nothing!...Then if they want to go on a population jihad fueled by irrational, archaic religious beliefs fine, but the entire cost comes out of their personal pockets, not mine or anyone else's!
This story about the Quiverfull movement is frightening to me on so many levels! It seems that their idea is to multiply to such great numbers that they will be able to take over the country (perhaps the world!) in order to deny those of us with a different perspective our right to live as we see fit. One of the very things that make this country great, and I might add something that enables THEM to do as they wish. There is room for everyone at god's table. Although with such irresponsible breeding, and giving no thought to the fact that this world does have finite resources, there may be no food for anyone to eat there.
Certainly it is rational to view stay at home moms with more than 2.1 children as being terrifying! Eeek, she has five kids, run! That is just the first few comments I read, I can imagine that the tenor of the conversation will continue to reflect this sort of narcissism. I am tempted to reply back but I figure that is just a waste of time. NPR is aimed at a particular audience and it is apparent from the comments already posted that no one is interested in having an intelligent conversation. It was just a few years ago that women had twice as many kids as they have today, but these people make it sound like some crazy movement that sprang up out of nowhere.
npr quiverfull national public radio quiver full quiverful
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
NPR on big families
Tomorrow morning on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, they are running a piece on large families and the quiverfull movement. I had someone from NPR email me a few weeks ago to ask if we were part of the quiverfull movement. Technically we are not, although I am sympathetic toward much of the agenda (obviously!). I am not sure what sort of reception the movement is going to get from NPR, especially since the advertisement for it this afternoon spoke about seeing kids as ammunition in the culture war. I will listen to it in the morning and put the link up when it appears online.
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