Congratulations, Duggar family! The Lord has blessed you with yet another child. This time, Jim and Michelle Duggar will be watching from the sidelines, as their firstborn has done the procreation and will welcome his own child into the Quiverfull movement. In an America where gay parents cannot adopt in many states, where any minority family that had 18 kids (or even 1/3 of that) would be loudly decried as leeches on society, thank God that we have the Duggars to celebrate and obsess over.
If you’re not familiar with the family, Jim and Michelle have eighteen children, born between 1988 and 2008, and all with names beginning with J. (Somehow missing from the pack are Jesus, Judas, Julius Caesar, Jorge, Jo-Mama, Jedi-Knight, and Jezebel. We hope this situation will be rectified, since they are all infinitely better names than “Jinger.”) They have a reality TV show, and the births of their last four children have been taped for Discovery Health Network and The Learning Channel. What did these instructional programs teach me? That I will never have eighteen children. But I am not part of the Quiverfull movement, that school of Protestantism that is based on the Biblical quote, “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. Quiverfull adherents believe that their children are the weapons to combat secularism and the rise of other faiths such as Islam. Hence why the Duggars’ official website proclaims that the family’s “desire is to make Christ known and for others to see that the Bible is the owner’s manual for life.” And to make sure that every woman knows that this interpretation of fertility is the owner’s manual for their wombs.
Plenty of women around the world have a “quiverfull” of children not because it is part of their religious doctrine or their plans but they have no access to family planning measures. The Duggars’ official website proudly states that, “As a family project the Duggars built a 7000 sq. ft. home debt free!” That’s wonderful for them, and if only they would share some of that wealth with those who don’t have the same resources. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m sure the gifts will pour in for grandbaby Duggar soon enough, and all those less deserving families will just have to shut up.
I made the mistake of turning on the Today show this morning. Thought I might catch a bit of actual news while I dried my hair, but noooo…instead I saw the Duggars. I know that the later hours of the Today are pretty much useless, but I didn’t realize the news coverage was officially over by 8 a.m.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Meredith Vieira actually feels about the Duggars. She certainly looked and sounded perky during the interview. I think I’d have a hard time disguising my distaste, but then again, I’m not a professional morning show host…
They give me the HeeJees
Jabba? Jar-Jar? Jub-Jub? Jiant Joke?
Here’s the thing: they don’t believe in using birth control because they want to have “as many children as God gives” them.
Using that same logic, I’m guessing they don’t use prescription drugs or modern conveniences like washing machines and cars, either. Because I’m pretty sure God didn’t create any of them.
Losers.
I once read a really great argument about this whole quiverfull thing.
Say God gives you a farm. Lots of people in the Bible were farmers. Did they just go throw seeds out willy nilly and say, God will determine how many plants I grow? Did they then refuse to water and till and weed and fertilize, so that God could truly be in control of their harvest? No. Because since creation, we’ve had this concept of stewardship. That all of creation is given to us to manage, to make wise decisions about, to use to enrich our lives and the life of the planet. God didn’t create the wonder that is the human mind only to treat it as subhuman and in need of dictating to. Much like a parent who watches a child grow into adulthood, God doesn’t want to tell us what to do, but instead delights in us being the kind of people who can make wise decisions for ourselves and take responsibility for them. There’s a difference between being a child of God and being childish– childish is refusing to take responsibility for your choices and instead claiming you’re letting God do all the deciding.
Also: when did Jr. and his wife get hitched? Are we sure they first kissed at the wedding?
I was also disturbed by the fact that they made this announcement when the girl is only 3 months along. I know that’s the typical time you wait to tell friends and family, but did you have to go on national freaking television with the news?
Thank you for saying what I’ve been thinking, although I hope they have some more so one can be named Jingles, same as my cat.
Honestly, I kind of dig the Duggars. They’re just so…clean. And ridiculous. I can’t dislike them. The Quiverfull thing, on the other hand, is terrifying. I’m all about reproductive choice, but when you are attempting to create an army of white Christians to battle Islam and atheism, there’s no way to make that really acceptable.
Between the years 1988 and 2008?!?! In that time, my parents NEVER had another child. And the Duggars have 17?
WTF, all I wanted was ONE sibling…
(though, I am kinda happy there weren’t a dozen of us. Chaos City!)
Erm… how is it mathematically possible to have 18 kids in 10 years time? That’s only 6.66 months of pregnancy with no breaks!
I think there’s a set of twins, ceejee.
And isn’t that a span of 20 years? 1988 – 1998 – 2008? That still doesn’t leave much space for recovery, though :S
I also found it creepy that he told her she was pregnant IN FRONT OF HIS WHOLE FAMILY. And told her “you’re going to join the Mommy Team.” Ack.
@ceejeemcbeegee: It’s a 20 year gap. Still pretty overwhelming though.
@Maritsa: The Mommy Team? Oh, retch.
@PhDork: Jar-Jar! Brilliant!
I haven’t watched the show, but I assume that the older daughters have to help with a lot of the housework and babysitting. I bet they won’t be in such a hurry to have kids as their brother was.
I would be fascinated to see how the Duggars would respond to a black Protestant family adopting the Quiverfull mantle and moving next door. Would they be so encouraging that they should have children? Would they even acknowledge their existence? There’s so much weird “white power” stuff behind the Quiverfull movement and I’m not really sure how to unpack it.
Poor little Duggar in-law. At least Michelle got to wait until she was 24 or 25 to start popping out the babies. The fact that this announcement was made on national television moved my opinion of the Duggars from “mostly harmless freak show” to “frickin idiots”.
Wait, Maritsa, how did HE know she was pregnant before she did?
@jgh: That’s a good question, and while I’m leery of predicting what the Duggars themselves would do when it comes to something like this, my guess is that even if they were fine with it, there would be a crapload of people within their movement who would not be.
Don’t they have a show on TLC? The families on that network’s reality shows are all conservative/religious (Jon and Kate, family from Little People Big World). I had to stop watching all of them because I felt like there’s an Agenda at work.
funnyface, she said she was too nervous to look at the peestick b/c she had several negative tests leading up to it, so she let him do it.
I’m actually okay with the Duggars. From what I’ve seen and read, this family is not trying to shove their values down anyone’s throat–they state what they believe, but I’ve never seen or heard any of them act in a rude fashion about it.
(And, as far as I can tell, they’re not a part of the “official” Quiverfull movement–their FAQ page emphasizes “families of all sizes” in various places.)
The parents obviously love their children, and the siblings obviously love their parents–and each other.
I’m also cool with their commitment to being debt-free–with a family this size, that is a difficult proposition, but they manage to pull it off with grace and courtesy.
They come across as genuinely nice folk–and I have to say that it’s slightly presumptuous to wonder if they would have issues with a family of a different race having lots of children, too. I just can’t see that, based on what I’ve read regarding the Duggars.
All that said, I’d rather have a “reality” show like theirs over “Shot at Love” or “The Cougar” any day…
[...] check out. Joyce is the author of Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement. I’ve touched briefly on the Quiverfull movement before, which proudly touts that it supports patriarchy and mandates [...]