Spunky Homeschool

Red Diaper Babies

Nov. 11, 2006 at 5:19 PM

Homeschooling

Shortly after it became obvious that the Republicans were in for a "thumpin'" on Tuesday night my seventeen year old daughter said, "Just think about how many big families we know with kids who will be able to vote in a few years. The impact will be huge." No kidding. She's not the only one who has noticed. The Nation took a look at quiverfull homeschoolers and the army of "red diaper babies" that are impacting the political landscape in the article, Arrows for War.
Quiverfull parents try to have upwards of six children. They home-school their families, attend fundamentalist churches and follow biblical guidelines of male headship--"Father knows best"--and female submissiveness. They refuse any attempt to regulate pregnancy. Quiverfull began with the publication of Rick and Jan Hess's 1989 book, A Full Quiver: Family Planning and the Lordship of Christ, which argues that God, as the "Great Physician" and sole "Birth Controller," opens and closes the womb on a case-by-case basis.
The article looks also mentions Mary Pride, Nancy Campbell, and a few others who refute feminism with the quiverfull message. In an odd way, the article was fun to read. It is always fascinating to read how evangelical homeschoolers are perceived by others. The author, Kathryn Joyce attempts to present the idea that children are a blessing as a bit extreme, but at the same time realizes that if the trend continues our children will indeed be a political force in the future. So much so that the Democrat Leadership Council is worried and trying to figure out how to match the conservative message with one of their own. Philip Longman, an advisor to the DNC asks,

"Who are these evangelicals? Is there anything about them that makes them inherently prowar and for tax cuts for the rich?" No, he concludes. "What's irreducible about these religious voters is that they're for the family." Asked whether the absolutist position Quiverfull takes on birth control, let alone abortion, might interfere with his strategy, Longman admits that abortion rights would have to take a back seat but that, in politics, "nobody ever gets everything they need."

Aside from the centrist tax policies...he urges a return to patriarchy--properly understood, he is careful to note, as not just male domination but also increased male responsibility as husbands and fathers--on more universal grounds.

The Democrats preaching pro-life patriarchy will be fun to watch. Somehow I just can't see woman like presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton talking about a return to patriarchy with Bill Clinton standing behind her. Or Nancy Pelosi after realizing that she has been serving in the wrong house, giving up her gavel for a toilet brush. And any suggestion putting abortion rights in the "back seat" will meet with rebuttals of a return to the "back ally."

Me thinks the DNC has it's work cut out for them in order to convince this quiverfull homeschooler much of anything. It does show that despite winning this election, the Democrats are not too sure that things will go this well in future elections. But if the Republicans think they have my vote or my "red diaper babies" in the bag, they can think again.  

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7 Comments and Trackbacks

posted by Victorious on Nov. 11, 2006 at 11:26 PM

Thanks for sharing those articles. Great reading.
Blessings ~ Diane (formerly DiWilliams)

posted by Anonymous on Nov. 12, 2006 at 9:57 AM

Hi Spunky!

The Austins at Parenting with Purpose linked to an excellent article by Dave Black that I thought you might be interested in reading.

Love in Christ,
Christine

posted by CommunicationFUNdamentals on Nov. 12, 2006 at 2:38 PM

Hmmmm....Homeschoolers do have large families! Hadn't thought about red diaper babies!

JoJo

posted by Sherry on Nov. 12, 2006 at 11:40 PM

I read that article, too, and thought it was interesting, although flawed. If Democrats think they can have vote or that of my children, they are mistaken, but if Republicans think they can take our votes for granted, they're also mistaken. I also think someone needs to tell her that many, many "quiverfull" families are adopting children in addition to birthing them, and that the phenomenon of large famillies committed to the Lord isn't limited to "fundamentalists" ---unless you count Catholics and Southern Baptists and MEthodists and other groups as "fundamentalists."

posted by SusannahCox on Nov. 13, 2006 at 2:56 AM

It's sort of funny how people who have no discernible faith tend to write about people who do.

This author taking so literally the whole "war" analogy, for example. Really, do Christians view their children primarily as weapons? I think she was a bit heavy-handed with that. The "arrows in the hands of a warrior" thing is poetic simile, for heaven's sake! Clearly, "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" and "we wrestle not against flesh and blood" but against spiritual forces. Sometimes I wish people who wrote about religion knew a little more about it, or did a little Bible reading beforehand.

I never got the feeling that my QF acquaintances were in it to out-breed people of other faiths or political convictions, but because they wanted to be obedient to God's word as they understood it. I'm not QF, and I have six children myself, because, like the QF movement, I consider children blessings and we wanted them.

posted by spunkyhomeschool on Nov. 13, 2006 at 8:24 AM

I agree with both of you. I'm not quiverfull as part of a movement. I was brought up Catholic with the mindset that children were a blessing. So the idea that this started in 1989 with a book was a little odd. I also didn't like her allusion that this may be "race motivated." Why does everything have to have an "agenda" attached to it these days.

posted by KayinMaine on Nov. 13, 2006 at 3:57 PM

Excellent points! The thing that these folks don't seem to understand is that "quiverfull-ers" are independent thinkers who are not afraid to go against the flow. We are not about to buy into surface reforms meant to convince us that Democrats are on our side, especially after years of being fed lines by these very same people about overpopulation and birth control being the "responsible" thing to do.
We vote our values and we train our children to do the same. I think there is a day of reckoning coming for Democrats and Republicans alike, when all these "red diaper babies" come of age and start really influencing the culture as a whole, from the inside out.

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