Hello, I'm dangermom

[dangermom]

Hi there, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting, but every time I read a thread I want to say something, so here I am.

I've been reading a bit about the quiverfull movement--I haven't managed to get my hands on the Joyce book yet, but have read a lot here and elsewhere. I only know a couple of people like this IRL, and that very slightly; I homeschool so I run into them sometimes, but you know how it is in HSing, there's the evangelicals and then there's everyone else, so I mostly hang out with the hippie unschoolers.

I'm LDS myself and come from a very different culture, and a lot of this doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I'm fascinated though. The logic is so different and scary. At the same time, Mormons like babies and have a mostly-male leadership--we look pretty similar from the outside. So it's this very weird distorted-mirror effect. (I'd like to note that if you are from an evangelical background, most of what you've been taught about the LDS Church is probably false. So if you're thinking "she belongs to an evil cult!"--know that there is a lot of deliberately frightening misinformation out there about Mormons.)

Um, what else--I live in CA, have two daughters, read all the time, like to sew, am a classical homeschooler and a Bollywood addict. I'm a librarian, but currently unemployed (stupid broke county with no money, grr).

[AustinAvery]

Hmmm? "Danger" mom?

Interesting moniker. What does the "danger" mean?

You read constantly. That, certainly, could be a danger to the powers that be. They don't like the masses well educated.

I have to admit a real feeling of ambivalence to your story so far. As a general matter, I adore librarians. They are the keepers of the knowledge, the bulwark against censorship.

On the other hand, I dated a Mormon women for quite a long time, and while I don't think Mormonism is a cult, it is, to my way of thinking, a dangerous religion (not that I'll hold that against anyone brave enough to come out and contribute to this forum). For example, the huge financial donation from the Mormon church to pass Proposition 8 right there in your state.

[xara]

Welcome Dangermom.

I would be interested to hear your perspective on some of the things we discuss here. I am not aware of any other LDS members on the forum, though there may be some. So it would be interesting to me to learn more about similarities and differences between it and QF/P.

We have a fairly diverse group and for the most part we get along. Our main rule seems to be "Be respectful even if you disagree."

I look forward to reading more posts from you.

[Hillary]

Welcome, dangermom! I too look forward to your contributions. I'm sure it gets frustrating having your views and the beliefs you hold dear constantly misrepresented by media and others. That said, I did find much in common with the account of Elissa Wall's Stolen Innocence. I guess in every denomination or religion, the fundamentalists get all the attention, eh?

[dangermom]

Hi everyone. I certainly do not expect folks to agree with my beliefs, and while I do think it would be very interesting to compare, OTOH I'm not here to proselyte or turn everything into a discussion about LDS beliefs. I guess maybe I'd like to comment sometimes on similarities or differences, but if anyone has factual-type questions (like "Does the LDS Church really own the Coca-Cola company?"--answer, no) then it would probably be best to PM me. I'm happy to try to answer honest/curious questions, and I'm not easily offended, but this isn't the MB for that sort of conversation.

My username is just what I use for online forums--one night over dinner we came up with super-spy names and I said I wanted to be Dangermom. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Hillary, I've taken a peek at "Stolen Innocence" and I can certainly agree that there is probably a lot in common there. FLDS are very different than run-of-the-mill Mormons--it's not that easy to get excommunicated but one surefire way to do it is to get into polygamy. I don't know a lot about it and have never met any polygamists IRL (don't even watch Big Love), but my impression is that the secrecy and patriarchy has made these tiny, insular societies fester into terrible things.

I'm interested in learning more about the various flavors of evangelical/fundamentalist/QF movements, especially how strict Reformed churches fit into the mix. I have a really hard time wrapping my head around the different sub-denominations--there are so many and all these nuances that I just miss. The vocabulary is also hard for me to grasp--words like complementarian, that sort of thing--I have to look them all up or ask because usually I find that if I think I get it, I am completely wrong. Every time I think I have a grasp on something, it turns out that I totally did not understand some huge thing. It's probably very good for my ego.

My most personal interest is in the Reformed thing. I have a friend who recently joined a strict Reformed church--well, she's an ex-friend, now that she's discovered that I'm a cultist and she won't let our kids play together or answer my emails. She was also LDS before, just to be clear. So I've been trying for some time to try to figure that out. It seems to be the exact opposite of us in many ways.

Well, in case you care, here's an interesting difference that I had pointed out to me recently by a Protestant who is married to a Mormon. I hadn't defined it so well before. It seems that many Protestants, when they disagree on some belief or practice, will go and start a new sub-group, yes? So you get Baptists who figure the SB's are too conservative and who start a new, more conservative Baptist offshoot. Mormons, on the whole, do not do this (with the obvious and very extreme exception of polygamy--they throw everything else out). There is nowhere else to go. If you believe in the basic tenets of the LDS Church (and they are few, probably best listed here), you can disagree with your neighbors on almost everything else and still stay, because your choices are to stay or to leave entirely. So a Mormon who, say, dislikes the idea of evolution and the evolutionary biologist in the next pew just have to learn to live with each other. This difference between LDS and Protestant seems to result in very different ways of dealing with disagreement.

[runawaybride]

Hi Mom. I know a few LDS folks, and frankly they are a way normal compared to the Quiverfull folks. You'll get no argument from me. ;D