The Duggar clan is expanding...again. Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar, the patriarch and matriarch of America's most famous extra large family, have announced they are expecting their 20th--yes, 20th!--child. The news was revealed in last week's People magazine.
For those who don't know--and who doesn't know?--the Duggars are, as stated above, America's most well known huge family. Michelle and Jim-Bob are the face of being "quiverful", the doctrine, believed in by some conservative Christians, that the faithful should reject birth control and let God decide the size of their families.
Jim-Bob, Michelle, and their children first came to prominence in 2004 when the documentary 14 Kids and Pregnant Again! first aired on the Discovery Channel. As the title says, the Duggars had "only" 14 children then, with an expecting Michelle giving birth to baby number 15 on the show. That first documentary propelled the humble Duggar clan to fame, inspired several sequels, and culminated in the Duggars having their own reality show, 19 Kids and Counting*, on TLC. All this media exposure has made the Duggars the recipients of mostly friendly attention and curiosity, but they have been the objects of criticism.
Jim-Bob and Michelle have been attacked as environmentally unfriendly for having so many children. They've been accused of depriving their brood of the individual attention children need. They've been called ignorant, sexist, a drain on society, and even homophobic. Jim-Bob and Michelle were particulary scrutinized in 2009 when their 19th child, Josie, was born several weeks premature and suffered health problems. Critics opined that Josie's problematic birth should be a sign to the Duggars that it was time to curb their fertility. Of course, that didn't happen. Duggar number 20 is on the way.
I question the "quiverful" doctrine but I don't condemn the Duggars for believing it. I don't think I could have 20 children, but I don't condemn the Duggars for doing so. I do, however, question the motives of their critics. Frankly, I believe most of them are secular progressives (SPs) who just don't like white, conservative Christians. Their complaints about the Duggars supposedly depriving their children of attention or endangering the environment are just covers for their bigotry. The Duggars and others like them are an existential threat to secular progressives' efforts to establish an irreligious, libertine, multicultural, nanny state; that's why they hate them. And that's why I thank God for the Duggars. Through their family they are increasing and strengthening the cultural traditionalists who can reverse the moral decline of American society and save the nation. Duggar number 20 is another arrow for the war, and I say, yes!
*The title of the show changes as each new child arrives. It will be 20 Kids and Counting soon.
1 comment:
Great post. As a Conservative Christian, I also question the "quiverful" doctrine, and like you, I do not condemn them for it. I feel if they want to have children, the government has no place to tell them no.
I thank God for the Duggars too, for they are helping increase the Conservative cause and working to stop the decline of Moral America, something the liberals want.....the decline I mean. Great Post my friend.
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