Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love, Joy, Feminism

Home
Nonreligious
A Case for Calling the Duggars ATI Rather Than Quiverfull

A Case for Calling the Duggars ATI Rather Than Quiverfull

Last updated on: September 4, 2015 at 8:33 pm by Libby Anne

A Case for Calling the Duggars ATI Rather Than Quiverfull 2015-09-04T20:33:08-04:00 Libby Anne

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I wrote recently about some of the many definitional issues surrounding the term “quiverfull.” If you have not already read that post, you can do so here. But in this post I want to go farther and argue that we need to be calling the Duggars ATI, not quiverfull, because their primary identification is with Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute and their quiverfull beliefs stem from that organization. More generally, I would argue that accuracy demands that we be clear about what leaders and what organizations any given Christian homeschooling family follows. This is because umbrella terms like “quiverfull” or “Christian patriarchy” erase and blur distinctions that can be critically important.

Let me give you an example of why this matters. Take a look at the framing of this question InTouch recently asked No Longer Quivering founder Vyckie Garrison:

The way the reporter framed the question is a problem, because quiverfull is not monolithic. Instead, it is an ideology that is held and taught by a wide range of people. How a quiverfull person will feel about an illegitimate baby will depend on which leader and organization they follow. In this case, InTouch should be asking “How do people in ATI feel about an illegitimate baby?” But because they (and we) have gotten so used to using the umbrella term when talking about the Duggars, they may not even know that question exists.

Here is Vyckie’s response:

Vyckie was close to Nancy Campbell’s ministry, Above Rubies, and within those circles this answer makes perfect sense. Campbell emphasizes mothers and babies and childbearing. She writes constantly about what blessings babies are and urges women to accept all of the blessings God chooses to give them. In addition to her involvement with Campbell, Vyckie was heavily involved in a form of anti-abortion activism that emphasized that babies are always—always—a blessing. That this would have been her position on illegitimate babies when she was quiverfull makes perfect sense.

The problem is that the Duggars are an ATI family, not an Above Rubies family. Even though both groups can be termed quiverfull, they are in fact very different. ATI was founded by Bill Gothard, who spent decades dictating the minutia of ATI belief and practice, and that comes with very specific beliefs—beliefs not shared by Nancy Campbell or Above Rubies. That is why I said InTouch asked the wrong question. They needed to ask what ATI teaches about illegitimate children, but because the Duggars have been overwhelmingly labeled “quiverfull” rather than “ATI,” they didn’t know to ask that. And that’s a problem.

Several homeschool graduates who grew up in ATI families mentioned this differences at play here in comments on Vyckie’s post, explaining the specifics of ATI theology on illegitimate children:

Yes, that’s right—Gothard taught that the sins of the parents were passed on to the children. This was called “intergenerational sin” and it is why Gothard was generally negative about adoption—he argued that adopted children come with all sorts of problems because of the sins of their parents, and advised parents to only adopt children in situations where they knew their family background. Gothard’s specific teaching about intergenerational sin is crucially important to understanding how families like the Duggars—followers of Gothard’s ministry—would view an illegitimate child.

I suggested in my previous post that we need a new term for this overarching parallel universe that is the Christian homeschooling world of Bill Gothard, Michael Pearl, Nancy Campbell, etc. But now I think that maybe, instead, we need to focus instead on which leaders and organizations a given individual or family is following rather than making generalizations about the group as a whole. I am just as guilty of speaking in generalizations as anyone else, and it’s something I plan to work on.

Labeling the Duggars ATI rather than quiverfull may also help call attention to the cult-like and oppressive teachings of Gothard. The term “quiverfull” applies to only a specific aspect of the Duggars’ beliefs, and using that label minimizes the reality that the Duggars are quiverfull because they are ATI. It allows the public to focus on their large family rather than their cult-like beliefs. Drawing attention to ATI and Bill Gothard makes the problem more tangible. Changing the terminology we use may make it harder for the media and the public to ignore the harsh realities of ATI’s teachings when talking about the Duggars.

There is absolutely a place for attacking an overarching ideology, but those efforts must be supplemented with efforts to oppose and criticize individual leaders and organizations that promote that ideology. If our efforts skew too far toward addressing the ideology rather than the organizations that promote it, we become less effective. Quiverfull beliefs propagate through a network of leaders and organizations. They do not just appear out of thin air. We must be comprehensive, tackling both ideas and people, both ideologies and organizations.

And so as we go forward, let’s label the Duggars “ATI” and emphasize the importance of Gothard’s teachings to the Duggars’ beliefs while also addressing the problems inherent to quiverfull beliefs more generally*.* It can’t be either/or. It has to be both/and.

Previous Post

September 3, 2015

We Need to Be Able to Call Out Kim Davis' Bigotry without Slut-Shaming or Hillbilly-Shaming

Next Post

September 5, 2015 Anonymous Tip: Peter Makes His Move

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Atheism Evangelicalism/Fundamentalism Family Feminism Homeschool Meta Parenting Patriarchy Politics Purity Quiverfull Social Justice Uncategorized Worthwhile reads

Select a Month February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who saw a vision of four beasts coming out of the sea?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joel Daniel Ezekiel Amos