The Quiverfull movement: creating children to be soldiers of Christ
Book cover photo courtesy of Beacon Press
“The womb is such a powerful weapon; it’s a weapon against the enemy.”
So said Nancy Campbell in an NPR piece about the Quiverfull movement that aired yesterday.
Maybe it’s not fair to start with the most alarming quote from the entire story, but trust me, I felt alarmed when I heard it. The womb is a weapon? What on earth was this woman talking about?
It turns out that the Quiverfull movement is an extreme manifestation of a trend among evangelical Christians to have as many children as possible. They shun birth control (generally even natural family planning) as improper meddling with God’s will. They are also all over the blogosphere these days, thanks in large part to a new book by journalist Kathryn Joyce called Quiverfull: Inside The Christian Patriarchy Movement. The publishing house’s blurb about the book asserts that
In direct and conscious opposition to feminist calls…
