DangerousTalk

There is this philosophy within a small segment of fundamentalist Christianity called the “Quiverfull Movement.” The idea is that people are weapons for God and as such, each Christian within the movement needs to focus on creating more “arrows” for God’s quiver by breeding mass amounts of Christians.

By contrast, most atheists I know either don’t have kids at all or have only one or two. I do know a few atheists who have three kids, but I know far more with none. The paradoxical part is that atheists love sex and that is a key component in breeding and fundamentalist Christians often consider sex evil and yet they seem to be having a lot of it.

Aside from mass breeding, the Quiverfull movement relies on indoctrination. What good is it to have mass amounts of children if they de-convert from Christianity? This is where atheist has the advantage. We breed atheists not by mass amounts of children, but by educating children and teaching them how to think critically about the world around them.

For atheists, people aren’t weapons in some mythological war, they are actual people! We generally view people as ends in themselves and not as weapons for some deity’s end. Reason is our weapon for the end of all deities. Our quiver is be filled with ideas rather than people.

Related articles

• An Interview with a Former Quiverfull Parent (friendlyatheist.com)
• Should Atheists Start Breeding Like Crazy? (friendlyatheist.com)
• Substance over sweetness – another New Atheist critique gone askew (scienceblogs.com)
• Can’t Hide from Religion (dangeroustalk.net)

Filed under: atheism, culture war, family values, Parenting, Religion