Dear Libby: How can I help my cousins?

This is tough. I have taken a while to answer it because I’ve been ruminating on it and just haven’t come up with a good or simple answer. You are absolutely right that your cousins’ father could simply isolate them further if he perceives an outside threat, and you also need to remember that actively trying to challenge their beliefs might serve only to reinforce them, as they’ve been taught that “the world will hate you” and that “the world will not understand you.” In other words, opposition is what those girls have been raised to expect.

When Lewis at Commandments of Men had been courting a Quiverfull girl for a number of months, the girl’s father began to see him as a threat to her beliefs, and immediately moved to brainwash and isolate her. He was unfortunately successful in this.

At the same time, Vyckie of No Longer Quivering was persuaded to rethink her beliefs after a long-time email debate with her uncle, in which she tried, and failed, to convert him, and found that he had some pretty good counterarguments to her beliefs. Unlike Lewis’ fiance’s situation, though, Vyckie was a grown woman who ran a Quiverfull newsletter, not a young woman under the close supervision of her father.

As you can see, it’s complicated.

As for suggestions, I have two, and both come from my own experience as a Quiverfull daughter who left those beliefs. You see, it wasn’t just college that changed my beliefs, it was people, people like you.

1. It may be that if you got in contact with one of your cousins, she might try to convert you to her beliefs, and you could simply and unthreateningly refute her arguments. You would need to do so in a way that did not come across as you trying to change her beliefs, but simply you explaining why you think her arguments fail.

Why do I suggest this? Well, what first made me question and rethink my beliefs was my attempt to convert a college friend into a young earth creationist. The thing is, this only worked because he didn’t ever seem like he was actively trying to convince me that evolution was a valid theory and young earth creationism was bunk. Rather, he listened as I laid out my arguments, arguments I thought would easily persuade, and then convincingly explained why my arguments were flawed, but always without judgement. This allowed me to hear new arguments and gave me an environment to consider them.

Now you know your situation better than I. This sort of thing may be impossible. But perhaps if one of the girls reaches out to you or tries to bring you to believe as she does, this is something to remember. Again, you need to work to not seem like a threat or like you’re trying to deconvert them from their beliefs, because that would both turn your cousin off and perhaps lead her father to further isolate her.

2. Just be there. Be available. Make sure the girls understand that if they need somebody, you’re someone they can reach out to. This doesn’t have to be a spoken kind of thing, and really probably shouldn’t be. It’s more of an understood sort of thing.

Growing up, I had several extended relatives I knew my parents disagreed with, but who had always treated me well and respectfully, and not with condemnation. When I began my process of questioning, I was in college and had new friends who were more understanding and open, but if I hadn’t been I might very well have turned to those relatives for support.

If your cousins know you’re someone who is there for you if they need someone, then if they start having questions or trouble with their father they will come to you, whether for moral support or for actual physical respite. You will never know how valuable just being there for them can be.

I would add one concluding point. Your question is difficult to answer because it’s not as though we’re talking about young adults held against their wills. Rather, we’re talking about young adults who may be just as sold, if not more so, on Quiverfull doctrine and beliefs as their parents. Because, after all, they know nothing else. If the question were simply your young adult cousins being held by their parents against their wills, the answer would be simple. Instead, we’re talking about young adults who serve as their own goalers and proudly wear as armor beliefs that have been made virtually impenetrable by interwoven dogma.

I wish I could offer you more suggestions, I really do. If nothing else I’m really glad you care about your cousins, as you clearly do. For additional input, you might want to look at this post or check out the (upcoming) answers to these questions in the Raised Quiverfull project.

Does anyone else have any input?