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Quiverfull

Quiverfull is a Christian theological position that sees large families as a blessing from God. It encourages procreation through the abstention from all forms of birth control, and sterilization reversal. The movement took its name from Psalm 127:3–5, where many children are metaphorically referred to as the arrows in a full quiver.

Some sources have referred to the Quiverfull position as providentialism, while other sources have simply referred to it as a manifestation of natalism.

It is most widespread in the United States but it also has adherents in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. One 2006 estimate put the number of families which subscribe to this philosophy as ranging from "the thousands to the low tens of thousands".

As birth-control methods advanced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many conservative Christian movements issued official statements against their use, citing their incompatibility with biblical beliefs and ideals.

In addition, there are those who contend that Quiverfull's "internal growth" model is a manifestation of a broader trend which is reflected in the lifestyles of such groups as Orthodox Jews (particularly Haredi and Hasidic Jews) and certain Christians including Orthodox Calvinists of the Netherlands, traditional Anabaptists (such as Old Order Amish, Old Colony Mennonites, and certain Conservative Mennonites), some traditional Methodists of the conservative holiness movement, and Laestadian Lutherans of Finland. The former may also be a case of a manifestation of a movement of opinion within some ethnic, linguistic, religious, regional, or other identifiable groups whose members have expressed concern about their continued existence for historical or other reasons. Such philosophies and groups are diverse amongst themselves—being found in all segments and sectors of the political spectrum—and they usually represent, to varying extents, the diversity within their group. The manifestations of such movements and opinions include everything from comparatively high rates of in-group marriage being applauded and gently suggested, to more explicit calls for endogamy such as is the case with the Druze,[citation needed] to concerns which were expressed by Protestants in Northern Ireland about a higher birth rate amongst Catholics, to Decree 770 which was issued by Nicolae Ceaușescu's government in Romania with regard to contraception, and other population topics as part of its local variant of the North Korean ideology of Juche.[citation needed]

In 1930, the Lambeth Conference issued a statement permitting birth control: "Where there is a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, complete abstinence is the primary and obvious method", but if there was morally sound reasoning for avoiding abstinence, "the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of Christian principles". Primary materials on the contemporary debate indicate a wide variety of opinion on the matter. In the decades that followed, birth control became gradually accepted among many other mainline Protestants, even among some conservative evangelicals.

In the 20th century, Quiverfull as a modern Christian movement began to emerge.[need quotation to verify] Nancy Campbell began publishing her magazine Above Rubies, which promotes and glorifies stay-at-home mothers who have as many children as possible, in 1977. While Campbell is in measure responsible for formulating Quiverfull ideas,[citation needed] the movement sparked most fully after the 1985 publication of Mary Pride's book The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality.

In her book, Pride chronicled her metaphorical journey away from what she labeled feminist and anti-natal ideas of happiness (within which she had lived as an activist before her conversion to conservative evangelical Christianity in 1977) toward her discovery of happiness surrounding what she portrayed as the biblically mandated role of wives and mothers as bearers of children and workers in the home under the authority of a husband. Pride wrote that such a lifestyle was generally biblically required of all married Christian women, but feminism had duped most Christian women without their awareness, especially in their acceptance of birth control.

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