‘Our Father’: What Is the Quiverfull Movement and Did Donald Cline Join It?
Netflix’s new documentary Our Father tells the harrowing story of an Indianapolis-based fertility doctor Donald Cline who allegedly impregnated over 90 women with his semen without their knowledge. Some of those interviewed believe Cline is a member of the Quiverfull movement, but did he ever actually join it?
What is the Quiverfull movement?
The Quiverfull movement is a Christian-based philosophy held by some couples who consider large families blessings from God. Therefore, it preaches procreation and abstention from sterilization and birth control.
The belief’s name originates from Psalm 127, “Children are a heritage of the Lord, and fruit of the womb is his reward; happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.” The Quiverfull metaphor describes the children as weapons, or arrows, to be used to spread their values, which believers view as “saving the world.”
Throughout the early 20th century, when birth control methods began to advance and spread, many conservative Christian movements rejected them, considering their use as going against God.
Around the same time, Quiverfull became popular in the United States. After Nancy Cambell’s 1977 magazine Above Rubies which encouraged women to stay home and raise large families, Mary Pride’s The Way Home: Beyond Feminism, Back to Reality is credited with igniting the Quiverfull movement.
Quiverfull followers do not believe in birth control or fertility treatments
The author detailed her experience moving away from her “feminist” beliefs and toward discovering happiness within the role of a mom and wife, as portrayed in the Bible.
Pride used several Bible verses to defend her argument, and they became the foundation of the conservative movement. Social networks and the Internet have since spread the belief to several areas outside the United States.
Many followers believe they obey God’s word by having many children, citing Bible verses including Genesis 1:22 and Isaiah 66:9. Additionally, some consider it their obligation to raise as many kids as they can in the belief to further Christianity.
Believers also believe the inability to have children, what they refer to as an “empty quiver,” is God’s choice. Therefore, they view infertility treatments as interfering with God’s plan. Even though not at all Quiverfull followers adhere to everything the original movement states, all believe birth control is thwarting God’s standard for married couples.
Did Dr. Donald Cline join the Quiverfull movement?
In Netflix’s documentary Our Father, several participants theorized why they believe fertility doctor Donald Cline impregnated their mothers with his semen without their knowledge.
One woman, Jacoba Ballard, mentioned his affinity for the Bible verse Jeremiah 1:5, which reads, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” As many Quiverfull believers also use the verse to back their beliefs, she thought he might have joined the movement. The documentary never answered if Cline did.
While the answer is officially unclear, it can be assumed he didn’t join the movement. While an elder of the church and very religious, the Indianapolis-based doctor defended his actions by claiming he wanted to help families who couldn’t have children. The basis of the Quiverfull movement is to raise the kids with the same conservative Christian families to spread their religion.
However, Cline didn’t want anything to do with the reported 94 children he created and didn’t seem to have a large family, although he and his wife did raise a few kids. Finally, many Quiverfull followers discourage fertility treatments as they believe one should pray if they were given an “empty quiver,” and God would intervene if that were his plan. Our Father is streaming on Netflix.
