This story is unsettling but it's not new. There have always been adolescents and young adults who, lacking purpose or direction, embraced religious fundamentalism. I knew them when I was a college student and I encounter the occasional one now. But it's extreme to say that the movement will "swallow a generation whole". For one thing, there will always be plenty of young people who are suspicious of religon and most of them find purpose in life without giving up their entire being to a religious group. For another thing, this movement will eventually take on mainstream properties...which a movement that swallows generations would of course do...and there will be a backlash and resistance. So I have a feeling that the reach of this group is limited. The "come as you are" thing seems more of a schtick than anything else.

Having said that, the parallels with Mormon fundamentalism, which was the subject of an article some time ago, are striking. The Mars Hill group does not seem to have committed illegalities as the Mormon fundamentalists did, which limits the ability of the outside world to intrude. The subservient women, the multiple children, the commonly owned (and possibly tenous) property, the adherence to the hard line are all similar to the Mormon fundamentalists. Those are some scary people. What will happen to children like Asher, born in the Mars Hill Church to women who frankly don't want children at all, or any more of them? Will they have a decent childhood and will the church toss them if they don't get with the program? That's my biggest concern.

Summing up, I thought this article was rather extreme but did describe a worrisome phenomenon.

"I can't imagine wanting to replace my wonderful friends with a demanding child who has ripped and torn my body apart."

I couldn't have either before I had children. Well, it doesn't exactly work like that. You conceive a child through intent, lust or ignorance of birth control...it doesn't matter which...and when you have the baby, all these hormones go wild and for a lot of women, they just want to be with the baby. The hormone and attachment thing is intense (you're an animal!) and so spending time away from the baby doesn't feel right at first.

Well, after that you might WANT to do stuff with friends but children take time and are demanding and the thing is, you're responsible for them. There are times that I would love to replace my demanding children with my wonderful friends, but it's not an option that's open to me...I had them and gotta take care of them and it wears me and the husband out a lot. My husband and I park the kids and do stuff (sometimes together, sometimes not) as much as we can but it's not like we're choosing to ignore friends. It's my great hope that as we get older and the kids are more independent that we can do more with friends. (It sounds like I don't want to do stuff with the kids, but I do! Just not EVERYTHING)

I'm sorry you lost your girlfriend but it might not be forever. The thing is, once a person or couple has a child, they start to gravitate toward other friends with children rather than single friends. And the reason is probably that the friends with children understand when you can't do something because the babysitter canceled or the kid has a fever and they understand if your child says or does something embarrassing and you can tell them about something you did that others consider a sign that you're a bad parent, but the friends with parents just nod and have a story of their own. We have single friends who understand all those things, but I think most of the others just find our kid issues annoying. As they have the right to do.

Having said that, a parent who is past parenting a baby should be spending some time in the adult world. parents that devote themselves 24/7 to kids or let kids get away with murder are doing no one a favor,

"I doubt one of you would dare to say such things about a group of Muslims observing their religion peacefully and fervently"

Oh, did you mean those Muslims that don't consider a rape to be prosecutable unless four men witness it? I think plenty of people have issues with at least some Muslims and they are saying plenty about it on Broadsheet. I'll be the first to admit that fundamentalists with extreme and self-serving ideas come in all religions

My advice: you might feel up to having a few visitors in the hospital, or you might not. If you don't, tell the nursing staff that you don't want any visitors. In an obstetrical ward, there is generally a nursing presence between the hospital door and the room door. If the nurse says, sorry she isn't able to receive visitors as she's very exhausted, it's less likely to be insulting than if the mom said it.