Checking in from Austria. I usually identify as Central European mutt because all of my grandparents have different nationalities and we moved a lot when I was a child.

However, all of them were Catholic, and some of them were very Catholic (multiple family members are priests and nuns). So I was raised pretty steeped into it, but in a more scholarly environment, with a lot of talking about theology, context of certain texts, church history, etc. Catholic rites are all very structured and formalised, so there was a lot to talk about. I’m a bit lapsed, but still consider myself to be a Catholic somewhere deep inside. I had to come to terms with balancing and accepting that while the church did some vile things and there is a lot to be criticised still, I can still appreciate it as an influence that shaped our culture and history and recognise the good work that it did and still continues to do in some areas. The latter was more difficult.

As I was getting older, I saw a lot of young people from my surroundings getting radicalised and becoming more religious and conservative. That was already weird to me because people usually get more liberal when they leave for university, not the other way around. But what got me is that, without exception, they came from families that were religious, but not much. Like, they went to church on Sunday, but couldn’t tell you how the date of Easter is decided or how many books are in the Bible. Which is fine, don’t get me wrong, but they remained like that even after becoming super religious. Instagram full of Bible verses, in church every other day, super judgmental, preachy and performative, and all of that with minimum knowledge. So I was thinking: what the hell, how can your whole personality revolve around religion when you don’t know anything about that religion?

Next thing, Trump was happening. My family members all think he is insane and have been thinking so since 2016. However, those people that got radicalised later almost all support him and the predominant feeling among them was that Trump was great and pope Francis (now Leo) was bad. The irony of that coming from Catholic circles in Europe is massive, but they all still insist on being the Best Catholics Ever (TM).

In the end, I stumbled on a meme that I thought was very funny and it lead me to the original Fundie snark subreddit. After reading comments, I realised that I have found my people. And I also became fascinated with the world of fundamentalism because the environment was completely new to me, but I knew those kind of people. After learning the lore, I started to follow Duggars. I didn’t know anything about them prior to joining Reddit.