"THE FAMILY : The Secret Fundamentalism
at the Heart of American Power"
by Jeff Sharlet
http://jeffsharlet.com/books/about-the_family.html
http://jeffsharlet.com/books/excerpt-the_family.html
[...]
Ivanwald, which sits at the end of Twenty-fourth
Street North in Arlington, was known only to its
residents and to the members and friends of the Family.
The Family is in its own words an "invisible"
association, though it has always been organized
around public men. Senator Sam Brownback (R., Kansas),
chair of a weekly, off - the- record meeting of
religious right groups called the Values Action
Team (VAT), is an active member, as is Representative
Joe Pitts (R., Pennsylvania), an avuncular would-be
theocrat who chairs the House version of the VAT.
Others referred to as members include senators
Jim DeMint of South Carolina, chairman of the
Senate Steering Committee (the powerful conservative
caucus co-founded back in 1974 by another Family
associate, the late senator Carl Curtis of Nebraska);
Pete Domenici of New Mexico (a Catholic and
relatively moderate Republican; it's Domenici's
status as one of the Senate's old lions that the
Family covets, not his doctrinal purity);
Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa); James Inhofe (R., Oklahoma);
Tom Coburn (R., Oklahoma); John Thune (R., South Dakota);
Mike Enzi (R., Wyoming); and John Ensign, the
conservative casino heir elected to the Senate from
Nevada, a brightly tanned, hapless figure who uses
his Family connections to graft holiness to his
gambling-fortune name. "Faith-based Democrats"
Bill Nelson of Florida and Mark Pryor of Arkansas,
sincere believers drawn rightward by their
understanding of Christ's teachings, are members,
and Family stalwarts in the House include
Representatives Frank Wolf (R., Virginia),
Zach Wamp (R., Tennessee), and Mike McIntyre,
a North Carolina Democrat who believes that the
Ten Commandments are "the fundamental legal code
for the laws of the United States" and thus ought
to be on display in schools and court houses. (3)
The Family's historic roll call is even more
striking: the late senator Strom Thurmond
(R., South Carolina), who produced "confidential"
reports on legislation for the Family's leadership,
presided for a time over the Family's weekly Senate
meeting, and the Dixie-crat senators Herman Talmadge
of Georgia and Absalom Willis Robertson of
Virginia--Pat Robertson's father--served on the
behind-the-scenes board of the organization.
In 1974, a Family prayer group of Republican
congressmen and former secretary of defense
Melvin Laird helped convince President Gerald Ford
that Richard Nixon deserved not just Christian
forgiveness but also a legal pardon. That same
year, Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist
led the Family's first weekly Bible study for
federal judges. (4)
"I wish I could say more about it," Ronald Reagan
publicly demurred back in 1985, "but it's working
precisely because it is private."
"We desire to see a leadership led by God,"
reads a confidential mission statement.
"Leaders of all levels of society who direct
projects as they are led by the spirit."
Another principle expanded upon is
stealthiness; members are instructed to
pursue political jujitsu by making use of
secular leaders "in the work of advancing
His kingdom," and to avoid whenever possible
the label Christian itself, lest they alert
enemies to that advance. Regular prayer
groups, or "cells" as they're often called,
have met in the Pentagon and at the
Department of Defense, and the Family has
traditionally fostered strong ties with
businessmen in the oil and
aerospace industries.
The Family's use of the term "cell"
long predates the word's current
association with terrorism. Its roots
are in the Cold War, when leaders of
the Family deliberately emulated the
organizing techniques of communism.
In 1948, a group of Senate staffers
met to discuss ways that the Family's
"cell and leadership groups" could
recruit elites unwilling to participate
in the "mass meeting approach" of
populist fundamentalism. Two years
later, the Family declared that with
democracy inadequate to the fight
against godlessness, such cells should
function to produce political "atomic
energy"; that is, deals and alliances
that could not be achieved through the
clumsy machinations of legislative
debate would instead radiate quietly
out of political cells. More recently,
Senator Sam Brownback told me that the
privacy of Family cells makes them safe
spaces for men of power--an
appropriation of another term
borrowed from an enemy, feminism. (5)
"In this closer relationship," a document
for members reads, "God will give you more
insight into your own geographical area and
your sphere of influence." One's cell should
become "an invisible 'believing group' " out of
which "agreements reached in faith and in prayer
around the person of Jesus Christ" lead to action
that will appear to the world to be unrelated to
any centralized organization.
In 1979, the former Nixon aide and Watergate
felon Charles W. Colson--born again through the
guidance of the Family and the ministry of a
CEO of arms manufacturer Raytheon--estimated the
Family's strength at 20,000, although the number
of dedicated "associates" around the globe is
much smaller (around 350 as of 2006). The Family
maintains a closely guarded database of associates,
members, and "key men," but it issues no cards,
collects no official dues. Members are asked
not to speak about the group or its activities.
[...]
NOTES:
3. Senator Brownback, Senator Pryor,
and Representative Wolf told me of their
involvement in interviews. I met Senator
Ensign while he was living in the C Street
House, a former convent maintained as a
group home for congressmen by a
Family-affiliated organization, and
Senators Grassley and Nelson and
Representative Pitts are well represented
in the Family's archives. Senator Coburn
told the reporter Tom Hess of his residence
in C Street House and his participation in
a Family cell for a feature in
James Dobson's Citizen magazine,
" 'There's No One I'm Afraid to Challenge,' "
accessed at
http://www.family.org/cforum/citizenmag/coverstory/a0012717.cfm
on October 10, 2004. Senator Thune cited the Family's
leader, Doug Coe, and a house the Family maintains
on Capitol Hill in a Christianity Today interview
with Collin Hansen (accessed January 7, 2007).
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/februaryweb-only/42.0a.html
Most of the rest of these men were spoken of as
members by Ivanwalders and senior men in the
Family - for instance, Steve South, former senior
counsel for Senator Don Nickles, told me of
Senator Domenici's involvement, confirmed in the
Family's archives (file 15, box 354, collection 459,
Papers of the Fellowship Foundation, Billy Graham
Center Archives [hereafter cited as BGCA]).
I've no reason to doubt these claims; members of
the Family are scrupulous about distinguishing
between members, those who have joined a prayer cell
or made some other commitment to the work, and friends,
those with whom they're comfortable working.
Representative Eric Cantor, for instance,
a Jewish Republican from Virginia, is just a friend.
Representative McIntyre, who joined Representative
Wolf's prayer cell, is a member. This is only a
partial list. The Family believes in a concentric
model of holiness, with a few key men close to Christ
at the center (Representative Pitts, for instance),
another circle of active supporters farther out
(Senator Grassley), followed by one of casual allies
(such as Senator Pryor) who are mostly unaware of
the group's inner workings.
4. Thurmond: Interview, Cliford B. Gosney,
former Family member. Thurmond's association
was among the Family's most long-standing,
stretching cross the decades. On October 30, 1987,
Family leader Doug Coe sent to Representative
Tony Hall, a Democrat from Ohio who moved
rightward under the Family's guidance, a
sermon preached by Thurmond to a meeting of
the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast.
The subject was "integrity "and "the unraveling
of the fabric of our society,quot; to which
Thurmond--a segregationist who refused to publicly
acknowledge his African-American daughter-- responded
wit four suggestions on becoming "men and women of
integrity." Folder 3, box 166, collection 459,
BGCA. Talmadge and Robertson: Annual Report of
the Fellowship Foundation, 1962, folder 2, box 563,
collection 459, BGCA. Ford: Paul Wilkes,
"Prayer: The Search for a Spiritual Life in
Washington and Elsewhere: A Country on
Its Knees?" New York Times, December 22, 1974.
Besides Laird and Ford, the other two members
of the cell were Republican congressmen John Rhodes,
a Barry Goldwater protégé from Arizona,
and Al Quie of Minnesota, an early opponent
of affirmative action. The four had been organized
into a Family prayer group during the late 1960s.
Rehnquist: Doug Coe to Panayiotis Touzmazis,
April 24, 1974, folder 11, box 200, collection 459,
BGCA. And then there are the jocks: Buffalo Bills
legend and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp;
Seattle Seahawks NFL Hall of Famer Steve Largent,
one of the fiercest ideologues of the Republican
Revolution of 1994; and Oklahoma Sooners Orange
Bowl champ J. C. Watts, the highest ranking black
Republican in congressional history. According
to Bob Jones IV, Watts preferred Campus Crusade's
related effort, Christian Embassy ("The Church
Inside the State,quot; World, October 12, 1996),
but when I interviewed him in 2003, he told me
he prayed with "the Prayer Breakfast people" a
s well.
5. NCCL News Letter, April 1948.
Christian Leadership News, October 1950.
6. Collection 459, BGCA. 6. On July 15, 1965,
the Family's founder, Abraham Vereide, boasted
in an address to a prayer meeting that in
Generalissimo Franco's Spain, initially hostile
to the Protestant Family, "there are secret cells,
such as the American embassy, the Standard Oil
office, allowing [our men] to move practically
anywhere." No box number, collection 459,
BGCA. 350: D. Michael Lindsay, "Is the National
Prayer Breakfast Surrounded by a 'Christian Mafia'?
Religious Publicity and Secrecy Within the
Corridors of Power," Journal of the American
Academy of Religion 74, no. 2 (June 2006): 390-419.
THE FAMILY : The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
by Jeff Sharlet
http://jeffsharlet.com/books/about-the_family.html
http://jeffsharlet.com/books/excerpt-the_family.html
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060559799
SEE ALSO:
Lindsay, D. Michael.
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mlindsay/news.html
Is the National Prayer Breakfast Surrounded
by a "Christian Mafia"? Religious Publicity
and Secrecy Within the Corridors of Power
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Volume 74, Number 2, June 2006, pp. 390-419
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_american_academy_of_religion/toc/aar74...
UNRELATED -
See also how some of it all began:
"The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold"
by Acharya S --
http://tinyurl.com/6p3m8u
http://www.truthbeknown.com/search.htm
Gary Gene Ford wrote:
>>> Amy Goodman Democracy Now!
>>>
>>> Democracy Now!
>>>
http://www.democracynow.org/
>>>
>>> UPDATE
>>>
>>> Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous
>>> and Nicole Salazar Released After Illegal Arrest at RNC
>>>
>>> Goodman Charged with Obstruction; Felony Riot Charges
>>> Pending Against Kouddous and Salazar
>>>
>>> ST. PAUL--Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers
>>> Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been
>>> released from police custody in St. Paul following
>>> their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on
>>> Monday afternoon.
>>>
>>> All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement
>>> officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall
>>> and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied.
>>> He sustained other injuries to his chest and back.
>>> Salazar's violent arrest by baton-wielding officers,
>>> during which she was slammed to the ground while
>>> yelling, "I'm Press! Press!," resulted in her nose
>>> bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman's
>>> arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.
>>>
>>> On Tuesday, Democracy Now! will broadcast video of
>>> these arrests, as well as the broader police action.
>>> These will also be available on:
www.democracynow.org
>>>
>>> Goodman was arrested while questioning police about
>>> the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who
>>> were arrested while they carried out their
>>> journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations
>>> at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's
>>> crime appears to have been defending her colleagues
>>> and the freedom of the press.
>>>
>>> Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told
>>> Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar
>>> were arrested on suspicion of rioting,
>>> a felony. While the three have been released,
>>> they all still face charges stemming from
>>> their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar
>>> face pending charges of suspicion of felony
>>> riot, while Goodman has been officially
>>> charged with obstruction of a legal process
>>> and interference with a "peace officer."
>>>
>>> Democracy Now! forcefully rejects all of
>>> these charges as false and an attempt at
>>> intimidation of these journalists.
>>> We demand that the charges be immediately
>>> and completely dropped.
>>>
>>> Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous
>>> and Salazar and condemns this action by
>>> Twin Cities' law enforcement as a clear
>>> violation of the freedom of the press and
>>> the First Amendment rights of
>>> these journalists.
>>>
>>> During the demonstration in which the
>>> Democracy Now! team was arrested, law enforcement
>>> officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets,
>>> concussion grenades and excessive force against
>>> protesters and journalists. Several dozen
>>> demonstrators were also arrested during this
>>> action, including a photographer for
>>> the Associated Press.
>>>
>>> Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and
>>> well-respected journalists in the United States.
>>> She has received journalism's top honors for her
>>> reporting and has a distinguished reputation of
>>> bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman,
>>> Kouddous and Salazar and the subsequent
>>> criminal charges and threat of charges are
>>> a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists.
>>>
>>> Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated
>>> public TV and radio program that airs on
>>> over 700 radio and TV stations across the
>>> US and the globe.
>>>
>>> Video of Amy Goodman's Arrest:
>>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ
>>>
>>> Video of Nicole Salazar's Arrest:
>>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jreRSEQ_yg
>>>
>>>
http://www.democracynow.org/
>>>
>>> --- On Tue, 9/2/08, Antediluvian Patriarch wrote:
>>>
