blackascoal
The Force is With Me
What do Mark Sanford and John Ensign have in common, other than they both fighting o stay in office after their extramarital affairs were revealed? They both belong to The Family.
'Family': Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places
The house on C-Street.
In the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by a secretive Christian group known as the Family, or the Fellowship.
Founded in 1935 in opposition to FDR's New Deal, the evangelical group's views on religion and politics are so singular that some other Christian-right organizations consider them heretical
The group also has a connection to a house in Washington, D.C., known as C Street. Owned by a foundation affiliated with the Family, C Street is officially registered as a church; in practice, it serves as a meeting place and residence for politicians like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn.
The Family, Sharlet writes, is responsible for founding the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a supposedly ecumenical — but implicitly Christian — event attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries from around the world. These foreign delegations are often led by top defense personnel, who use it as an opportunity to lobby the most influential people in Washington — and who repay the Family with access to their governments.
The group's approach to religion, Sharlet says, is based on "a sort of trickle-down fundamentalism," which holds that the wealthy and powerful, if they "can get their hearts right with God ... will dispense blessings to those underneath them."
Members of the group ardently support free markets, in which, they believe, God's will operates directly through Adam Smith's "invisible hand."
The Family was founded in 1935 by a minister named Abraham Vereide after, he claimed, he had a vision in which God came to him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation.
The current leader, Doug Coe, shuns publicity but wields considerable political influence as a spiritual adviser. Sharlet says that when Sanford recently compared his struggles to those of the biblical King David — a central figure in Family theology — the author "could almost hear Doug Coe's voice" coming out of the South Carolina governor.
NOTE: Kind David slept with another man's wife, then had him killed.
Other heroes of The Family include Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, and Saddam Hussein
"You guys know about Genghis Khan?" he asked. "Genghis was a man with a vision. He conquered" — David stood on the couch under the map, tracing, with his hand, half the northern hemisphere — "nearly everything. He devastated nearly everything. His enemies? He beheaded them." David swiped a finger across his throat. "Dop, dop, dop, dop."
Genghis Khan's genius, David went on, lay in his understanding that there could be only one king. When Genghis entered a defeated city, he would call in the local headman. Conversion to the Khan's cause was not an option, as Genghis was uninterested in halfhearted deputies. Instead, said David, Genghis would have the man stuffed into a crate, and over the crate's surface would be spread a tablecloth, on which a wonderful meal would be arrayed.
"And then, while the man suffocated, Genghis ate, and he didn't even hear the man's screams." David stood on the couch, a finger in the air. "Do you know what that means?"
To their credit, my brothers did not. Perhaps on account of my earlier insight, David turned to me. "I think so," I said. "Out with the old, in with the new."
Yes, he nodded. "Christ's parable of the wineskins. You can't pour new into old." One day, he continued, some monks from Europe show up in Genghis Khan's court. Genghis welcomes them in the name of God. Says that in truth, they worship the same great Lord. Then why, the monks ask, must he conquer the world? "I don't ask," says Genghis. "I submit."
David returned to his chair. "We elect our leaders," he said. "Jesus elects his."
He reached over and squeezed the arm of Pavel. "Isn't that great?" David said. "That's the way everything in life happens. If you're a person known to be around Jesus, you can go and do anything. And that's who you guys are. When you leave here, you're not only going to know the value of Jesus, you're going to know the people who rule the world. It's about vision. Get your vision straight, then relate. Talk to the people who rule the world, and help them obey. Obey Him. If I obey Him myself, I help others do the same. You know why? Because I become a warning. We become a warning. We warn everybody that the future king is coming. Not just of this country or that but of the world." Then he pointed at the map, toward the Khan's vast, reclaimable empire.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106115324
Republican Senator Tom Coburn, another Family member is now wrapped in the outrage over Ensign.
There is no official membership of the group. Most members of Congress who participate are from the Republican Party but some Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Doug Coe has been a spiritual mentor for Clinton, participate as well.
Senators who have been cited as members of the organization include Don Nickles and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, John Ensign of Nevada, Bill Nelson of Florida, Conrad Burns of Montana. Members of the House who have been cited as participants include Frank Wolf of Virginia and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania.
'Family': Fundamentalism, Friends In High Places
The house on C-Street.
In the book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, author Jeff Sharlet examines the power wielded by a secretive Christian group known as the Family, or the Fellowship.
Founded in 1935 in opposition to FDR's New Deal, the evangelical group's views on religion and politics are so singular that some other Christian-right organizations consider them heretical
The group also has a connection to a house in Washington, D.C., known as C Street. Owned by a foundation affiliated with the Family, C Street is officially registered as a church; in practice, it serves as a meeting place and residence for politicians like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn.
The Family, Sharlet writes, is responsible for founding the annual National Prayer Breakfast, a supposedly ecumenical — but implicitly Christian — event attended by the president, members of Congress and dignitaries from around the world. These foreign delegations are often led by top defense personnel, who use it as an opportunity to lobby the most influential people in Washington — and who repay the Family with access to their governments.
The group's approach to religion, Sharlet says, is based on "a sort of trickle-down fundamentalism," which holds that the wealthy and powerful, if they "can get their hearts right with God ... will dispense blessings to those underneath them."
Members of the group ardently support free markets, in which, they believe, God's will operates directly through Adam Smith's "invisible hand."
The Family was founded in 1935 by a minister named Abraham Vereide after, he claimed, he had a vision in which God came to him in the person of the head of the United States Steel Corporation.
The current leader, Doug Coe, shuns publicity but wields considerable political influence as a spiritual adviser. Sharlet says that when Sanford recently compared his struggles to those of the biblical King David — a central figure in Family theology — the author "could almost hear Doug Coe's voice" coming out of the South Carolina governor.
NOTE: Kind David slept with another man's wife, then had him killed.
Other heroes of The Family include Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, and Saddam Hussein
"You guys know about Genghis Khan?" he asked. "Genghis was a man with a vision. He conquered" — David stood on the couch under the map, tracing, with his hand, half the northern hemisphere — "nearly everything. He devastated nearly everything. His enemies? He beheaded them." David swiped a finger across his throat. "Dop, dop, dop, dop."
Genghis Khan's genius, David went on, lay in his understanding that there could be only one king. When Genghis entered a defeated city, he would call in the local headman. Conversion to the Khan's cause was not an option, as Genghis was uninterested in halfhearted deputies. Instead, said David, Genghis would have the man stuffed into a crate, and over the crate's surface would be spread a tablecloth, on which a wonderful meal would be arrayed.
"And then, while the man suffocated, Genghis ate, and he didn't even hear the man's screams." David stood on the couch, a finger in the air. "Do you know what that means?"
To their credit, my brothers did not. Perhaps on account of my earlier insight, David turned to me. "I think so," I said. "Out with the old, in with the new."
Yes, he nodded. "Christ's parable of the wineskins. You can't pour new into old." One day, he continued, some monks from Europe show up in Genghis Khan's court. Genghis welcomes them in the name of God. Says that in truth, they worship the same great Lord. Then why, the monks ask, must he conquer the world? "I don't ask," says Genghis. "I submit."
David returned to his chair. "We elect our leaders," he said. "Jesus elects his."
He reached over and squeezed the arm of Pavel. "Isn't that great?" David said. "That's the way everything in life happens. If you're a person known to be around Jesus, you can go and do anything. And that's who you guys are. When you leave here, you're not only going to know the value of Jesus, you're going to know the people who rule the world. It's about vision. Get your vision straight, then relate. Talk to the people who rule the world, and help them obey. Obey Him. If I obey Him myself, I help others do the same. You know why? Because I become a warning. We become a warning. We warn everybody that the future king is coming. Not just of this country or that but of the world." Then he pointed at the map, toward the Khan's vast, reclaimable empire.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106115324
Republican Senator Tom Coburn, another Family member is now wrapped in the outrage over Ensign.
There is no official membership of the group. Most members of Congress who participate are from the Republican Party but some Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Doug Coe has been a spiritual mentor for Clinton, participate as well.
Senators who have been cited as members of the organization include Don Nickles and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, John Ensign of Nevada, Bill Nelson of Florida, Conrad Burns of Montana. Members of the House who have been cited as participants include Frank Wolf of Virginia and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania.
