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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power?
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There's a great book on them by Jeff Sharlet. https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053 The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of ...
Honestly, I read it when it was first published and a) it was absolutely terrifying, and b) explained A LOT (i.e. where that "national prayer breakfast" came from).
The Family by Jeff Sharlet
http://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262397439&sr=8-1
Wil scare your sox off!
As someone who dated the daughter of one of Exxon's top advisers from the 50s-60s* who was also probably very high up in the most powerful fundamentalist christian political cult in the US, yes, they are the definition of evil. I also started my environmental engineering career fighting against Exxon in litigation. They are some of the nastiest motherfuckers in the O&G industry, I have poured through thousands of pages of discovery of internal emails as support for the cases I worked on.
EDIT: Since people are asking, here is the beginning of your rabbit hole adventure into the most powerful fundamentalist Christian political cult in the United States:
Yeah, his name was Paul Temple, he died a couple years ago. I guess he was with Exxon from 1954 to 1961. Here's his wikipedia:
>From 1954 to 1961 he was an international petroleum concessions negotiator for Exxon.
>He helps fund The Fellowship Foundation, a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Methodist minister Abraham Vereide.[5][6] Paul N. Temple was an insider "core member" of the Fellowship Foundation and/or Institute for Christian Leadership since the 1940s.
And here's the link to the book that was written about the "Fellowship Foundation."
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053
Here's a fun NPR story on it: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120746516
If you want to go down a rabbit hole, they organize the National Prayer Breakfast every year, which all the most powerful politicians and business leaders attend...
Here's the Wiki for the "Foundation":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)
>D. Michael Lindsay, a former Rice University sociologist who studies the evangelical movement, said "there is no other organization like the Fellowship, especially among religious groups, in terms of its access or clout among the country's leadership."[13] He also reported that lawmakers mentioned the Fellowship more than any other organization when asked to name a ministry with the most influence on their faith.[2] Lindsay interviewed 360 evangelical elites, among whom "One in three mentioned [Doug] Coe or the Fellowship as an important influence."[13] Lindsay reported that it "has relationships with pretty much every world leader—good and bad—and there are not many organizations in the world that can claim that."
>Rob Schenck, founder of the Washington, D.C. ministry Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, described the Family's influence as "off the charts" in comparison with other fundamentalist groups, specifically compared to Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Traditional Values Coalition, and Prison Fellowship.16 Schenck also says that "the mystique of the Fellowship" has helped it "gain entree into almost impossible places in the capital."
>Former Senate Prayer Group member and current Kansas Governor Sam Brownback has described Fellowship members' method of operation: "Typically, one person grows desirous of pursuing an action"—a piece of legislation, a diplomatic strategy—"and the others pull in behind."[25] Brownback has often joined with fellow Family members in pursuing legislation. For example, in 1999 he joined together with fellow Family members, Senators Strom Thurmond and Don Nickles to demand a criminal investigation of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and in 2005 Brownback joined with Fellowship member Sen. Tom Coburn to promote the Houses of Worship Act.
You want to learn about where Christian fundamentalist conservatism in the US comes from? Start with the Fellowship.
And yes, I dated his daughter for over 2 years and we almost ended up engaged. I am glad that did not happen.
EDIT2: Fun fact: Hillary Clinton is an esteemed member:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clintons-religion-and-politics/
>Through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship. Her collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) grow in part from that connection. “A lot of evangelicals would see that as just cynical exploitation,” says the Reverend Rob Schenck, a former leader of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue who now ministers to decision makers in Washington. “I don’t….there is a real good that is infected in people when they are around Jesus talk, and open Bibles, and prayer.”
>When Clinton first came to Washington in 1993, one of her first steps was to join a Bible study group. For the next eight years, she regularly met with a Christian “cell” whose members included Susan Baker, wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat.
>Clinton’s prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or “the Family”), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to “spiritual war” on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship’s only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has “made a fetish of being invisible,” former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God’s plan.
The evangelical mission is to serve the rich. The rich are the embodiment of the Biblical definition of the world. https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053?msclkid=90835387bd8c11ecb2d146a5ab961b34
Modern evangelicals have been completely subverted by the apparition appearing to Abram Vereide in 1929. This being claimed to be Jesus Christ and gave him the mission of serving "God's Chosen People" whom he defined as the rich and powerful. With the initial backing of ten millionaires, soon expanding to 26 he founded the Fellowship Foundation, known today as "The Family". https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053?msclkid=90835387bd8c11ecb2d146a5ab961b34. Everything the televangelists preach when they stand up from their solid gold designer Gucchi commodes is in contradiction to every book in the Bible.
If you've not yet gone down this particular rabbit hole of theocracy:
The Family Netflix series https://www.netflix.com/title/80063867
The Fellowship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053
Salon: "Bias, theocracy and lies: Inside the secretive organization behind the NPB" https://www.salon.com/2021/09/03/bias-theocracy-and-lies-inside-the-secretive-organization-behind-the-national-prayer-breakfast_partner/
Fresh Air: "The Secret Political Reach Of 'The Family'" https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120746516
Have you seen The Family? The book is better, but the documentary provides a good overview of where this mindset comes from.
Has anyone read The Family by Jeff Sharlet
Read this book:
I do fear them using some "black swan" event for power. An impending war, epidemic, etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060560053
It is true a lot of people are standing against it.
I won't claim to know of Christian theocracies, but if you're looking to learn about Christians seeking political power, you ought to read The Family.
>The root of the problem, Weinstein believes, is a cluster of well-funded groups dedicated to Christianizing the military and proselytizing abroad. They include the Navigators, which, according to their website, command "thousands of courageous men and women passionately following Christ, representing Him in advancing the Gospel through relationships where they live, work, train for war, and deploy."
When I was in college I was in the Navigators. The founder, Dawson Trotmon, was in the Navy. He was good friends with Billy Graham and died trying to save someone who was drowning. Daws started his ministry in the military and still has many members of the Navs serving there. His campus outreach program has converted many folks over the years.
When I read The Family earlier this year, a lot of what Jeff Sharlet wrote about were things I had heard and/or learned during my time with the Navs.
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