Focusing on 'The Family'

[marmar]

from The American Prospect:



Focusing on The Family

Journalist Jeff Sharlet went undercover to infiltrate a secretive religious organization in Washington known as The Family. Sarah Posner asks him what they want, and how they go about getting it.

Sarah Posner | July 10, 2008 | web only



Jeff Sharlet's new book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, is one of the most important accounts of the intersection of fundamentalist religion and politics in recent memory. The Family exposes the inner workings of an elite and secretive association of politicos (The Family boasts a bipartisan but mostly Republican roster of members, including Sens. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, and Mark Pryer, an Arkansas Democrat) and business executives (such as the CEOs of Continental Oil and the defense contractor Raytheon) who have exploited their uber-masculine, uber-capitalist version of Christianity to serve political and profit-making goals, from union-busting here at home to imperialist adventures abroad.

The Family is best known to the public for its annual National Prayer Breakfast, a seemingly innocuous event routinely attended by presidents and members of Congress. But as Sharlet shows, The Family's real influence is exerted through a system of prayer groups that provide this elite group of religious fundamentalists with lawmaking and deal-making opportunities long associated with the country club golf course.

Sharlet combines his experiences going undercover at The Family's Arlington, Virginia, compound, skillful interviews with insiders and allies, and exhaustive historical research to produce this riveting account that transcends the recurring question of whether the religious right is dead. Instead of measuring the power of the religious-right grass roots from one election cycle to another, Sharlet tells the most detailed story to date of how fundamentalist Christianity has driven American political power -- and most significantly, how it has fueled opposition to the New Deal, labor unions, and progressive policy in general.

I sat down with Sharlet a couple of weeks ago when he was in Washington on his book tour.

Sarah Posner: Let's start by talking about how the whole project almost came about by accident when the brother of your ex-girlfriend invited you to come to a place called Ivanwald.

Jeff Sharlet: This friend said, "Can you meet with my brother? I'm afraid he's joined a cult; you write about religion and should check it out."

SP: Did he tell you that it was a seat of political power in Washington? Or did he just make it seem like it was an overgrown frat?

JS: It was an overgrown frat with all of these interesting political connections that he denied had any politics, any organization, anything. A group of men loving leaders. The whole thing is predicated on this idea that politicians are somehow the most vulnerable among us. And that they need special care, because they're so busy serving us, who's serving them? .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=focusing_on_the_family

[tired]

1. Well, that is pretty chilling.

I don't know if Stephen King could write a scarier book.

[undeterred]

2. Who is going to take care of the "up and out"?

Unbelievable. Its a complete inversion of the gospel.