The Family: Secretive Christian Group of Conservative Lawmakers Building a 'God-Led' Government

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Anna Clark

The Family: Secretive Christian Group of Conservative Lawmakers Building a 'God-Led' Government
Jeff Sharlet, the journalist who helped expose a cohort of powerful lawmakers promoting a Christian Agenda at home and abroad, discusses his new book.

October 8, 2010 |


The Family, also known as the Fellowship, is a cohort of powerful lawmakers seeking to create a "God-led government" at home and abroad. Chief among the journalists who brought the Family to light is Jeff Sharlet, author of the new book, C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy. (The title of the book refers to the Washington townhouse that serves as the gathering place and sometime residence of Family members.)

While Sharlet has been digging into the secretive Family for years, it wasn’t until last year’s trio of sex scandals that a glaring spotlight was cast on the group. The adulterous affairs of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, and Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Mississippi, revealed their common membership in the secretive group.

The Family was founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide, who believed that Christianity made a 2,000-year-old mistake by focusing on the poor. Vereide believed God told him to minister to the powerful; the modern-day "kings" chosen to enact divine will. Since then, these “key men” -- powerful politicians, well-placed executives and influential global leaders -- meet for Bible studies and "prayer cells." Members of the family try to cultivate powerful leaders around the world -- many of them despots -- to enact their Christian agenda globally.

The Family has always operated in secret; for more than 70 years, the group has influenced policy and business deals in the U.S. and abroad almost entirely without the public’s notice. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/148413/the_family%3A_secretive_christian_group_of_conservative_lawmakers_building_a_%27god-led%27_government/

[Dogtown]

1. K&R n/t

[get the red out]

2. I wish I could give this 100 recs

This is the Taliban we need to be worried about more than one that is half a world away.

[Overseas]

30. So do I. Here here!

Evangelicals running foreign policy of their own is quite terrifying.

And Jeff Sharlett has been so courageous and marvelous in exposing them.

[Hekate]

34. 100th Rec

[DirkGently]

3. Closest reality to the "Shadow Government" conspiracy, yet so little interest from RWingers. Hmmm.

[mudplanet]

4. Please stop refering to these jerks as "christian"

I believe in the right of people to define themselves but there are limits to what the language can stand.

If these guys can call themselves "christian" then so can Nazis and members of nambla. All three organizations have about the same number of shared characteristics with the followers of Jesus. Pretty soon the word loses it's meaning.

[ZombieHorde]

35. The Nazis were Christians, and so are The Family.

I don't very much about NAMBLA, do they consider themselves to be a Christian organization?

[mudplanet]

45. My point exactly. Any group of assholes, no matter how deluded,

evil, corrupt and destructive, can call themselves christian but there needs to be some common sense applied by others when referring to them. The Nazis considered themselves christian, but do you? If sure if you asked the members of an organized group of pedophiles they'd insist that they are christian because they've "accepted Jesus as their personal lord and savior." But does that mean we should identify them as christian? Is that their key identifying characteristic?

The Family is a group of corrupt politicians that claims some religious baloney as their raison de arte but their key characteristic is that they believe that might makes right. You'd have to look long and hard in the new testament to find anything that supported their views and goals, although I'm sure some jerk could twist reason and language enough to claim to have done so. Look at prosperity gospel, for example.

[ZombieHorde]

50. You may be interested in Christian Identity and the Two Seed Theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Identity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-seedline

[naaman fletcher]

48. The Nazi's were Christians?

Really?

[ZombieHorde]

49. Yes, the Nazis were Christian. nt

[naaman fletcher]

52. Sorry

That's just totally and completely wrong. 100%. They absolutley hated Christians. Sure, once war broke out they decided to play up god for the sake of the troops a little.

[mudplanet]

53. Sorry. The Nazis identified themselves as christian, ergo, they had

as much right to be called christian as The Family, or any other group like White Identity.

The word doesn't seem to have any meaning anymore. If it's everything then it's nothing.

Although I don't identify as a christian I have too much respect for Jesus' example and message to go along with this bullshit.

[naaman fletcher]

54. no they didn't

identify themselves as christians.

[mudplanet]

56. They didn't? A little research indicates that many of them did and that the current crop definitely

identify themselves as christian. I'm not claiming that this research is definitive or exhaustive but it's pretty clear that large organizations that self identified as christian were close Nazi collaborators and supporters and that the current crop of nazis definitely identifies itself as christian.

"CNSP is on a distinguished road

The Christian National Socialist Party
Greetings Kinsmen,
We are a new National Socialist group and are going in a different direction then any other NS group. We are the Christian National Socialist Party.Check out our website at: www.thecnsp.com"

"It's common for Christians to assume that Christian churches resisted Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. The truth is that not only did few even go so far as to voice criticism, much less overtly and publicly resist, but some actually made serious arguments for the idea that Christianity and Nazi ideology were totally compatible. Arguments for compatibility could either focus on the ideologies' specific teachings, on their general approaches to life and society, or both." http://atheism.about.com/od/politicalliberation/a/NaziCatholic.htm

"One academic’s (the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College) response to the pope’s claim that the Nazis were atheists (in reality, some were and some were not) can be found here. An extract follows:

Christian theologians, Catholic and Protestant, reassured Germans that Nazism was in full accord with Christian principles. This was not a marginal effort; at the 1934 Oberammergau passion play, watching Jesus being hoisted on the cross, the audience saw a parable of the Third Reich, calling out: “There he is. That is our Führer, our Hitler!” http://secularright.org/SR/wordpress/?tag=national-socialism

On the history of the Nazi Party in Austria: "Later in May 1933 the Christian Social Union was converted to the Patriotic Front. The Patriotic Front was a political organisation, supposedly above partisan considerations, Roman Catholic and vehemently anti-Marxist. It purported to represent all Austrians who were true to their native land. Within a week the Austrian Communist Party was banned, and before the end of the month the republican paramilitary organisation and Freethinkers Organisations were banned along with numerous other groups. Nazis failed to get more than 25% of the votes in local elections in most areas. In Zwettl and Innsbruck however they got more than 40%, and they tried to lever this into a basis for agitation against the ruling Patriotic Front. Nazi supporters generated a wave of terrorism which crested in early June with four deaths and 48 people injured." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria_in_the_time_of_National_Socialism

[Just One Woman]

5. Destroy and rebuild as theirs

Their aim is to destroy our constitution, the people that don't agree with them, and anyone that stands in their way. My uncle prescribes to their tyranny. Years ago, when he started spouting off his nonsense is when I started learning about this group. I haven't read Jeff's book yet, but it is on my short list. I saw him on C-span and it was very interesting. The right wingers are getting in line behind the family as they do not understand, and their bible teaches dominion in the old testament. Ignorance will destroy us if we let them. Because we, the sane people, tend to live and let live, I don't think the threat is seen for what it should be. I try to always point out to christians that these people do not prescribe to Jesus. They want old testament rules and laws. And since they think they are the chosen ones, they will stop at nothing to get their results. Look at the politics today. You can see them and their anointed ones if you choose to see. And some of them have no idea they are being used in such a way.
P.S. My Uncle is a civilian instructor for the army and I do not speak with him anymore.

[waiting]

10. You are dead on right!

100% right on the money. And your uncle being a civillian instructor for the army fits right in with their agenda. There is lots and lots of CIA type stuff going on and a s**tload of corruption as well. Read the book as soon as you can. Jeff tells a lot about their network.

[Just One Woman]

23. Just bought it

I will be reading it this weekend.

[JNelson6563]

22. Thanks for that post.

I agree with it and need to read that book as well! Welcome to DU! :hi:

Julie

[Irishonly]

6. The family needs a history class

specifically on te religious beliefs of the founding fathers. Cripes, the wing nuts are making Jefferson sound like an evangelical. I realize that facts mean nothing to these people but I am sick and tired of hearing about this so-called Christian nation.

[molly77]

27. The time that the Family sprang up is interesting.

About the time that fascism was on the rise all over the world.

[FlyByNight]

7. "God-led government"?

No doubt, the god The Family/Fellowship is talking about is the "free market". These fascistic, sexually repressed hypocrites are dangerous.

[waiting]

8. They are succeeding

in the agenda they started back in the 70's when I was around them. It took this long for people to even know they existed and had an agenda. Has anyone read "The Handmaid's Tale"? That is what I think that these people would have us be like if they were in complete power. It's frightening, to say the least.

[waiting]

9. They achieved national influence during the 70's.

Before that they were more locally centered and working smaller government, now they are Senators, Presidents, and Congressmen. Not good.

[KamaAina]

11. There are C Street Dems, too

like Bart Stupid Stupak and -- drum roll, please -- Hillary Clinton.

They do seem to have an easier time keeping it zipped than their repuke counterparts, though. :P

[waiting]

14. In all fairness

Hillary is not a member and never was a member of the Family. She did have some prayer time she spent with Doug Coe, and valued his advice, as she said, but she is not a member and has no ties now or really in the past to them. It is hard not to be somehow involved with them, they run the Presidential prayer breaksfasts and any other Wahington area prayer breakfasts, not to mention many other things, like Chuch Colson and his Prison Ministries Organization.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. And they lie. Incessantly. The never reveal who their members are.

So how can you say she ISN'T one of them?

[defendandprotect]

20. The point is ... how would we know whether Hillary is or isn't????

[Shallah Kali]

33. It doesn't look like she is inner circle like DeMint, Brownback and the rest are

"The Family" and its use of cells, explained
http://www.talk2action.org/printpage/2008/4/6/14135/88564

This is more than a little dangerous. In fact (we'll need to wait for Sharlet's book to come out to document more of it, alas), this is a rather strong hint that potentially abusive tactics may be in use (the use of unethical confession tactics by "Family" predecessor/model Moral Re-Armament are already a concern, and disallowing people to read the Bible for themselves (and requiring specific, leader-inspired interpretations) removes a powerful form of "reality testing" for persons in Bible-based groups). In addition, the specific advise to not participate in mainstream churches is very, very worrisome--it's a classic method to isolate people from communities that might threaten the dogma of what is promoted by Coe and by "shepherds".

snip

Level 1 initiates in pyramidal groups are generally not trusted to leadership positions within the group, are privy to only some of the info, and are essentially seen as "infants in need of instruction" internally--so they do tend to be shepherded and shadowed, in part because the group doesn't yet see them as "loyal faithful" and doesn't trust them not to leave or to bugger up.

There are equivalents to this elsewhere. Level 1 in AmWay is typically the level where people have joined the group, are not yet Diamonds, but are trying to peddle Quixtar merchandise to their relatives et al. (This is also where they are encouraged to join the AmWay "business motivational organisations" where quite a bit of the reports of coercive practices come from.) In Scientology, this is the level where people are in the group, aren't yet privy to the secrets about Xenu et al, are running up their credit cards with "auditing" sessions, and often join the Sea Orgs (a paramilitary/missionary group within Scientology) as a method of alternate payment for their E-Meter sessions.)

In addition, there's a potential second form of coercion that "The Family" has in their deck that is rarely available to "level 1" in abusive pyramidal groups (other than groups using org-owned living and working arrangements)--namely, "The Family" really can threaten to derail a political career if their mark gets too out of line. The only comparable common level of potential coercion over someone's career and livelihood that I'm personally aware of is with Scientology after someone has signed themselves into the Sea Orgs (and that's in part because, at that point, they do often end up in employment with Scientology as well as in Scientology-provided housing as well as force their members to sign coercive (and, likely, illegal) "contracts" where members forfeit their right to sue for damages); generally pyramidal groups do not get this sort of ammo until the "Level 2" recruitment stage.


More links to articles on the family here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6050171&mesg_id=6050171

[tpsbmam]

38. I agree with others -- being religious a la Jimmy Carter & Hillary Clinton

is different (sometimes vastly different) from being a member of the Family. I don't think it's fair to impugn people just because they're religious (this comes from an agnostic bordering on atheist).

My asshole blue dog representative, however, can be lumped in with the Family as he reportedly lives in the C-Street house -- Heath Shuler (D, NC). He (weakly) denies it -- bullshit. He's a C-Streeter.

[bergie321]

18. Jimmy Carter too

Wasn't he?

[FiveGoodMen]

12. As I've said elsewhere (many times!)

This is the real threat.

This is the real enemy.

[Overseas]

31. You said it ! And kudos to Jeff Sharlett for letting us know so much about it.

Straight man's burden: The American roots of Uganda's anti-gay persecutions -- http://harpers.org/archive/2010/09/0083101

Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488

http://harpers.org/archive/2006/12/0081322 = Through a glass, darkly: How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525 =Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats

NPR Fresh Air interview with Jeff Sharlett -- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129422524



--

[Raksha]

44. The real enemy - that's for damn sure!

The leaders are filthy rich and they are control freaks, and they are Washington insiders with access to power. It would be hard to imagine a combination of attributes that constituted a bigger threat to democracy than The Family...or even invent one.

Edited to add: Any chance of starting a petition to do away with the National Prayer Breakfast, their one big public event? An ultraconservative theocratic cabal like The Family has no business setting themselves up as representatives of America's spiritual life. They are NO SUCH THING! They not only don't support the common good--they are actively opposed to it.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. The Dominionists and Christian Reconstructionists have been battling for control of the US

for decades. They truly are the American Taliban.


http://www.religioustolerance.org/reconstr.htm
Dominionism, Dominion Theology, Christian Reconstructionism, Theocratic Dominionism, Kingdom Now theology, and Theonomy are interrelated Christian belief systems that are followed by members from a wide range of conservative Protestant denominations. They are not in themselves denominations or faith groups.

These belief systems find a voice in Christian Reconstructionism -- a political movement to convert the United States -- and eventually the entire earth -- into a theocracy in which dissenters, adulterers, sexually active homosexuals, some sexually active bisexuals, witches, sorcerers, etc. would be exterminated..STONED TO DEATH.

http://www.alternet.org/story/40318/
Public Stoning: Not Just for the Taliban Anymore
Christian reconstructionists believe democracy is heresy and public school is satanic -- and they've got more influence than you think.

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm
Born in Christian Reconstructionism, which was founded by the late R. J. Rushdoony, the framers of the new cult included Rushdoony, his son-in-law Gary North, Pat Robertson, Herb Titus, the former Dean of Robertson’s Regent University School of Public Policy (formerly CBN University), Charles Colson, Robertson’s political strategist, Tim LaHaye, Gary Bauer, the late Francis Schaeffer, and Paul Crouch, the founder of TBN, the world’s largest television network, plus a virtual army of likeminded television and radio evangelists and news talk show hosts.

http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v08n1/chrisre3.html
Among those Reconstructionists who have already moved into positions of significant power and influence are
two directors of R. J. Rushdoony's Chalcedon Foundation; philanthropist Howard Ahmanson and political consultant Wayne C. Johnson, epitomize the political strategy of the new Christian Right.

Heir to a large fortune, Howard Ahmanson is an important California power broker who has said, "My purpose is total integration of Biblical law into our lives." He bankrolls Christian Right groups and political campaigns, largely through an unincorporated entity called the Fieldstead Company, which has, for example, been a major contributor to Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation. Fieldstead has also co-published, with Crossway

Books, a series of Reconstructionist-oriented books called Turning Point: Christian Worldview Series, which is widely available in Christian bookstores.

Ahmanson and his wife have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting California political candidates, as well as supporting the 1993 California school voucher initiative and the 1992 voucher initiative in Colorado. He has also teamed up with a small group of conservative businessmen, notably Rob Hurtt of Container Supply Corporation, to form a series of political action committees. The direct donations from these PACs and the personal contributions of Ahmanson and Hurtt, coupled with those of other PACs to which the group substantially contributed, amounted to nearly $3 million to 19 right-wing candidates for the California State Senate and various other conservative causes in 1992. A dozen candidates backed by the Christian Right won. Ahmanson himself is a member of the GOP state central committee, along with many other Christian Rightists, who have gained power by systematically taking over California GOP county committees.

A political operative named Wayne Johnson, who had been an architect of California's 1990 term limits initiative, managed the campaigns of several Ahmanson-backed candidates in 1992. The practical impact of term limits is to remove the advantage of incumbency (both Democratic and Republican) which the extreme Christian Right is prepared to exploit, having created a disciplined voting bloc and the resources to finance candidates.

At a Reconstructionist conference in 1983, Johnson outlined an early version of the strategy we see operating in California today. According to Johnson, the principal factor in determining victory in California state legislative races is incumbency, by a factor of 35 to 1. The legislature at the time was dominated by Democrats (and

Republicans unacceptable to conservatives). The key for the Christian Right was to be able to: 1) remove or minimize the advantage of incumbency, and 2) create a disciplined voting bloc from which to run candidates in Republican primaries, where voter turn out was low and scarce resources could be put to maximum effect. Since the early 1990s, Christian Rightists have been able to do both. Thanks to Ahmanson, Hurtt, and others, they also now have the financing to be competitive. Since the mid-1970s, the extreme Christian Right, under the tutelage of then-State Senator H. L Richardson, targeted open seats and would finance only challengers, not incumbents. By 1983, they were able to increase the number of what Johnson called "reasonably decent guys" in the legislature from four to 27. At the Third Annual Northwest Conference for Reconstruction in 1983, Johnson stated that he believed they may achieve "political hegemony. . .in this generation." In 1994, they were not far from that goal. Rob Hurtt won a 1993 open seat by election for State Senate. In 1994, State Senator Hurtt was also the chairman of the Republican campaign committee for the State Legislature, an important power brokering role for a freshman State Senator. The GOP, led by conservative Christians, was only four seats away from majority control in 1994.

[felix_numinous]

16. K & R There has to be a strategy for preventing

them from gaining any more ground---yikes people!!

We have to go against the source of the money, which are the corporate powers, individuals, families who are funding them, to pull the plug on their funding, all the while exposing their treasonous intent. Crap I think there are some hard times ahead with these people, they are freaking serious.

oops I mean this as a general reply

[fascisthunter]

17. and they will NEVER succeed

they will breed bigotry and spread their totalitarian point of view, but in the end, psychos lose, they always do and always will.

[Raksha]

46. They have succeeded already, to a much greater extent than people want to believe.

They are not only very powerful but very patient, and they are in it for the long haul. Their efforts go back to the 1970s if not the 1930s. They have the resources to influence perception, with the slow, steadying demonizing of organized labor and public education, and eventually their demonizing of the word "liberal." They do this through their control of the media. The teabagger phenomenon is only their most recent project.

I believe that in the end they will ultimately lose, but how much damage will they do in the meantime--and how much damage have they done already? Even if every last one of the theocrats were exposed and imprisoned for treason tomorrow, how many decades would it take to undo all the damage to our economy, our (so-called) health-care system, our environment and our public education systems?

[defendandprotect]

19. I'm sure Obama will be happy to turn some of our tax dollars over to them....

The Family was founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide, who believed that Christianity made a 2,000-year-old mistake by focusing on the poor.

Now that's the funniest thing I've ever heard -- though I can see how the concept would

appeal to the rich and powerful - and greedy!!

:evilgrin:

[glitch]

21. Onionesque. nt

[JNelson6563]

24. What is the gratuitous Obama slam based on?

Is there evidence of links to this group or something?

Julie

[defendandprotect]

41. Obama has INCREASED taxpayer subsidies to "faith-based" organizations ....

Are you in favor of that?

Are you in favor of giving any of our taxpayer dollars to any religion or

religious organization?

[oldhippydude]

43. why has not the faith based initiative

been challenged on first amendment grounds...end the subsidy of the faith industry

[defendandprotect]

51. There should be no funding of any religious organizations ....but I don't

know if there have been any challenges to these subsidies --

I'll have to look it up --

Needless to say, allegedly this is based on NO prosletyzing re religion --

something which is doubtful if not highly questionable!

Most of these organizations at any rate are connected to Roman Catholic Church.

Quite some time ago, I read an announcement that there was an ongoing investigation

of whether the RCC used the money given to them for "faith based organizations" to

pay off their pedophile law suits. Haven't heard anything about it since then.

HOWEVER, I consider it rather convenient that W Bush began this turning over of

taxpayer money to the RCC just at the time they needed it most!!

[1776Forever]

25. Here's a good article on them from 2009: DC's 'invisible army' for Christ

DC's 'invisible army' for Christ
The Family, a little-known religious group, has been getting some unwanted publicity. What do they believe?
posted on July 23, 2009, at 9:09 AM

http://theweek.com/article/index/98841/dcs-invisible-army-for-christ

What is the Family?

It’s the most well-connected religious organization that no one talks about. Formed in 1935 by an itinerant preacher, Norwegian immigrant Abraham Vereide, the Family has grown into “a veritable underground of Christ’s men all through government,” in the words of Family member and evangelical minister Charles Colson, the convicted Watergate conspirator. The Washington-based group counts many prominent politicians, mostly conservative Republicans, among its flock, and several members of Congress pay $600 a month to rent rooms in the group’s townhouse on C Street, near the U.S. Capitol. There are Family “prayer cells” in many federal agencies, including the Pentagon and the Justice Department. The Family tries to maintain a low profile (see below), but was thrust into the headlines in recent weeks when it emerged that three politicians embroiled in sex scandals—South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, Nevada Sen. John Ensign, and former Mississippi Rep. Chip Pickering—are longtime members. Pickering, in fact, last week was accused in court papers of having trysts with his mistress in the C Street house...

Does the Family excuse adultery and other sins?

Not exactly, but it considers the powerful to be accountable only to God and their peers, not to their constituents or the Constitution. Coe speaks often of the biblical King David, who slept with another man’s wife, then ordered the cuckolded husband into battle, effectively sentencing him to death. Yet despite his personal failings, David was one of God’s chosen, and his reign was a blessing to the Israelites. When Gov. Sanford invoked King David to explain why he wouldn’t resign over his adulterous relationship with an Argentine woman, “you could almost hear Doug’s voice,” says Sharlet, who considers the Family’s disregard for conventional morality “potentially very dangerous,” because it “leads you away from accountability to the public.”...

Secrecy by design

Family members quickly learn that the first rule of the Family is not to talk about it. In 1966, Vereide, who referred to his following as an “invisible army,” decreed that the Family should “submerge the institutional image” of the group—a policy maintained by Coe. As Coe once said in a sermon, “the Family functions invisibly like the Mafia. The more you can make your organization invisible, the more influence it will have.” Family members organize themselves into small “cells” that are, in the group’s own words, “publicly invisible and privately identifiable.” Coe has expressed admiration for the way such leaders as Adolf Hitler, Ho Chi Minh, and Osama bin Laden organized followers into small groups that shared a “covenant.” With a covenant, he says, “two or three people can do anything.” Where those leaders went wrong, he says, was in not making their covenants in Jesus’ name.


...............

More at the link...Makes you wonder just how much influence they do have.

[Divine Discontent]

26. if the focus is on the meek & forsaken in society, I'm all for it, but their brand of religion is on

"The Secret" side of belief, which is you have to cultivate your power and it will grow, believing you were called to these great riches and as is shown by many church leader's, there's a belief that the poor are poor for a reason - that they're not right with God, or they wouldn't be like that, and would be rich like they are...

just ungodly selfish men.

[molly77]

28. Didn't the Family encourage some African country

to execute gay people?

[Divine Discontent]

42. that would not shock me at all... checking google, found this link

(didn't want to visit their site) --- FAMILY: What about the Children? (homosexual adoption) - Christian ...
Africa Christian Action will soon publish The Pink Agenda: Sexual Revolution and the Ruin of the Family. This book exposes homosexual behaviour




and, then I found this story that directly comments on your question, they're such monsters.... They're anti-Christian, nothing like Christ. here's the link to the story ---


http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may232010/africa-gay-rs.php

snip - The Family had already caused the jettison of one of Africa's most successful anti-AIDS programs, Museveni came under pressure from America to use abstinence instead of condoms. Representative Joseph Pitts (R. Pa), a Family member, wrote this into law, redirecting millions of dollars away from effective sex-education programs. The result was an AIDS rate in Uganda, once dropping, nearly doubled.

[Overseas]

29. Jeff Sharlett was beautiful on CSpan Book TV last weekend.

Terrifying revelations about evangelicals funding foreign policy initiatives, but also interspersed with a beautiful passage about the gay community in Uganda and the freedom they seek.

[tomm2thumbs]

32. it's not like these religious right wingers get access to leaders at the top level or anything

uh, oh wait...

[DesertDiamond]

36. My father turned me on to a group called Theocracy Watch, whose focus was this exact subject

Dad wanted me to help spread the word. I did it a bit, and it may be just the right time to get started on that again. Thanks for posting about it!

[Raksha]

47. Talk To Action is another excellent anti-theocracy website.

It's my personal favorite, although Theocracy Watch is a good one too. Can't have too many of 'em!

www.talk2action.org/

[indimuse]

37. KNR! n/t

[Thav]

39. Another group that ignores the bible, as usual

Matthew Chapter 6, verse 1-4, about giving to the poor to receive God's favor.

Luke Chapter 12, verse 2-3: There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

And let's not forget the parable of the rich fool, Luke Chapter 12, verse 13-21. Choice Snippet, verse 15: Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Or maybe Proverbs 14:21, He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind to the needy.

---

Sure, there are lots of passages that seem to indicate if you are in God's favor, he will increase your wealth. However wealth can have many meanings - love, happiness, a wide circle of friends and family, and charity. There are many places that instruct the wealthy to help the needy. You cannot call yourself a Christian if you ignore the teachings of Jesus and sections of the bible.

There are passages about laziness causing poverty. There is a difference between being needy and being slothful. If you are poor and are trying to work toward a better life (see my definition of wealth above), you need help and opportunity to. If you are poor and have no desire to be better, then those passages are talking about you.

It really irks me when people, especially rich and powerful groups, call themselves Christians and ignore many teachings, just because they don't fit their world view. If you hold the Bible to be the word of God, you cannot ignore God. You must listen to all His words, not just those you like.

--
I think this is true for most religions as well. I'm sure there Islamic scholars saying to extremists "you've got it all wrong!" as well as Jewish leaders thinking along those same lines.

[Karenina]

40. . .

[bemildred]

55. The problem is not initiatives, the problem is advertising and campaign money. nt

[Perfect Ten]

57. Where the hell have I been...

I've never heard of this...just a little research reveals some scary shit about these people. Thanks!!!

[katty]

58. the 'family' has been investigated, written about for years

of course, it's really a cult.