Theocratic Redux: "Jesus Plus Nothing"...The Religious Reich?

[JanMichael]

http://www.harpers.org/JesusPlusNothing.html?pg=1

This is a "must read" if you want to understand one of the pieces of the puzzle behind the power of the Religious Right. I'm guessing that the pilot that recently asked Christian passengers to "witness" to the heathen passengers probably wishes he could join.

"Ivanwald, which sits at the end of Twenty-fourth Street North in Arlington, Virginia, is known only to its residents and to the members and friends of the organization that sponsors it, a group of believers who refer to themselves as “the Family.” The Family is, in its own words, an “invisible” association, though its membership has always consisted mostly of public men. Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as “members,” as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.). Regular prayer groups 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 maintains a closely guarded database of its associates, but it issues no cards, collects no official dues. Members are asked not to speak about the group or its activities"

"The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand “Communists” killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise. “We work with power where we can,” the Family's leader, Doug Coe, says, “build new power where we can't.”"

There are a lot of groups out there seeking "Power", IMHO this is one that definately needs to be neutered.

[RainDog]

1. members are asked not speak of the org. or its activities

and it includes our (supposedly) representatives in Congress and members of the oil and aerospace industries??

and this is supposed to be normal for a democracy?

this country has gone crazy.

fundamentalism is, I am convinced, a manifestion of mental illness, I don't care which religion it comes from.

it is so distressing to know how stupid and corrupt and, frankly, bordering on lunatic fringe our representatives are.

no doubt when their terms are up, they put on the robe and drink the kool-aid to be transported to special interest heaven.