Say Hillary, What About The Religious "Family" You Have Chosen To Be Part Of? (by Steve Brant)

[Leo 9]

March 26, 2008 at 09:33:15


Say Hillary, What About The Religious "Family" You Have Chosen To Be Part Of?


by Steve Brant

http://www.opednews.com



"You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend." said Hillary Clinton, to reporters and editors of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Tuesday the 25th.

This is an interesting choice of words, since - while we mostly hear about her Methodist upbringing - Hillary Clinton has chosen to associate herself with The Family (also known as the Fellowship), a very conservative, fundamentalist organization started by Abraham Vereide...

"...an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the Far Right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a "family" that thrives to this day. In public, they host prayer breakfasts; in private they preach a gospel of "biblical capitalism," military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao, Doug Coe, the Family's current leader, declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."

This quote is taken from the book on The Family by the same name which will be published in May... a book which claims to

"...dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the Cold War, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not "What do fundamentalists want?" but "What have they already done?"

snip

Is it possible that Hillary's participation in this fundamentalist group - which apparently preaches the "gospel of military might" - would help explain her vote in favor of authorizing President Bush to attack Iraq? Is it possible her pro-NAFTA stance during her husband's administration comes from its embrace of "the no-holds-barred economics of globalization"? Is it possible that the sense some get that Hillary feels entitled to be president comes in part from this group's belief that "it's only the elites who matter"?

snip

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steve_br_080326_say_hillary_2c_what_ab.htm

[Hugabear]

1. There are plenty of moderate and progressive Christians on Capitol Hill

Why does she feel the need to pray with the most far-right, homophobic fundies in Washington?

[UALRBSofL]

2. Who cares, It's a non-issue till MSM starts talking about it.

:)

[Leo 9]

7. That's idiotic.

Just because right wing nut media never runs 24/7 on, nor pushes main stream media to bash anyone over leadership position in some right wing nut cult of the evil movement that calls itself conservative does not make it a "non-issue".

It's an issue with any who are opposed to right wing nut cults and the agenda of the evil movement that calls itself conservative.

Though this story will not be pushed by the right wing media machine, it will recieve more coverage, especially when this book comes out...

Results 1 - 10 of about 549 for "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power"

Amazon.com: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of ...The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power ... The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (Hardcover) ...
www.amazon.com/Family-Secret-Fundamentalism-Heart-American/dp/0060559799 - 159k - Cached - Similar pages

Call Me Ishmael: Jeff Sharlet, <i>The Family</i>, 2008... co-author of Killing the Buddha: A Heretic's Bible, author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (May, '08, ...
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Hillary’s prayer cabal (The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at ...... Barbara Ehrenreich, about Jeff Sharlet’s forthcoming (to be released in May) book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. ...
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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American PowerThe Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. We're sorry. We are unable to display an image for this product. ...
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Talk To Action | Reclaiming Citizenship, History, and FaithAuthor of THE FAMILY: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (Harper, May 20) by Jeff Sharlet on Fri Mar 07, 2008 at 05:47:35 PM EST ...
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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American PowerJeff Sharlet,Hardcover, English-language edition,Pages:352,Pub by HarperCollinsPublishers on 05-20-2008.
search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?sourceid=Q000000630&ean=9780060559793

Hillary's Nasty PastorateJeff Sharlet's shocking exposé The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May. ...
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Hillary and "The Fellowship" | Drudge RetortJeff Sharlet's shocking expos The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May. Sean Hannity has called Obama's ...
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Daily Kos: State of the NationI found out last night that he is likely working on launching his book on the subject, THE FAMILY: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power ...
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http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22The+Family%3A+The+Secret+Fundamentalism+at+the+Heart+of+American+Power%22&btnG=Search

[scheming daemons]

13. In an nutshell, your post is what is wrong with this country....

...

[EmilyAnne]

3. Well, she's a hypocrite, of course.

More important than the choice of religious affiliation, however, is the choice to wage an unjust war in Iraq.
She had that choice and she made it. Period.

[msongs]

4. obama votes to support/fund the iraqi occupation - he is just as complicit nt

[MH1]

5. Obama votes to fund the equipment for my nephews, who are in Iraq.

He didn't vote to send them there.

[EmilyAnne]

9. Just as complicit, my ass. She could have voted against this war, just like Ted Kennedy.

She had the Clinton name behind her. Who knows how much of a leader she could have been had she stood up, loudly, against this war. Who knows how many other Senators would have followed her lead. She could have, but she did not.

A discussion about funding the war is a discussion about a very grey area. Of course, it would be unconscionable to leave our soldiers without adequate armor, arms and shelter in Iraq. That is exactly what had been happening. Everyone knows that. After seeing how horribly the soldiers were being treated by the Bushies, does any reasonable person think that cutting off funding would have made a damn bit of difference? You think the soldiers would have been brought home, or do you think they would have been hung out to dry on an even more epic scale? Hmmm....let's take a wild guess.

A discussion about a vote for this war is not a discussion about a grey area. Hillary Clinton did not read the NIE. Hillary Clinton has repeatedly defended her vote for the war. Once in 2004 on Larry King Live, for example.

My 19 year old cousin is dead because of this bullshit war. I trained a 22 year old kid for canvassing yesterday who came back from Iraq last year without his leg! I am sick of this mealy mouth bullshit that you Hillary supporters keeps talking about her vote on the IWR. She voted for it, she supported that vote for years afterwards. Own that fact, love it, embrace it, celebrate the shit out of it. I don't give a damn. Just, please, stop being dishonest.


http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/21/iraq.hillary/

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/14/hillary-clinton-defends-her-2002-iraq-war-vote-through-attack/

[Leo 9]

12. Here's another article on this.

Hillary's Nasty Pastorate

The Nation: When It Comes To Unsavory Religious Affiliations, Clinton Is A Lot More Vulnerable Than Obama

March 21, 2008

The Nation) This column was written by Barbara Ehrenreich.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a reason Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

snip

Sean Hannity has called Obama's church a "cult," but that term applies far more aptly to Clinton's "Family," which is organized into "cells" - their term - and operates sex-segregated group homes for young people in northern Virginia. In 2002, Sharlet joined The Family's home for young men, forswearing sex, drugs and alcohol, and participating in endless discussions of Jesus and power. He wasn't undercover; he used his own name and admitted to being a writer. But he wasn't completely out of danger either. When he went outdoors one night to make a cell phone call, he was followed. He still gets calls from Family associates asking him to meet them in diners - alone.

During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. 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.

At the heart of The Family's American branch is a collection of powerful right-wing politicos, who include, or have included, Sam Brownback, Ed Meese, John Ashcroft, James Inhofe and Rick Santorum. They get to use The Family's spacious estate on the Potomac, The Cedars, which is maintained by young men in Family group homes and where meals are served by The Family's young women's group. And, at The Family's frequent prayer gatherings, they get powerful jolts of spiritual refreshment, tailored to the already powerful.

snip

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/opinion/main3955108.shtml

[mrJJ]

6. the nation

Hillary's Nasty Pastorate

There's a reason Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

snip

Furthermore, The Family takes credit for some of Clinton's rightward legislative tendencies, including her support for a law guaranteeing "religious freedom" in the workplace, such as for pharmacists who refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and police officers who refuse to guard abortion clinics.

snip

Sharlet generously attributes Clinton's involvement to the under-appreciated depth of her religiosity, but he himself struggles to define The Family's theological underpinnings. The Family avoids the word Christian but worships Jesus, though not the Jesus who promised the earth to the "meek." They believe that, in mass societies, it's only the elites who matter, the political leaders who can build God's "dominion" on earth. Insofar as The Family has a consistent philosophy, it's all about power--cultivating it, building it and networking it together into ever-stronger units, or "cells." "We work with power where we can," Doug Coe has said, and "build new power where we can't."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich

[BearSquirrel2]

8. The more I see ...

The more I read about Hillary, the more I belive she has been the conservative albatross around Bill's neck for OHHHH such a LONG time.

[EmilyAnne]

10. Very interesting point. It does make you wonder.

[BearSquirrel2]

11. She was a Goldwater Girl (nm)

.