THE NEW REPUBLIC - Family Ties: Hillary Clinton's evangelical cabal.

[Swamp Rat]

THE NEW REPUBLIC
Family Ties
by Jeff Sharlet
Hillary Clinton's evangelical cabal.
Post Date Wednesday, May 28, 2008

(snip)

Clinton, an evangelically inclined Methodist, is by far the most religiously rooted and theologically astute of the three candidates, a Christian intellectual schooled in the cold war religion of Reinhold Niebuhr's post-leftist years. Don Jones, her youth pastor and a lifelong spiritual mentor, calls the faith he instructed her in then and which they still share a third way between old-school fundamentalism and liberal Christianity. It's not centrism, though; Jones describes it in terms of Burkean conservatism, after the eighteenth-century reactionary philosopher's belief that change should be slow and come without the sort of "social leveling" that offends class hierarchy.

That's the crux of the conflict between the progressive Christianity that's broad enough to encompass both Jeremiah Wright and Jimmy Carter, and the elitist variation long embraced by Hillary: The former dreams always, if imperfectly, of challenging power, while the latter works to reaffirm it. Clinton's faith is not the liberal version of Christianity that Democratic leaders have traditionally invoked--instead, her version, exemplified by her alliance with a shadowy network of powerful conservative Christians, is steeped in the kind of establishmentarianism that she has otherwise tried to distance herself from throughout the primary season.

Clinton's formal introduction to the publicity-shy network of mostly evangelical elites in government, military, and business known to the world as The Fellowship--and to its adherents as The Family--came at a lunch organized on her behalf in February 1993 at the Cedars, "an estate on the Potomac that serves as the headquarters for the National Prayer Breakfast and the prayer groups it has spawned around the world," as she wrote in Living History. "Doug Coe, the longtime National Prayer Breakfast organizer"--and the de facto leader of the The Family, dubbed by Time the "Stealth Persuader"--"is a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."

Or with the kind of politically useful friends one might not make otherwise. For the eight years she lived in the White House, Clinton met regularly with a gathering of women who put aside political differences to seek--for themselves, for their husbands' careers--an even greater power. Among Clinton's prayer partners were Susan Baker, the wife of Bush consigliere James and a former board member of James Dobson's Focus on the Family; Joanne Kemp, the wife of conservative icon Jack, responsible for introducing the political theology of fundamentalist guru Francis Schaeffer to Washington; Eileen Bakke, a leading activist for charter schools based on "character" and the wife of Dennis Bakke, then the CEO of AES, one of the world's largest power companies; and Janet Hall, the wife of Representative Tony Hall, once a socially liberal Democrat from Ohio who, in The Family's care, became pro-life, anti-gay rights, and simply confused about the separation of church and state. Hillary's "prayer warriors," as she called them, sent her daily Scripture verses to study, and Baker provided Clinton with spiritual counsel during "political storms."

When Clinton moved to the Senate, she became a regular at a weekly Senate prayer meeting led by Coe, and rumor spread among evangelical elites that she was seeking individual spiritual counsel with Coe. "She needs that nucleus of energy that the Coe camp produces," the Reverend Rob Schenck, president of another elite Capitol Hill ministry called Faith and Action, says. "Washington right now is a town where, if you're going to be powerful, you need religion."

(snip)

http://tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=816d53a2-3564-4b49-9664-9d294f9087b1

[speedoo]

1. K&R. Thanks for posting this. nt

[Swamp Rat]

2. One if Hillary's spiritual advisors, Doug Coe, is insane.

Sharlet recalled an interview he had with Coe: "Coe sought to explain the secret of success for God-led elites who'll work together toward His kingdom: "a covenant," he said. "Like the Mafia. Look at the strength of their bonds. ... See, for them, it's honor. For us, it's Jesus." Coe listed other men who had changed the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their "brothers": "Look at Hitler," he said. "Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, bin Laden.""

In addition to the interview, Sharlet describes a video he obtained of "Coe preaching to a group of elite evangelical leaders in 1989, Coe expands upon the concept. "Hitler, Goebbels, and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere. ... Jesus said, 'You have to put me before other people. And you have to put me before yourself.' ... hat was the demand to be in the Nazi party. You have to put the Nazi party and its objectives ahead of your own life and ahead of other people." Coe's only evident argument with Hitler is the Fuhrer's substitution of himself for the Father."

:wtf:

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Swamp Rat]

4. Video clip of Democratic debate: "Time for Clinton to Discuss Religious Ties"

Notice the difference in Hillary's and Obama's answers.
______________________________________________________

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/33262-time-for-clinton-to-discuss-religious-ties

As Barbara Ehrenreich reported yesterday on the Huffington Post, Hillary Clinton is an active member of a Bible study group affiliated with a secretive Capitol Hill religious organization called the "Fellowship" or "The Family."

(snip)

According to Katherine Joyce and Jeff Sharlet, who originally broke this story in Mother Jones last September, The Family's notion of spreading God-led leadership has translated in the past to its members in our Congress backing Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier's regime in Haiti and Park Chung-hee's dictatorship in South Korea.

In more modern times, The Family's theologically conservative convictions have attracted the likes of Sam Brownback, Ed Meese, John Ashcroft, James Inhofe, and Rick Santorum.
Now, Clinton reportedly joined a Bible study group associated with The Family back in 1993, which consisted of the wives of other conservatives like Jack Kemp and James Baker. That said, she frequently attended The Family's Weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, which included George Allen.

She has also referred to The Family's leader Doug Coe as "a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God." According to the Mother Jones article, Coe's cohort Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) led the House Values Action Team, a network of religious right groups and Congressional members that Tom Delay started.

(snip)

[malta blue]

5. Thank you for posting this.

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

6. Hillary stated in her book "Living History," Doug Coe is

"a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."

Since DUers seem to be so interested in Obama's pastors and spiritual mentors, maybe we should delve much deeper into Hillary's faith and her ties to the 'Religious Right.' ANYONE who regularly attended private religious rites and gatherings with the likes of people like John Ashcroft should be suspect.


:hi: malta blue :hug:

[malta blue]

11. How right you are!

This "pastorgate" issue has really gone over the edge.

Religion should be left out of the political arena - PERIOD. I really don't care who/what people worship as long as they do not impose it upon me through legislation.

:hi: Swamp Rat :hug::hug: back at you :loveya:

[blm]

18. What's wrong with theo-fascism as long as its a Clinton clinging to the fascists?

Don't you know Clintons have been given a free pass to frolic with fascism in all its forms by their fan club?

[Hestia]

7. There was another huge story about The Family on the internet tubes

back in 2004 that was really disturbing. I can no longer find it, but it wasn't by this author.

The fact that HRC follows this doctrine scares a) that this is really her spiritual life or b) that shes doesn't really believe and using these people to get and keep power. The fact that a group like this has been operating in DC for decades undercover, as it where, that quite possibly this is the other half of the neo-con coin, economics and god. This group needs to be shut down in DC ASAP. The members of Congress need to be publically asked about this group.

[Swamp Rat]

8. A couple of sources: Barbara Ehrenreich, and Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet

(snip)

"You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "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," aka The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May."

(snip)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-ehrenreich/hillarys-nasty-pastorate_b_92361.html
___________________________________________________________________________________________

(snip)

"Ehrenreich calls out Clinton to discuss her "Six-Degress of Evangelicalism" (which may only be two or three), and with Sharlet's book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power due out this May, this may become an issue for Clinton sooner rather than later."

(snip)

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/33262-time-for-clinton-to-discuss-religious-ties

[Swamp Rat]

9. BARBARA EHRENREICH: Hillary's Nasty Pastorate

BARBARA EHRENREICH
Hillary's Nasty Pastorate
March 19, 2008

(snip)

You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "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," aka The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.

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, writer Jeff Sharlet joined the Family's home for young men, foreswearing 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.

The Family's most visible activity is its blandly innocuous National Prayer Breakfast, held every February in Washington. But almost all its real work goes on behind the scenes -- knitting together international networks of rightwing leaders, most of them ostensibly Christian. In the 1940s, The Family reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolph Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs. As Sharlet reported in Harper's in 2003:

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.

(snip)

At the heart of the Family's American branch is a collection of powerful rightwing 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.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-ehrenreich/hillarys-nasty-pastorate_b_92361.html

[Swamp Rat]

10. Mother Jones - Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics

Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics
By Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet
Illustration by: Andy Friedman
September 1, 2007

(snip)

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."

(snip)

Under Jones' mentorship, Clinton learned about Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich—thinkers whom liberals consider their own, but whom young Hillary Rodham encountered as theological conservatives. The Niebuhr she studied was a cold warrior, dismissive of the progressive politics of his earlier writing. "He'd thought that once we were unionized, the kingdom of God would be ushered in," Jones explains. "But the effect of those two world wars and the violence that they produced shook his faith in liberal theology. He came to believe that the achievement of justice meant a clear understanding of the limitations of the human condition." Tillich, whose sermon on grace Clinton turned to during the Lewinsky scandal, today enjoys a following among conservatives for revising the social gospel—the notion that Christians are to improve humanity's lot here on earth by fighting poverty, inequality, and exploitation—to emphasize individual redemption instead of activism.

Niebuhr and Tillich's combination of aggressiveness in foreign affairs and limited domestic ambition naturally led Clinton toward the GOP. She was a Goldwater Girl who, under the tutelage of her high school history teacher Paul Carlson (whom Jones describes as "to the right of the John Birchers"), attended biweekly anticommunist meetings and later served as president of Wellesley's Young Republicans chapter. Out of step with the era's radicalism, Clinton wrote Jones from college, lamenting that her fellow students didn't believe that one could be "a mind conservative and a heart liberal." To Jones, this question indicated that Clinton shared Niebuhr's notion of Christians needing to have "a dark enough view of life that they can be realistic about what's possible."

(snip)

Throughout her time at the White House, Clinton writes in Living History, she took solace from "daily scriptures" sent to her by her Fellowship prayer cell, along with Coe's assurances that she was right where God wanted her. (Clinton's sense of divine guidance has been noted by others: Bishop Richard Wilke, who presided over the United Methodist Church of Arkansas during her years in Little Rock, told us, "If I asked Hillary, 'What does the Lord want you to do?' she would say, 'I think I'm called by the Lord to be in public service at whatever level he wants me.'")

(snip)

These days, Clinton has graduated from the political wives' group into what may be Coe's most elite cell, the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast. Though weighted Republican, the breakfast—regularly attended by about 40 members—is a bipartisan opportunity for politicians to burnish their reputations, giving Clinton the chance to profess her faith with men such as Brownback as well as the twin terrors of Oklahoma, James Inhofe and Tom Coburn, and, until recently, former Senator George Allen (R-Va.). Democrats in the group include Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, who told us that the separation of church and state has gone too far; Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is also a regular.

(snip)

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer.html

[Swamp Rat]

12. Wikipedia - The Family (Christian political organization): Current operations

(snip)

Current operations

The Fellowship is incorporated in the United States as a tax-free 501(c)(3) organization operating under the name The Fellowship Foundation. While they conduct no fundraising operations, they reported revenues of more than $12 million in 2003 from donations. Its mission statement is:

"To develop and maintain an informal association of people banded together, to go out as "ambassadors of reconciliation," modeling the principles of Jesus, based on loving God and loving others. To work with the leaders of other nations, and as their hearts are touched, the poor, the oppressed, the widows and the youth of their country will be impacted in a positive manner. It is said that youth groups will be developed under the thoughts of Jesus, including loving others as you want to be loved."

While The Fellowship, which strives to be "invisible," has received some media attention for allegedly having behind-the-scenes influence over political leaders, the allegations have never been proven.
Their primary activity is to develop small support groups for members of Congress, businesspersons, and anyone else who is interested in the teachings of Jesus. Prayer groups have met in the Pentagon and at the Department of Defense. They have connections to the CIA. <5>

The Fellowship maintains a three-story, 7,914-square-foot red brick townhouse at 133 C Street in Washington, D.C., near the United States Capitol. The townhouse used to be a convent. As many as six members of Congress, Democratic and Republican, live here while in Washington. In 2003, these men paid $600 a month to live there: U.S. Reps. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.; Bart Stupak, D-Mich.; Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and Mike Doyle, D-Pa.; and U.S. Sens. John Ensign, R-Nev.; and Sam Brownback, R-Kan. The house, which was valued at $1.1 million in 2003, is owned by a Fellowship sister organization called the C Street Center. IRS records show that the Center received more than $145,000 in grants from the Fellowship between 1997 and 2000.<6>

(snip)

There is no official membership of the group. Most members of Congress who participate are from the Republican Party but some Democrats such as Hillary Clinton (Doug Coe is a pastor/ advisor for Clinton) <7><8> participate as well. Clinton's associates distanced her from Coe in 2008, saying that Clinton was not a member of The Fellowship and never contributed money it. They also said that Clinton had not heard sermons Coe gave using Nazi and Communist leaders as examples of gaining commitment. See Mitchell, Andrea and Popkin, Jim. "Political ties to a secretive religious group", NBC News, 2008-04-03. Retrieved on 2008-05-04. Senators who have been cited as members of the organization include Don Nickles and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Pete Domenici of New Mexico, John Ensign of Nevada, Bill Nelson of Florida, Conrad Burns of Montana. Members of the House who have been cited as participants include Frank Wolf of Virginia and Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania. Charles Colson, an adviser of Richard Nixon, was also a member of "the Family" <2>.

(snip)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_%28Christian_political_organization%29

[Swamp Rat]

13. kick

"Because those of us who have been here a while like to see what smears we're facing"- Bluebear

[DangerousRhythm]

25. Thank you!

It's nice to have all that info in one place. :)

[Cha]

14. So hilary's religion didn't teach her not to

lie? 'Cause all this doesn't mean anything if they don't walk the walk.

Religion Smeligion..hypocrites to de max.

[Swamp Rat]

15. I find this all very disturbing.

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." - Thomas Jefferson

[Cha]

17. It's so disturbing and Orchestrated

I believe to maximize the brainwashing of the masses.

[crickets]

23. Yes.

Thanks for posting this, Swamp Rat. It's not just Hillary's involvement in this that's disturbing.

[cliffordu]

16. Great Post - K&R

[me b zola]

19. K&R

[uberllama42]

20. "Theologically astute"

What does that phrase mean? Has she studied theology? Would that even make her more "astute"?

ETA: Does it just mean she is religious? I don't consider that particularly astute.

[DerekJ]

21. K & R

[Oilwellian]

22. Thanks for posting Swamp Rat

This story has added a creepy element to Hillary's campaign and the lack of coverage is duly noted. I wonder if full coverage was planned for the Fall should Hillary have taken the nomination. Another secretive group she's involved in is the Bildeberg Group. Putting the 2 together sure does lead to an active imagination. :hi:

[Swamp Rat]

24. I believe the ubiquitous 'they' have a LOT of dirt on her.

:hi:

"John McCain - Going Down" - AWESOME!! :headbang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmZU3yWva18

It has been a tradition since I was young to go to the levee by my house, and look out over the Mississippi River, and my neighborhood, while listening to "When the Levee Breaks" whenever a hurricane is coming. I hope I don't have to do it again this year. 2005 SUCKED! :scared:

[Oilwellian]

26. Thanks! That's the first of many hit pieces I have planned for the SOB

I can recall a couple of hurricane parties in Slidell and that song inevitably played at some point during the festivities. We were always spared the direct hit til Katrina. I often wondered how my house faired had I still lived there and finally learned the entire neighborhood was wiped out. To this day I still weep for the devastation there Swampy. :hug:

[Swamp Rat]

27. Me too.

:hug:

N.O. East and St. Bernard are still a mess. Hell, the whole city, including my house, is still messed up.

I went to a Voodoo ceremony a few nights before to participate in warding off Ivan, then sat atop the levee when Ivan turned and missed us, listening to that song. When Katrina came, I had a real bad feeling that no matter what we did, nothing was gonna stop it. This time I was listening to Garland Robinette on WWL, while stuck smack dab in the middle of the Causeway Bridge in traffic for hours as the feeder bands moved in and wind picked up. It took hours just to get to I-12, then 12 hours in stop and go traffic on I-55 to the Mississippi/Tennessee border. My mom was in The Quarter and Treme during the storm and was missing for a few days, and was threatened by the Jefferson Parish Police when she crossed the Mississippi River Bridge to Gretna. I think she was the third to last car that made it before they closed the gauntlet, driving on two flat tires. JFC! I have blocked this outta my mind for three years. :scared: