The Fellowship Quiz

[depakid]

Lately, every day brings a surprise. You’re hanging out, waiting for the Independence Day fireworks to start, and suddenly there is Sarah Palin on TV, announcing that she’s quitting her job because she’s not a dead fish. And now we’re hearing that San Diego is under attack from giant flying squid with razor-sharp beaks.

And then there’s the string of weird political sex scandals. Illicit lust is not, in and of itself, a novelty in our nation’s capital. But over the past few weeks we’ve gotten one story after another about politicians whose extramarital affairs turned into public displays of strange behavior, conflict and hysteria.

For instance, the estranged wife of Chip Pickering, a very conservative, toothy ex-congressman from Mississippi, has filed a lawsuit against Pickering’s alleged mistress. Leisha Pickering blames the woman, Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd, for ruining her family and forcing Pickering to turn down an offer to succeed the departing Trent Lott in the Senate. If it weren’t for Creekmore Byrd, Mrs. Pickering contends, her husband would have been promoted and she would still be happily married.

See what I mean? The story starts out with a humdrum married-boy-meets-married-girl, and then suddenly arcs into a lawsuit over alienation of a Senate seat. Strange times. Let’s see how closely you’ve been paying attention:

TAKE THE QUIZ!

Here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/07/18/opinion/20090718_COLLINSQUIZ.html

[pnorman]

1. DANG! 5 out of 9!

Guess, I haven't been following DU closely enough!

pnorman

[Old and In the Way]

2. You mean the "Fellowschtupper" quiz

Schtupping for Christ, right?

[Rowdyboy]

3. I got 7 of 9 which I suppose is pretty good....

[depakid]

4. It's getting harder to keep up with all the fundy philandering

that and the fact that some of the actual answers are just bizarre.

[tkmorris]

5. You just can't make this stuff up

"According to Jeff Sharlet's book 'The Family', the Fellowship was founded in 1935 to fight the New Deal by a minister who said that God had appeared to him in the guise of:

The president of U.S. Steel."

Nuttier than a Snickers factory, the whole lot of them.

[RandomThoughts]

7. And Machiavellianism says that leaders should lie about religion

to get followers to believe stuff. Machiavellian principles explain many of their doctrines. And that doctrine says leaders should not believe in religion then tell people they do.

That whole story about seeing God could be made up by an atheist as far as anyone knows. It could be that it started as just plain Machiavellianism and then the next generations carried on the false doctrine to justify their own privilege.

Also with Rev Moon in the mix (or others like him), they probably use to have some illusions of spiritual power in the past.

[Sherman A1]

6. Thanks for posting

[Sherman A1]

8. 6/9 for me

[mod mom]

9. 6/9 for me. Text version of quiz

1. The Prayer House is a Washington nickname for a rowhouse where some conservative Christian members of Congress go for meals and religious study groups. It is also the place:

A) Where Gov. Mark Sanford got counseling during his affair.

B) Where Senator John Ensign lived during his affair.

C) Where Chip Pickering lived during his affair.

D) All of the above.

*****

2. The Prayer House is owned by a secretive evangelical group known as the Fellowship. According to Jeff Sharlet’s book, “The Family,” the Fellowship was founded in 1935 to fight the New Deal by a minister who said that God had appeared to him in the guise of:

A) An angel.

B) A blinding light.

C) Wendell Wilkie.

D) The president of U.S. Steel.

*****

3. When Chip Pickering retired from Congress in January, he said he was leaving to:

A) Become a lobbyist for the cellphone company owned by his mistress.

B) Spend more time with his family.

C) Spend more time with the Fellowship.

D) Rethink that Senate offer.

*****

4. When the parents of Senator John Ensign of Nevada learned that their son had had an affair with his campaign bookkeeper, who was married to his chief aide, they:

A) Were shocked and dismayed.

B) Urged their son to give up politics and return to his former career as a veterinarian.

C) Gave the cuckolded aide and his wife $96,000 “out of concern for the well-being of longtime family friends.”

D) Went hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

*****

5. According to his ex-aide, Prayer House regulars convinced Ensign to write a break-up letter to his lover. In it, Ensign referred to a relationship that had “suffered terribly” because of the affair. It was the one between him and:

A) Mrs. Ensign.

B) The Fellowship.

C) God.

D) The people of Nevada.

*****
-snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/opinion/18collins.ready.html?_r=1

[Orsino]

10. Interesting. 4/9

Every damned question I missed, I missed because I didn't pick the most ludicrous possible answer.

[slackmaster]

11. I got bored after two questions and bailed out

I had a "Who gives a flying fuck about those assholes?" moment.

[trof]

12. Gee Whiz! 8 out of 9.

I didn't know Sanford slept on his office couch when he was in congress.
Other than that, I guess I'm payin' attention.