The Family: the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Last updated Jan 20, 2022

Book by Jeff Sharlet

The Family: The Clandestine Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

Commencement edition
Author	Jeff Sharlet
Country	United states of america
Language	English
Subject	Political power of the Christian Correct
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	May xx, 2008
Mediatype	Print (hardcover)
Pages	464
ISBN	978-0-06-055979-iii
OCLC	148887452

The Family unit: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power is a 2008 book by American journalist Jeff Sharlet. The book investigates the political power of The Family or The Fellowship, a secretive fundamentalist Christian association led past Douglas Coe. Sharlet has stated that the arrangement fetishizes power past comparing Jesus to "Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Bin Laden" as examples of leaders who change the world through the strength of the covenants they had forged with their "brothers". ^{[one] [2] [iii] [4]} It was published by HarperCollins.

• Behavior and theology
• Controversial leadership model
• Reception
• References
• External links

Ane twelvemonth later on the book's initial publication, the sex scandals of prominent members of the Family unit, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, likewise as accusations that the Family was illegally subsidizing the rent of members of Congress and involved in the Republic of uganda Anti-Homosexuality Neb, which would take imposed the decease penalty for homosexuality in Uganda, thrust the notoriously secretive system into the national spotlight.

Behavior and theology

Journalist Jeff Sharlet did intensive research in the Fellowship'south archives, before they were closed to the public. He as well spent a month in 2002 living in a Fellowship firm well-nigh Washington, DC, and wrote a magazine commodity describing his experiences. ^[five] In his 2008 book well-nigh the Family unit, ^[6] he criticized their theology equally an "elite fundamentalism" that fetishizes political ability and wealth, consistently opposes labor movements in the U.S. and abroad, and teaches that laissez-faire economic policy is "God's volition." He criticized their theology of instant forgiveness for powerful men equally providing a convenient alibi for elites who commit misdeeds or crimes, allowing them to avoid accepting responsibility or accountability for their deportment. ^[7]

Controversial leadership model

Jeff Sharlet and Andrea Mitchell have described Fellowship leader Doug Coe as preaching a leadership model and a personal commitment to Jesus Christ comparable to the bullheaded devotion that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot demanded from their followers. ^[8] In 1 videotaped lecture series in 1989, Coe said:

Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had... But they leap themselves together in an agreement... 2 years earlier they moved into Poland, these 3 men had... systematically a plan fatigued out... to annihilate the entire Polish population and destroy past numbers every single house... every single building in Warsaw and and so to start on the rest of Poland." ^[9]

Coe adds that information technology worked; they killed six and a half 1000000 "Polish people." Though he calls Nazis "these enemies of ours," he compares their delivery to Jesus' demands: "Jesus said, 'You have to put me before other people. And y'all have to put me before yourself.' Hitler, that was the need to exist in the Nazi party. You lot take to put the Nazi party and its objectives ahead of your own life and ahead of other people. ^[8]

Coe likewise compared Jesus's teachings to the Carmine Guard during the Chinese Cultural Revolution:

I've seen pictures of young men in the Ruby-red Guard of China... they would bring in this beau's female parent and father, lay her on the table with a basket on the finish, he would take an axe and cut her head off... They take to put the purposes of the Red Guard alee of the mother-father-brother-sister – their own life! That was a covenant. A pledge. That was what Jesus said. ^{[9] [10]}

Jeff Sharlet told NBC News that when he was an intern with the Fellowship "we were beingness taught the leadership lessons of Hitler, Lenin and Mao" and that Hitler's genocide "wasn't an issue for them, it was the strength that he emulated." ^[9]

Reception

Sharlet'due south book was endorsed by several commentators, including Frank Schaeffer, once a leading effigy of the Christian right, who chosen Sharlet's book a "must read ... disturbing tour de force," and Brian McLaren, 1 of Time "s "25 nearly influential evangelicals" in the U.Southward., who said: "Jeff Sharlet [is] a confessed non-evangelical whom pinnacle evangelical organizations might be wise to rent—and quick—as a consultant." ^{[11] [12]}

Lisa Miller, who writes a column on faith at Newsweek , called his book "alarmist" and says it paints a "creepy, even cultish moving picture" of the young, lower-ranking members of the Fellowship. ^{[i] [13]}

On August 9, 2019, an original documentary series was released on Netflix based on the book, titled The Family . ^{[14] [15]}

Related Research Articles

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Charles Wendell Colson, generally referred to equally Chuck Colson, was an American chaser and political counselor who served every bit Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. In one case known every bit President Nixon's "hatchet man", Colson gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named equally one of the Watergate Seven, and pleaded guilty to obstacle of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg. In 1974 he served 7 months in the federal Maxwell Prison house in Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon assistants to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.

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The Fellowship, also known equally The Family and the International Foundation, is a U.S.-based religious and political organization founded in 1935 by Abraham Vereide. The stated purpose of The Fellowship is to provide a fellowship forum for decision makers to share in Bible studies, prayer meetings, worship of God, and to experience spiritual affirmation and support.

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The Myth of the Twentieth Century is a 1930 book by Alfred Rosenberg, one of the principal ideologues of the Nazi Party and editor of the Nazi paper Völkischer Beobachter. The titular "myth" is "the myth of claret, which under the sign of the swastika unchains the racial world-revolution. Information technology is the awakening of the race soul, which after long sleep victoriously ends the race chaos."

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Adolf Hitler's religious beliefs have been a matter of debate. His opinions regarding religious matters changed considerably over time. During the kickoff of his political life, Hitler publicly expressed favorable opinions towards Christianity. Some historians describe his afterwards posture as being "anti-Christian". He also criticized atheism.

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Douglas Evans Coe was an American activist and businessman who served as the associate managing director of The Fellowship, a religious and political organization known for hosting the annual National Prayer Breakfast. Coe has been referred to every bit the "stealth Billy Graham". In 2005, Coe was named i of the 25 most-influential evangelicals in the United States past Time . Coe was an ordained ruling elder and lay minister in the Presbyterian Church building (USA).

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The C Street Center is a iii-story brick townhouse in Washington, D.C. operated by The Fellowship. It is the sometime convent for nearby St. Peter's Church. It is located at 133 C Street, SE, behind the Madison Building of the Library of Congress and a short distance from the United States Capitol, Republican National Committee, Autonomous National Commission and House of Representatives Function Buildings. The construction has 12 bedrooms, ix bathrooms, v living rooms, four dining rooms, three offices, a kitchen, and a small chapel.

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At that place is a widespread and long-lasting, only untrue, myth alleging that homosexuals were numerous and prominent as a group in the Nazi Party or the identification of Nazism with homosexuality more generally. It has been promoted by various individuals and groups both before and after Earth War II, especially past left-wing Germans during the Nazi era and the Christian correct in the United States more than recently. Although some gay men joined the Nazi Party, there is no evidence that they were overrepresented. The Nazis harshly criticized homosexuality and carried out the virtually severe persecution of gay men in history. Therefore, historians regard the myth as having no merit.

References

1. one 2 Miller, Lisa (September viii, 2009). "House of Worship". Newsweek . Retrieved August 14, 2009.
2. ↑ Jeff Sharlet, The Family (Harper, 2008), p. 259.
3. ↑ Sharlet, Jeff (July 21, 2009). "Sexual activity and power inside "the C Street House"". Salon.com . Retrieved November 28, 2009.
4. ↑ "Jeff Sharlet on "The Family unit: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Ability"". Commonwealth At present!. August 12, 2009. Retrieved November 28, 2009.
5. ↑ Sharlet, Jeff (March 2003). "Jesus plus null: Surreptitious among America's secret theocrats". Harper'due south Magazine. Archived from the original on July 1, 2009. Retrieved July 20, 2009.
6. ↑ Sharlet, Jeff (2008). The Family unit: The Clandestine Fundamentalism at the Centre of American Power . HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-055979-three.
7. ↑ Sharlet, Jeff (2008). The Family unit: Power, Politics and Fundamentalism's Shadow Aristocracy. University of Queensland Press. ISBN 978-0-7022-3694-5.
8. one 2 Jeff Sharlet, The Family unit (Harper, 2008), pp. 254–5.
9. ane 2 3 Mitchell, Andrea; Popkin, James 'Jim' (Apr three, 2008). "Political ties to a secretive religious grouping". NBC News. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
10. ↑ Jeff Sharlet, The Family (Harper, 2008), p. 255.
11. ↑ Book review quotes, Amazon, October 13, 2009, ISBN 978-0060560058 .
12. ↑ "Quoting volume reviews for The Family", The Revealer .
13. ↑ "Lisa Miller", Newsweek (biography) .
14. ↑ "The Family". IMDb .
15. ↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Motorcar : The Family: It's Not About Faith, Information technology's Almost Ability | Official Trailer | Netflix. YouTube .

External links

• The Family – book publisher'southward website
• C Street Scandal, the Media, the Future of the Family unit: An Interview with Jeff Sharlet – Religion Dispatches
• Rachel Maddow Reports on C-Street – YouTube
• The Hugger-mugger Political Achieve Of 'The Family' – NPR

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