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The Family

the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
Dec 14, 2014Chapel_Hill_KenMc rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Disturbing analysis of a network of fundamentalist Christians who have woven a web of influence throughout government and industry since the Eisenhower administration. Known first as "The Fellowship," and more recently as "The Family," this is a group without any overt structure, operating in "cells" modeled on communist revolutionary groups. Their public event is the National Prayer Breakfast held annually with the president and leading members of the government. Working confidentially with some of the 20th century's most bloodthirsty dictators, The Family holds no one accountable for political action, works to further the interests of US power and the "free market," and insidiously breaks down the wall of separation between church and state. Their conception of Christianity? Sharlet writes, "For all of the Family's talk of Jesus as a person, he remains oddly abstract in the teachings they derive from him, a mix of 'free market' economics, aggressive American internationalism, and 'leadership' as a fetishized term for power, a good in itself regardless of its ends." Scary reading!