The Family, which has links with senior politicians including Barack
Obama, has been dogged by controversy in recent years
Becky Garrison
Saturday January 22 2011
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/feb/03/secretive-christian-group-church-state
More than 3,000 religious leaders, US politicians and representatives
from foreign governments will convene in Washington DC today for the
annual National Prayer Breakfast. This event, which began in 1953,
marks the only publicised function for The Family [http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_%28Christian_organization%29"
title="Wikipedia: The Fellowship] [or The Fellowship], a private
Christian organisation that has been described by religion scholar
Jeff Sharlet in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the
Heart of American Power as one of the most powerful Christian
fundamentalist movements in the United States.
Keynote speakers who have addressed this breakfast include Tony Blair
[http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/02/04/tony-
blair-to-keynote-national-prayer-breakfast.html" title="US News: Tony
Blair to Keynote National Prayer Breakfast], US secretary of state
Hillary Clinton [http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/
2010/02/136501.htm" title="US Department of State: Keynote Address at
the 58th National Prayer Breakfast]and Bono [http://www.usatoday.com/
news/washington/2006-02-02-bono-transcript_x.htm" title="USA Today:
Transcript: Bono remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast]. Beneath
this public display of civil religion, Sharlet reported [http://
www.harpers.org/archive/2008/06/hbc-90003020" title="Harper's:
Following up on The Family: Six Questions for Jeff Sharlet]that
internal documents describe this as a gathering "where anything could
happen ? The Koran could be read, but JESUS is there. He is
infiltrating the world."
Unlike populist Christian conservative organisations whose members
make frequent appearances on the cable news networks, The Family
prefers to function mostly under the radar, away from the glare of the
national spotlight. Sharlet wrote [http://www.harpers.org/archive/
2003/03/0079525" title="Harper's: Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among
America's secret theocrats]: "The Family maintains a closely guarded
database of its associates, but it issues no cards, collects no
official dues. Members are asked not to speak about the group or its
activities."
Most people were unaware of The Family until 2009, when the news broke
that high-ranking US politicians including a senator, John Ensign, a
governor, Mark Sanford, and a representative, Charles Pickering Jr,
conducted extramarital affairs [http://www.harpers.org/archive/
2010/09/hbc-90007656" title="Harper's: Inside C StreetSix Questions
for Jeff Sharlet]while living in a town house called C Street that was
owned by The Family. Further controversy followed when news reports
[http://www.alternet.org/news/145366/
at_national_prayer_breakfast,_obama_to_address_shadowy_christian_group_tied_to_uganda
%E2%80%99s_%E2%80%99kil l_the_gays%E2%80%99_bill" title="AlterNet: At
National Prayer Breakfast, Obama to Address Shadowy Christian Group
Tied to Uganda's 'Kill the Gays' Bill]connected The Family to David
Bahati and the anti-gay legislative efforts in Uganda. The Family
denied playing an active role in supporting this legislation [http://
www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/us/politics/04prayer.html?_r=1" title="New
York Times: National Prayer Breakfast Draws Controversy ] and
rescinded Bahati's invitation [http://www.advocate.com/News/
Daily_News/2010/01/19/Bahati_Rejected_from_National_Prayer_Breakfast/"
title="Daily News: Bahati Rejected from National Prayer Breakfast]to
attend the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast. However, when Bahati came
to the United States in December 2010, Rachel Maddow's interview with
him [http://www.sdgln.com/commentary/2010/12/09/videos-rachel-maddow-
interviews-anti-gay-ugandan-legislator-david-bahati" title="San Diego
Gay and Lesbian News: VIDEOS: Rachel Maddow gets testy with anti-gay
Ugandan legislator David Bahati] on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show
demonstrated a clear link between The Family and Uganda's anti-gay
legislation.
In light of these scandals, the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics
in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog organisation, penned a
letter [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/01/crew-to-obama-skip-
the-na_n_444408.html" title="Huffington Post: CREW To Obama: Skip The
National Prayer Breakfast]asking President Obama and members of
Congress to skip the 2010 National Prayer Breakfast and will issue a
similar letter this year. Melanie Sloan, the executive director of
CREW, said: "While the president has pledged his commitment to
transparency, The Family engages in statecraft in secret. The Family
leverages its connections with members of congress and its ability to
persuade the president to appear at its breakfast to buttress its
power and influence." Also, a group of religious leaders launched an
alternative American Prayer Hour [http://www.americanprayerhour.org"
title="American Prayer Hour]in 2010 in a public move to condemn The
Family's role in the anti-gay bill [http://www.religiondispatches.org/
archive/sexandgender/2250/
religious_leaders_urge_obama_to_condemn_ugandan_anti-
gay_bill_at_prayer_breakfast" title="Religion Dispatches: Religious
Leaders Urge Obama to Condemn Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill at Prayer
Breakfast ]that was pending in the Ugandan parliament.
Furthermore, organisations such as the Freedom from Religion
Foundation [http://www.ffrf.org/news/releases/obamafbi" title="Freedom
from Religion Foundation: FFRF Takes National Prayer Breakfast Remarks
to Task] and the American Atheists [http://www.atheists.org/"
title="American Atheists] argue that the National Prayer Breakfast
represents a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state
as outlined in the first amendment to the US constitution. Despite the
fact that this breakfast is sponsored by a private Christian
organisation, invitations are issued on congressional letterhead and
members of the press respond to them via the White House. Each year,
the US president addresses this group with members of congress and
other government officials in attendance. David Silverman, the
president of the American Atheists, said: "The fact that so many
representatives, who are supposed to represent all of America's
diverse citizenry, are involved with this organisation should worry
every American, be they Christian or otherwise. It is our position
that every elected official should proudly look to the US Constitution
as their top law ? otherwise they are just proxies for preachers and
agents of intolerance."
Some media outlets such as the New Yorker [http://www.newyorker.com/
reporting/2010/09/ 13/100913fa_fact_boyer?currentPage="all""
title="New Yorker: Frat House for Jesus]and Newsweek, take a more
benign view of The Family ? but even Newsweek admits that Sharlet has
levelled certain substantive charges against The Family [http://
www.newsweek.com/2009/09/07/house-of-worship.html" title="Newsweek:
House of Worship]that demand answers. To date, The Family continues to
operate in a code of silence as they once again prepare to pray.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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