Drudge Retort: Red Meat for Yellow Dogs
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating--or living her faith?

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So, who is Doug Coe, a a man Hillary describes as "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."

Coe was named one the country's top 25 Evangelicals by Time magazine in 2005:
THE STEALTH PERSUADER: Douglas Coe, 76, the Fellowship Foundation The gala annual National Prayer Breakfast is not hosted by Congress, but by some 30 members who belong Douglas Coe's Fellowship Foundation. Several members of Congress live in rooms rented in the Fellowship's Capitol Hill rowhouse. Hundreds of its prayer-and-conversation offshoots have convened at the White House, Pentagon, and other agencies. Coe also befriends dictators and torturers. He would still hold out hope that these people could be redeemed, and try to work through them to help the people over whom they have authority, says Richard Carver, president of the Fellowship's board of directors.


www.time.com

On September 27, 2002 the LA times did an article on Coe and his Fellowship:

Los Angeles Times review of the Fellowship's archives, which are kept at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., and an examination of documents obtained from several presidential libraries reveals an organization that has had extraordinary access and significant influence on foreign affairs for the last 50 years.

Coe, 73, has befriended a succession of presidents and world leaders since arriving in Washington in 1959. In April, he was invited to the White House to speak off the record with employees about prayer.

Coe said the group's mission is to create a worldwide "family of friends" by spreading the words of Jesus to those in power. He believes that people of every religion--including Muslims, Jews and Hindus--are swayed by Jesus. If he can change leaders' hearts, he said, then the benefits will flow naturally to the oppressed and underprivileged.

The Rev. Rob Schenck, founder of Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, a Christian outreach center, said that "the mystique of the Fellowship" has helped it "gain entree into almost impossible places in the capital."

The Fellowship is a collection of public officials, business leaders and religious ministries that defies easy description. Sometimes known as the prayer group movement, its members espouse a common devotion to the teachings of Jesus and a belief that peace and justice can come about through quiet efforts to change individuals, particularly those in positions of power. Personal outreach is paramount.

They also share a vow of silence about Fellowship activities. Coe and others cite biblical admonitions against public displays of good works, insisting they would not be able to tackle their diplomatically sensitive missions if they drew public attention. Members, including congressmen, invoke this secrecy rule when refusing to discuss just about every aspect of the Fellowship and their involvement in it.

www.toobeautiful.org

And Hillary is a member of this group?

The Christian Mafia: Rule By Divine Right

Washington, D.C., is home to a powerful secret organization that is hell-bent on hastening the return of Jesus.

A secret cult has infiltrated our nation's capital. Its members are among the most influential figures in the world. Its ultraconservative agenda is aimed at seducing members of Congress into promoting the organization's interests, dictating foreign policy and encouraging Armageddon.

Since 1952 the U.S. President, along with a host of lawmakers, military brass, foreign heads of state and spiritual leaders, has attended the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. It seems innocent enough. The affair gives the powerful and wealthy a chance to unite and share their faith. However, most Americans don't know that this very public event is sponsored by a secretive fundamentalist Christian organization operating from across the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia. Among its members are senators, congressmen and corporate executives who foster the link between the religious movement, the federal government and Big Business.

The organization's official name is the Fellowship Foundation, but it's more commonly known as the Fellowship or the Family. Its membership is a closely guarded secret, and there are no official dues. Members are told to keep silent about the group and its activities.

Neighbors of the Fellowship Foundation call its brethren the "pod people." Nearly everyone who speaks about the group insists on anonymity-and there may be good reason. The Fellowship is said to be a covert player in many important political and diplomatic decisions.

Katherine Yurica, an expert on fundamentalist religious groups, describes the Fellowship as postmillennial Christian Dominionist, a sect whose goal is to hasten the end of the world and Jesus's return. Many of the faithful believe this will come to fruition in the form of all-out nuclear war, which will lead to Armageddon-the final battle between Christ and the Antichrist.

A U.S. government higher-up claims, on the condition of anonymity, that the Fellowship (which operates as a nonprofit organization) is merely a tax dodge for Big Business interests. "They use religious members as dupes to further their nonreligious goals," says the official.


www.larryflynt.com

Cells? Secretive? Spiritual Wars?

A-HA! A terrorist! I TOLD you people he was EVIL !

Uh, what? Mmm, ohhhhhH.....it's Hillary. Guess I can't twist this one into an Obama bash. Wait. I don't shill for her. I bash her opponent. Can't really find anything good about her, well good enough to create an entire thread once a month.

Never mind

CORKY

In his article "Jesus plus nothing:
Undercover among America's secret theocrats", for Harper's, Sharlett notes: At the 1990 National Prayer Breakfast, George H.W. Bush praised Doug Coe for what he described as "quiet diplomacy, I wouldn't say secret diplomacy," as an "ambassador of faith."

Coe's own words may be the reason this group has been dubbed the Christian Mafia:

"Yes," Doug said, "it's good to have friends. Do you know what a difference a friend can make? A friend you can agree with?" He smiled. "Two or three agree, and they pray? They can do anything. Agree. Agreement. What's that mean?" Doug looked at me. "You're a writer. What does that mean?"

I remembered Paul's letter to the Philippians, which we had begun to memorize. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded.

"Unity," I said. "Agreement means unity."

Doug didn't smile. "Yes," he said. "Total unity. Two, or three, become one. Do you know," he asked, "that there's another word for that?"

No one spoke.

"It's called a covenant. Two, or three, agree? They can do anything. A covenant is . . . powerful. Can you think of anyone who made a covenant with his friends?"

We all knew the answer to this, having heard his name invoked numerous times in this context. Andrew from Australia, sitting beside Doug, cleared his throat: "Hitler."

"Yes," Doug said. "Yes, Hitler made a covenant. The Mafia makes a covenant. It is such a very powerful thing. Two, or three, agree." He took another bite from his plate, planted his fork on its tines. "Well, guys," he said, "I gotta go."

As Doug Coe left, my brothers' hearts were beating hard: for the poor, for a covenant.


www.harpers.org

Mental instability is a terrible thing to watch, eh?


ON topic, Hillary mentioned on national TV in a live debate her going to prayer meeting sometimes in the Sen chapel with Sam Brownback and others.

They idea that this is a, "secretive Capitol Hill group", is laughable. The only thing secretive may be how un-PC it is for a liberal to be a Christian these days.

How's that Atheists for Obama thing going, anyway?


Mental instability is a terrible thing to watch, eh?


That was to AU's "post". Not Gal's.

And here we never knew Coe was Hillary's spiritual mentor and guide for nearly 20 years.... amazing what one can learn on the internets!

And here we never knew Coe was Hillary's spiritual mentor and guide for nearly 20 years.... amazing what one can learn on the internets!
Posted by Corky at 2008-03-18 09:32 AM | Reply


Corky,
It doesn't matter that Wright was intimately involved in Hussiens life. It doesn't matter that he had such an influence over him. It doesn't matter what Wright has said, or that Obama hasn't moved to another more tolerant church.

What matters is that the Republicans have gotten an endorsement from Robertson or falwell.

Or that Clinton attended a prayer meeting.

Pretty amazing stuff, eh, AU? Spread the word!

Corky, maybe the group itself isn't a secret just as Skull and Bones isn't a secret, but what goes on behind closed doors does seem to be a highly guarded secret. They take a vow of silence about the group's activities:

They also share a vow of silence about Fellowship activities. Coe and others cite biblical admonitions against public displays of good works, insisting they would not be able to tackle their diplomatically sensitive missions if they drew public attention. Members, including congressmen, invoke this secrecy rule when refusing to discuss just about every aspect of the Fellowship and their involvement in it.

While I'm all for praying in secret, the Bible also says not to hide your light under a bushel. Perhaps Hillary will shout her association with Coe and this Fellowship from the mountain tops. This is the kind of ingrained, old guard, backroom politics Obama is up against, and it has nothing to do with who is the better Christian; it's all about who holds the reigns of power.

The Christian Mafia: Rule By Divine Right

Washington, D.C., is home to a powerful secret organization that is hell-bent on hastening the return of Jesus.

A secret cult has infiltrated our nation's capital. Its members are among the most influential figures in the world. Its ultraconservative agenda is aimed at seducing members of Congress into promoting the organization's interests, dictating foreign policy and encouraging Armageddon.

What? Dictating foreign policy? Encouraging Armageddon? Cult?

Ooooooo Nooooo No nuclear 'footballs' and fingers on the button for her!


We should ALL get busy and find every article we can to expose the danger to America that lives in the body of a 60 year old female secretive radical fanatic. I mean 2 posts a day EACH!

OMG!!

Check out this photo taken when her guard was down. Horrifying!!:

HILLARY'S POSSESSED - Here's the proof!

HILLARY'S POSSESSED!! - Here's the proof!!

Or that Clinton attended a prayer meeting.

Posted by Corky


As part of a secret cult who's mission is to dictate foreign policy and bring the end of the world! Praying for Armeggedon no less.

Corky, my friend, do me a favor and read the article's I've linked to. I know you are a Christian; this is not about knocking Christianity. It's also not about knocking Clinton per se. IMO, this is about how religion has infiltrated the highest eschalons of politics in this country and is being used to maintain power.

No Gal, it's all about desperate Obamites trying to come up with some kind of equivalency to match the home-made Pastor bomb that is Rev Wright.

That's what it is.

Corky, don't you find it just a little bit strange that Coe is the one who brought up the Mafia and Hitler when discussing a covenant:

"Yes," Doug said. "Yes, Hitler made a covenant. The Mafia makes a covenant. It is such a very powerful thing. Two, or three, agree." He took another bite from his plate, planted his fork on its tines. "Well, guys," he said, "I gotta go."

No, I find it laughable the extent some people will go to to blame others rather than confront the real problems that their own candidate has.

No Gal, it's all about desperate Obamites trying to come up with some kind of equivalency to match the home-made Pastor bomb that is Rev Wright.

That's what it is.


No, my freind, I promise you it's not. I admit I googled to find out more about Hillary's faith, but I can't tell you how shocked and dismayed I am by what I discovered when I stumbled upon this Coe character and Hillary's association with his Fellowship. It makes this usually quiet white gal want to say, GD. A plague on all their houses.

No, I find it laughable the extent some people will go to to blame others rather than confront the real problems that their own candidate has.

Um, Hillary is potentially my candidate if she wins the nomination.

This confirms our worst suspicions. Hillary's hiding those who pull her strings. There's also that matter of her hiding Levin so he can't be subpoened to testify at Peter Paul's trial.

Peter Paul is the former bosom buddy of the Clinton's and a convicted felon who raised over $1.5 million for her against federal law. There are videos of he and Hillary laughing it up on several occasions before he came under scrutiny for his fundraising. Then, Hillary denied she knew him.

I'm emailing this article and the others you posted to AP, Reuters, and McClatchy news editors. They need to look into this. It's so much more serious than any claims Obama's minister got in his head. I mean, she's been attending these secret cult meetings for years. I never heard a word about Wright dictating foreign policy, or worse, hastening the end of the world. This is serious.

I'm a Christian, but I don't approve of secret doomsday cults or Presidential candidates who belong to them. What American would?

No, I find it laughable the extent some people will go to to blame others rather than confront the real problems that their own candidate has.

CORKY


What a hypocrite!! 'Real problems' so YOU say.

What the f do you call what you do every day, all week, month after month? Did I miss something? Did I misread the dozens of "fake problem' threads you've started just this month?

Well, I'm going to email these articles to the media. One good in depth investigation deserves another.

Think I'll send it to Rush and all those guys too. They are, after all, the ones who poured through years of video to come up with the 20 seconds of video on Wright. I think they'd enjoy this a lot!!

And, I ain't clownin' around either

-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

That is about the only really relevant line in an article obvious written by an atheist and loaded with all kinds of dire paranoia about Christianity.

She goes to Prayer Breakfast in the Sen with about 40 other Sens, when she is town.

Big whoop.

-And, I ain't clownin' around either

I'm afraid it is too late to deny that.

Uh, oh. Looks like the Rethugs are it's primary members. No wonder we invaded Iraq and Hillary voted for it without reading a thing available to her......

No Gal, it's all about desperate Obamites trying to come up with some kind of equivalency to match the home-made Pastor bomb that is Rev Wright.

Equivilancy, Corky?

No, you FAIL.

This is about ripping up the notion of seperation of church and state in an effort to allow a secret group of so-called Christians to have way more influence over policy than is their due.

The fact that Reverend Wright preached a social justice gospel in a manner and style unique to black churches across America does not even begin to come close to this.

We have heard time and time again how evangelical Christianity has tried to make itself synonymous with the US military and gain political [ower beyond the intentions of the founding fathers. We've heard people within it's structure talk about support for Israel being tied to a reading of the apocalyptic end of times scenarios found in Revelations. This story confirms some of the worst doubts about the inrpoads made in that regard.

This Coe guy sounds like bad news.

Hillary's ties to such a secretive individual who's travels to visit some of the worst despots and dictators on the planet have been such a well kept secret for so long, apparently a subject non grata for the MSM's coverage, is not good news for Hillary's claims of transparency and accountability.

This shit is truly frightening.

Ferget for a second the fact that the MSM have taken their cues from FOX and tried to goive Obama his Dean Scream Moment by proxy through some of the wilder accusations of his Church's ex-pastor and think about wot this truly might mean to the nature of American democracy.

Not good things.

Good eye, Gal.

Be Well.

/Yup, is Spud up early. Was gonna start a thread on the SCOTUS hearings on Gun bannination or Obama's speech in Philly later on today or maybe about the death of Anthony Minghus or the fact that Brit-econs are telling folks to dump US dollars and buy commoditities but this is more interesting and scary than all that put together.

//Serious need fer me third cuppa joe now, off to find it
stage left.

Ya ya ya ya ya Corky, but just READ what they stand for. Scary.

This isn't some simple prayer group. This is a cult driving our foreign policy agenda. And she's a secret member.

Didn't you READ what they stand for? Coe makes Wright look like Billy Graham.

I'm emailing the Post, NYT, and everyone I can to see if we can't bring this to light. It's so much more serious since they're in policy making positions and led by someone who calls for hastening Armeggedon. No wonder she voted for the war. AND she's in bed with the NeoCons to boot.

Corky,

This should clinch it for you:

"Coe also befriends dictators and torturers. He would still hold out hope that these people could be redeemed

He not only is willing to talk to our enemies, but he befriends them. Obama wants to only talk to them. So, therefore Coe is evil. Surely you must agree - based on you plethora of posts. Unless you didn't mean any of that. Which is it? Is there a double standard you live by, or would your conscience dictate you abandon Hillary ASAP based on this looming scandal

OK, off to email the news media..... Ta Ta

40 Sens in, "a cult driving our foreign policy agenda".

What a maroon!

This one was definitely hiding behind the door when they passed out the grey matter.

www.drudge.com

-This shit is truly frightening.


Faux-paranoia. What WILL they think of next?


Comparing Rev Wright to every religious bigot out there was dumb enough, but going after Hillary on religion because your candidate is self-destructive on that count?

Priceless.

"Today thousands of government officials, international leaders and select business executives meet on the first Thursday of every February for 90 minutes of prayer, granola, fresh fruit, bagels, pastries, coffee and juice.

More than 8,000 people from 170 countries were invited to the National Prayer Breakfast this year; about 3,000 accepted. Tickets are $425. The embossed invitation comes from "members of the Congress of the United States of America." It asks guests to join the president, vice president "and other national leaders in the executive, judicial and legislative branches of our government" for a morning of prayer."


"There's nothing sinister here, no dark secrets," Hall said. "It's the exact opposite of what Washington is about."


www.toobeautiful.org

Oooooohhh, scary!! And SO secret!

You guys kill me.

If ever just once you look directly at your own candidate's problems instead of trying to deflect to his opponent, I'll likely faint.

GAL

It IS shocking. This group, that takes a secrecy oath, seems to be exerting way too much influence behind the scenes over our foreign agenda.

While I have nothing whatsoever against prayer and engage in it myself daily, using this group to drive foreign policy as secretive as they are is downright scary.

Aren't we supposed to have a clear separation of church and state?

I'm emailing reporters right now. I happen to know one very well known journalist quite well. He's first on my list. I'm sure he'll find this interesting. But, I'm going to email everyone I can find.

No, I find it laughable the extent some people will go to to blame others rather than confront the real problems that their own candidate has.

Sorry, you feel that way, Corky. The fact that you want to poo-poo this and sweep it under the rug is an example of left-wing hypocrisy. I admitted I googled Hillary and faith, but I thought I would find nothing more that she was a good church going Methodist. I truly am concerned about Hillary's association with this group. At this point it has little to do with being an Obama supporter. As a Dem, I am upset by this. And, frankly, as a fellow Dem, I'm surprised you aren't.

AU, thanks for spreading the word. I plan to do the same later this afternoon. I know a number of my friends who are Hillary supporters, staunch feminists among them, who won't take kindly to these findings.

-poo-poo this and sweep it under the rug

I posted a Time article on the horribly sinister Breakfast Prayer group. Try reading it.

Corky, could you give the link again? I'll read your article, and I hope that as an act of good faith you will read mine.

Sure, Gal.

www.drudge.com


I do not worship you, Mikey. But the horns and tail are still a good look for you.

Good Faith? Porky worships the Devil.

Hillary's ties to such a secretive individual who's travels to visit some of the worst despots and dictators on the planet have been such a well kept secret for so long, apparently a subject non grata for the MSM's coverage, is not good news for Hillary's claims of transparency and accountability.

This shit is truly frightening.


Spud,

Agreed. I wonder when the MSM is going to give Hillary's faith the kind of going over they've been giving Obama's? I would like to see Coe, his Fellowship Foundation and Hillary's connection to them exposed by the MSM. Vetting is vetting, and what's good for the gander is good for the goose, right? It's this kind of backroom wheeling and dealing and in the name of Christianity no less that gives democracy in this country a bad name.

Coe makes Wright look like Billy Graham

~AU

Good analogy.

Spud,

Agreed. I wonder when the MSM is going to give Hillary's faith the kind of going over they've been giving Obama's? I would like to see Coe, his Fellowship Foundation and Hillary's connection to them exposed by the MSM. Vetting is vetting, and what's good for the gander is good for the goose, right? It's this kind of backroom wheeling and dealing and in the name of Christianity no less that gives democracy in this country a bad name


~Gal Tuesday

There are elements of the MSM such as Time magazine who are working actively to sweep this one under the rug. They are also undeniable Hill Shills, kinda like Corky. Mother Jones is one of the few elements in the MSM who can be trusted to not have a status quo bias and that's where Spud originally found this stuff. Spud would like the MSM give this Coe and Co stuff a thorough going over as well but apparently they are too busy trying to give populist candidate Obama his "Dean Scream" moment by proxy and have no time to do their jobs properly. Quelle Suprise yet again./snark> Vetting is indeed vetting as you say and fair is fair thus this whole sordid mess deserves far more sunlight on it than we've seen to date. This kind of backroom wheeling and dealing give both American democracy and Politicised Christianity a black eye.

Spud's guess is that the usual suspects in the MSM will continue to give this story a wide berth or work to minimise the damage if blogworld grabs ahold of it and shakes it like a terrier with a rat.

Corky seems to be afraid of it inordinately judging by the number of times he's posted trying to say it's meaningless so that indicates that there must be sommat to it, eh?

^_^

Agin, good eye.

Be Well.

Spud's guess is that the usual suspects in the MSM will continue to give this story a wide berth or work to minimise the damage if blogworld grabs ahold of it and shakes it like a terrier with a rat.

Spud,

I'd like to see this info circulated in blogworld if the MSM won't pick it up. Any ideas?

-There are elements of the MSM such as Time magazine who are working actively to sweep this one under the rug. They are also undeniable Hill Shills, kinda like Corky

Letters from the Obaminated.

If you can read the article I posted and still have your Prayer Breakfast Paranoia in tact, I can suggest professional counseling, and cutting back on the coke, wot with the paranoid tendencies and all.


Methinks Corky dost protest too much.

I want to deepen my relationship with Odin.

Me thinks politicians PRETEND to be religious, (when they really aren't) in order to gain approval and acceptance from the sheep.

Politics should have NOTHING to do with religion.

Looks like some folks in blog world are picking up on:

Hillary's Nasty Pastorate

There's a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.

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 expos, "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" will be published in May.


www.huffingtonpost.com

Maybe some folks in the media will pick up on Coe & Co. after Sharlet's book comes out. Too bad it won't be until after the PA primary.

More on Hillary's strange bedfellows:

One of the more interesting affiliates of the Fellowship is Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). A former "Goldwater Girl" in the 1964 presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton seemed to have partially recovered some of her earlier conservative underpinnings. According to her autobiography, Living History, after her husband became president, Clinton paid a visit to a women's meeting at the Cedars on February 24, 1993. Present were Susan Baker (wife of the first Bush's Secretary of State, James Baker III), Grace Nelson (wife of Florida's Bill Nelson), Joanne Kemp (wife of former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp), Linda LeSourd Lader (wife of Clinton ambassador to Britain and founder of the Renaissance Weekend Phil Lader the Renaissance Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina is billed by Lader as a "spiritual" event[3]), and Holly Leachman of the Falls Church Episcopal Church (one of the churches taken over by the Fellowship). Leachman and her husband Jerry had been involved in 1997 with a Cleveland, Ohio Fellowship adjunct called the Family Forum. The Leachmans were interviewed by ABC's Nightline on February 25, 2004. They extolled the virtues of Mel Gibson's controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, along with other evangelicals, including some Jewish converts to Christianity.

Senator Clinton admits to having a continuing close relationship with Susan Baker, through Baker's visits to Capitol Hill and the letters she and other Fellowship wives wrote her during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Even Bill Clinton seemed to have been taken in by the Fellowship. In his autobiography, My Life, Clinton brags that he never missed a National Prayer Breakfast. In his autobiography, Bill Clinton erroneously writes that it was not until 2000 that Coe invited the first Jew, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), to speak at the breakfast. However, New York Mayor Ed Koch spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1981 Senator Jacob Javits in 1984, and Arthur Burns in 1986.

Ironically, it was Susan Baker's husband who served as the political fix-it man for Clinton's Vice President Al Gore in delivering Florida's 25 electoral votes to George W. Bush in 2000, costing Gore the White House. In fact, Senator Clinton wrote that all of her relationships with the Fellowship began with the luncheon she attended in 1993. In her biography, Senator Clinton writes of Douglas Coe, "[he] is a genuinely loving spiritual mentor . . . Doug Coe became a source of strength and friendship." Of course, Clinton is referring to the period of time when her husband was being harassed by conservative Republicans out for blood the Whitewater investigation and impeachment hearings brought about by what she called the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against her husband. It is amazing that Mrs. Clinton would have established such a trusting relationship with people who were the "vast right-wing conspiracy" that she complained about so vociferously.

Nevertheless, Mrs. Clinton remained close to Coe, who she invited to accompany her as a member of the U.S. delegation that attended Mother Theresa's state funeral in Calcutta in 1997. Mother Theresa had spoken at Coe's National Prayer Breakfast meeting in Washington in 1994. From that platform, Mother Theresa launched a verbal broadside against President Clinton's pro-abortion policy. For Coe, being at Mother Theresa's state funeral was a strange juxtaposition from his reported attendance at Bohemian Grove meetings of San Francisco's elite Bohemian Club festivities that are replete with pagan rites. But as one senior Pentagon official said, "the Fellowship has nothing to do with God or Jesus, it is a capitalist cult."


www.insider-magazine.com

Sharlett had tis to say about Coe and the Fellowship in an article in Rolling Stone:

One of the little-known strengths of the Christian right lies in its adoption of the "cell" -- the building block historically used by small but determined groups to impose their will on the majority. Seventy years ago, an evangelist named Abraham Vereide founded a network of "God-led" cells comprising senators and generals, corporate executives and preachers. Vereide believed that the cells -- God's chosen, appointed to power -- could construct a Kingdom of God on earth with Washington as its capital. They would do so "behind the scenes," lest they be accused of pride or a hunger for power, and "beyond the din of vox populi," which is to say, outside the bounds of democracy. To insiders, the cells were known as the Family, or the Fellowship. To most outsiders, they were not known at all.

"Communists use cells as their basic structure," declares a confidential Fellowship document titled "Thoughts on a Core Group." "The mafia operates like this, and the basic unit of the Marine Corps is the four-man squad. Hitler, Lenin and many others understood the power of a small group of people." Under Reagan, Fellowship cells quietly arranged meetings between administration officials and leaders of Salvadoran death squads, and helped funnel military support to Siad Barre, the brutal dictator of Somalia, who belonged to a prayer cell of American senators and generals.

. . .

They were striving, ultimately, for what Coe calls "Jesus plus nothing" -- a government led by Christ's will alone. In the future envisioned by Coe, everything -- sex and taxes, war and the price of oil -- will be decided upon not according to democracy or the church or even Scripture. The Bible itself is for the masses; in the Fellowship, Christ reveals a higher set of commands to the anointed few.



www.rollingstone.com

And this is the group Hillary belongs to? Boggles the mind.

It's secret because of that little snag called "Separation of Church and State"

Religious leaders secretly steering our policy isn't American.

Hillary's Nasty Pastorate

There's a reason why Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.


AU,

That quote is from Barbara Ehrenreich's post at Huffington, but apparently the original article is in The Nation:

www.thenation.com

Sharlet himself responded to Ehrenreich's article in The Nation:

03/19/2008 @ 11:29pm

I'm grateful to Barbara Ehrenreich for reading my book and recommending it here in The Nation, but I'd jump in on this regardless. She's right to describe a group whose leader distorts Jesus like so--"You say, hey, you know Jesus said, 'You got to put Him before mother-father-brother-sister'? Hitler, Lenin, Mao, that's what they taught the kids. Mao even had the kids killing their own mother and father. But it wasn't murder. It was for building the new nation. The new kingdom"--as "fascist-leaning."

Actions matter more than words, of course, which is why The Family's active support for the late and very murderous dictator Suharto, as reported in my book, based on The Family's documents; and its interventions during the 1980s on behalf of death squad leaders, as reported by the LA Times--presents even stronger evidence for describing the group as "fascist-leaning." One could go further--in the book, I dedicate a chapter to The Family's postwar efforts to bring together former Nazis with American Congressmembers.

Of course, that doesn't mean Hillary, who writes gushingly of the group in her memoir, is fascist-leaning any more, than Obama's friendship with Jeremiah Wright means that he, too, believes that perhaps white people invented AIDS. But Wright's, and Obama's, roots are in liberation theology, regardless of how far afield Wright may go on occasion; Hillary's are in a conservative interpretation of neo-orthodoxy that has allowed her to seek spiritual counsel from as authoritarian a thinker as Doug Coe. To me, that's a problem, not a conspiracy. There's no conspiracy here, just a mixture of bad theology and opaque politics that should be troubling to anyone, left or right, who believes in open democracy. But then, maybe I'm just a conservative--I believe ideas have consequences.

This is hardly tit-for-tat as part of the electoral cycle. Barbara Ehrenreich drew from a book I began back in 2003, with a Harper's story about a month I spent living with The Family. I spent the years in between then and now researching the group. Hillary emerged as part of the story as early as 2003. The piece certainly wasn't intended as a hatchet job--I actually voted for Hillary, months after Kathryn Joyce and I wrote the MoJo piece Ehrenreich refers to, on the strength of her health plan vs. Obama's. I've since been won over to Obama's camp, but that's beside the point--everything here is documented, and, for that matter, almost all public record. Put the electoral cycle aside and ask yourself: What do you think of public officials seeking spiritual solace in a group that repeatedly praises Hitler as a leadership model? They're not Nazis--they consider Hitler an evil man. The problem, they believe, is that he put himself where Jesus should be. Huh. Somehow, I don't imagine Jesus wanted to be a fhrer. There's no conspiracy here; just some very dangerous theology. And that's plenty bad enough.

Jeff Sharlet

Brooklyn, NY


www.thenation.com

Jesus H (for Hillary) Christ

Scary stuff for Easter.

The very notion of a "National Prayer Breakfast" is unacceptable, let alone what else these idiots get up to in that poor fellow's name. He wouldn't recognize ANY of it.

GAL

I read that Huffington Post piece. Thanks for the heads up.

I did email all kinds of reporters with major newspapers and other media outlets. We'll see if they're interested enough.

From the looks of what's reported seems they're far more interested in a horse race and plan to facilitate it as long as possible whether it's mathematically impossible for Hillary to win.

One of the little-known strengths of the Christian right lies in its adoption of the "cell" -- the building block historically used by small but determined groups to impose their will on the majority. Seventy years ago, an evangelist named Abraham Vereide founded a network of "God-led" cells comprising senators and generals, corporate executives and preachers. Vereide believed that the cells -- God's chosen, appointed to power -- could construct a Kingdom of God on earth with Washington as its capital. They would do so "behind the scenes," lest they be accused of pride or a hunger for power, and "beyond the din of vox populi," which is to say, outside the bounds of democracy. To insiders, the cells were known as the Family, or the Fellowship. To most outsiders, they were not known at all.

They were striving, ultimately, for what Coe calls "Jesus plus nothing" -- a government led by Christ's will alone. In the future envisioned by Coe, everything -- sex and taxes, war and the price of oil -- will be decided upon not according to democracy or the church or even Scripture. The Bible itself is for the masses; in the Fellowship, Christ reveals a higher set of commands to the anointed few.


This is just what our founding fathers were afraid of and tried to guard against. That Hillary would praise Coe and having anything to with this group is very troubling.

AU,

Yeah, we'll see. I'm glad The Nation did a small piece on it anyhow. I wish someone on cable, like Keith Obermann, would pick up on it. I've seen segments on Obama ad infinitum and a few segments on McCain's association with Hagee and Parsley, but so far no one has mentioned Hillary's religious ties. Funny, how the media the Clintons claim is so tough on them hasnt' touched this yet.

Senator Clinton writes of Douglas Coe, "[he] is a genuinely loving spiritual mentor . . . Doug Coe became a source of strength and friendship."

Holy fuck!

Compared to this Asshole Doug Coe, Reverend Wright looks like a milquetoast methodist.

Coe has also seen at the Bohemian Grove?

Where debauchery of a kind that would shame denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah take place annually fer the benefits of the elitists who really rule America?

Uh-huh. Well aint that interesting?

Spud just finished watching Bay Buchanan, sister of the infamous Pat Buchanen, of course, on the Clinton News Network, trying to make her evDEVILical cult of hate and intolerance look like Christian Patriots and make Reverend Wright's parish look like America-hatin', racists, full of unjustified and uncontrolled rage.

FAIL.

Up until this point the unwritten rule was that we didn't really get deep down into matters of religion and race and morality but apparently with this Rev Wright controversy dragging out forever on the MSM that can of worms has been opened fer good.

If folks are really determined to have this conversation then Spud is totally game.

Spud's a pop-cultured moralist.

Is my turf, you see.

Bring it on.

Be Well.

This is the same group she ran to when the Monica thing started up. No doubt the hens gave her good advice because when she announced for the Senate everyone else dropped out. Even Giuliani who excused him because of early stage prostate cancer which is very treatable, and progresses very slowly even without treatment.

So she stood by Bubba and he's stood by her...

...and then there's this little cabal.

Oz,

I ain't sure how "little" they are.

Spud,

I'm starting to understand why that Bush aide said years ago that they are the ones who "create reality" while the rest of us just live in it. "beyond the din of vox populi" indeed.

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