STILL NOT AFRAID OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT?
Meet 'The Family'

The Family is, in its own words, an "invisible" association, though its membership has always consisted mostly of public men. Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as "members," as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.).

Regular prayer groups have met in the Pentagon and at the Department of Defense, and the Family has traditionally fostered strong ties with businessmen in the oil and aerospace industries.

And

The goal is an "invisible" world organization led by Christ – that's what they aspire to. They are very explicit about this if you look in their documents, and I spent a lot of time researching in their archives. Their goal is a worldwide invisible organization. That's their word, and that's important because it sounds so crazy.

What they mean when they say "a world organization led by Christ" is that literally you just sit there and let Christ tell you what to do. More often than not that leads them to a sort of paternalistic benign fascism. There are a lot of places that they've done good things, and that's important to acknowledge. But that also means they might be involved with General Suharto in Indonesia and if that means that God leads him to kill half a million of his own citizens then, well, it would prideful to question God leading them.

I'm normally quite dismissive of conspiracy theories. The right wing is getting away with so much in plain daylight these days that chasing down bizarre intrigues as though I was Agent Mulder seems to be a waste of time. I am, however, quite drawn to conspiracy theorists who keep saying, "It's not really a conspiracy theory, but..." The denial lends some small bit of credibility. I also believe that religion can make people do strange and destructive things: this Alternet post is yet another piece of information to make the world feel just a bit more creepy.

Click here.

Thanks to my old buddy, Matt, for the link.

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