The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
 |
|
| Author | Jeff Sharlet |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Political power of the Christian Right |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
|
Publication date
|
May 20, 2008 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 464 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 148887452 |
The Family: 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 by Douglas Coe. Sharlet has stated that the organization fetishizes power by 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”. It was published by HarperCollins.
One year after the book's initial publication, the sex scandals of prominent members of the Family, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, as well as accusations that the Family was illegally subsidizing the rent of members of Congress and involved in the proposed bill which would impose the death penalty for homosexuality in Uganda, thrust the notoriously secretive organisation into the national spotlight.
Journalist Jeff Sharlet did intensive research in the Fellowship's archives, before they were closed to the public. He also spent a month in 2002 living in a Fellowship house near Washington, DC, and wrote a magazine article describing his experiences. In his 2008 book about the Family, he criticized their theology as an "elite fundamentalism" that fetishizes political power and wealth, consistently opposes labor movements in the U.S. and abroad, and teaches that laissez-faire economic policy is "God's will." He criticized their theology of instant forgiveness for powerful men as providing a convenient excuse for elites who commit misdeeds or crimes, allowing them to avoid accepting responsibility or accountability for their actions.
...
Wikipedia