This C street Group sounds like a cult. Listen to this...

[dixiegrrrrl]

Did you know they started 70 years ago???

From the same Rolling Stone article about Sam Brownback I posted about a bit earlier,
found this:

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.

Brownback was placed in a weekly prayer cell by "the shadow Billy Graham" -- Doug Coe, Vereide's successor as head of the Fellowship. The group was all male and all Republican. It was a "safe relationship," Brownback says. Conversation tended toward the personal. Brownback and the other men revealed the most intimate details of their desires, failings, ambitions. They talked about lust, anger and infidelities, the more shameful the better -- since the goal was to break one's own will. The abolition of self; to become nothing but a vessel so that one could be used by God.

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. It's a good old boy's club blessed by God.
Brownback even lived with other cell members in a million-dollar, red-brick former convent at 133 C Street that was subsidized and operated by the Fellowship. Monthly rent was $600 per man -- enough of a deal by Hill standards that some said it bordered on an ethical violation, but no charges were ever brought.

much much more at
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9178374/gods_senator

[lindisfarne]

1. Yes. It's getting lots of coverage in last few weeks, but it isn't new. n/t

[lapfog_1]

2. The story about raping three children and the consequences

is very illuminating.

[Fridays Child]

3. Apparently, the cell model is as familiar to radical Christianity as it is to radical Islam.

Anyone surprised?

[Shallah Kali]

17. One researcher thinks The Family may have orginated cell usage - link & more info

The Family: Power, Politics and Fundamentalism's Shadow Elite by Jeff Sharlet


"The Family" and its use of cells, explained

NBC News Exclusive: Political ties to a secretive religious group By Andrea Mitchell and Jim Popki w/video (direct link HERE

The Wild Hunt » Interview with Jeff Sharlet author of “The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power”

Terri Gross interviews Dan Balz and Jeff Sharlet on the GOP's continuing decline. Sharlet's The Family: Fundamentalism's most secret and effective group podcast

Imperial Jesus: ‘Family’ author Jeff Sharlet on the secret history of the other Christian right
"They're not interested in converting the masses. They're interested only in elites." Meet the Family.>

Worse Than Fascists: Christian Political Group 'The Family' Openly Reveres Hitler

Everybody Loves Jesus Or, the unofficial lobbying fest known as the National Prayer Breakfast (which is run by The Family)

Hampton: Religious Buddies Drove Ensign To FedEx To Mail Letter To Cindy (Buddies = Sons of 'The Family' head Doug Coe)

Meet 'The Family' (aka Fellowship or the Foundation or C Street') "Six conservative politicians living in a DC townhouse owned by a fundamentalist Christian organization. What happens when you stop being polite and start finding Jesus?"

"The Family" on C Street - Rachel Maddow Show 7-10-2009 - Part 1 of 2

"The Family" on C Street - Rachel Maddow Show 7-10-2009 - Part 2 of 2

The Religion Report (2008) Elite Fundamentism - The Fellowship's gospel of Capitalist Power (Fellowship aka The Family)

Meet 'The Family' By Anthony Lappé, Guerrilla News Network

Google search of Talk2Action keywords "doug coe"

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. This C street Group sounds like a cult. Listen to this...

Did you know they started 70 years ago???

From the same Rolling Stone article about Sam Brownback I posted about a bit earlier,
found this:

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.

Brownback was placed in a weekly prayer cell by "the shadow Billy Graham" -- Doug Coe, Vereide's successor as head of the Fellowship. The group was all male and all Republican. It was a "safe relationship," Brownback says. Conversation tended toward the personal. Brownback and the other men revealed the most intimate details of their desires, failings, ambitions. They talked about lust, anger and infidelities, the more shameful the better -- since the goal was to break one's own will. The abolition of self; to become nothing but a vessel so that one could be used by God.

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. It's a good old boy's club blessed by God.
Brownback even lived with other cell members in a million-dollar, red-brick former convent at 133 C Street that was subsidized and operated by the Fellowship. Monthly rent was $600 per man -- enough of a deal by Hill standards that some said it bordered on an ethical violation, but no charges were ever brought.

much much more at
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9178374/gods_senator

[get the red out]

5. I am glad more people are paying attention to this

This isn't a "freedom of religion" issue, this is a "take over the country and re-write the laws" issue.

[predfan]

6. Vanderpool Hilleary lived there while Tennessee 4th District Rep., didn't he?

[peacetalksforall]

7. I believe we are nearing OUR SALVATION from takeover, convert obsessed, radical religious madmen who

are out to rule us and the world.

Thank you to everyone, including the Rolling Stone, who are/is helping us open the curtains on what we knew was going on, what was hitting us in the face, what we've been suffering from (yes, suffering). The takeover that started as an all religous male (white?) cult evolved into a corporate-banking-foundations/think tank-media-military-intelligence-Israel consortium working within and without the government and judiciary everywhere in the the country.

Thanks to everyone for all the insights!!!

Sidenote: Think about all the talks and digs we have exchanged related to blackmail. We have said that our Dems must be undergoing blackmail for the complicit bowing down to the right wing that they've demonstrated.

Then, reread the part about exposing a person's most personal revelations about anything, but specifically sex that is standard within the circles of these most rabid followers.

[AntiFascist]

8. This type of indoctrination is centuries old....

look up Ignatius of Loyola. Have you ever heard of CIA-types referred to as "The Company"? The Company of Jesus was founded in the 16th century.

[myrna minx]

9. This is chilling. n/t

[dmr]

10. Thinking about Ashcroft and his prayer meetings

http://www.aclu.org/religion/govtfunding/16331prs20010514.html

... Under Ashcroft, the Justice Department issued new style guidelines for correspondence carrying Ashcroft's signature. They forbid, among other things, the use of "pride," which the Bible calls a sin, and the phrase "no higher calling than public service."

"He's running the department like a church, complete with rituals and forbidden words," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "That is deeply troubling."

Ashcroft refers to his daily devotionals as RAMP meetings -- Read, Argue, Memorize and Pray.

Ashcroft hands each participant a devotional book from a stack he has used for years, Tucker said. The book highlights a Bible verse or passage for each date of the year, and the group spends the first minutes discussing its meaning, according to a participant.

The group then moves on to a memorization, with the goal of committing to memory a psalm or Bible story through repeated readings.

The session ends with a prayer, often including a reference to a relative or acquaintance who is ill or in need.

Many members of Congress and their employees participate in Bible studies, prayer meetings and other religious gatherings. A Christian magazine, Charisma, recently estimated that about 30 Bible study and prayer groups regularly meet on Capitol Hill.
...

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. We really are experiencing Crusades again.

The C Street cult has members who infiltrate the government, are secretive, support anti-Muslim
policies, control political races, and Chuck Colson ( yes, THAT guy) is a huge behind the scenes mover of this group.
I was wondering where all the rabid foaming at the mouth fundie crap was coming from.
Explains some Blue Dog antics, too.

Yikes.
:scared:

[redqueen]

12. "It's a good old boy's club blessed by God"

Excellent description.

[mod mom]

13. Rec'd we need to keep drawing attention to this group of dangerous radicals!

[BlooInBloo]

14. Yep - we narrowly dodged a bullet on getting them into the White House.

[redqueen]

15. Oh, ouch. (nt)

[redqueen]

16. ...

:kick: