The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power

History buffs and anyone trying to reconcile American history, “new world” domination, and religious zealotry will find many accurate answers to how we got from “there” to “here” in this well researched and well written book. Can give a person nightmares because of its truths.

I have been following Jeff Sharlet's "The Revealer:a daily review of religion and the press" (www.therevealer.org)for some time and have come to respect his thorough and even-handed approach to religious reporting. It was through that site that I became aware of "The Family," and, being interested in the history of American religion and issues of church and state, I ordered it. It was not long before I began to wonder if I had stumbled into some kind of paranoid fantasy rivaling the Illuminati, but was reassured by Sharlet's careful documentation and the fact that one of his sources is a friend of mine. When I checked with the friend (whose judgment I respect highly) he confirmed what Sharlet had written. Sharlet is a marvelous writer. At times I found myself simply marveling at the beauty of the language and the tightly-woven structure. He can pack more information into a single sentence than many authors can in a whole page. He is able to explain the intricacies of the Christian right- its history, attitudes, and interactions with the culture at large- in clear, understandable language. The one critique I would have of the book as a whole is that Sharlet tends to lump conservative Christian groups under the single rubric of "fundamentalist." While that might work as shorthand for what he is trying to discuss here, it blurs the very real differences between Fundamentalists, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and many other sympathetic subgroups. Still, I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to understand the dynamic relationship of conservative Christianity and the political scene in America today.

The Family is the most powerful political organization you have never heard of. Its members have included a host of congressmen and senators, including some who chair important committees, CEOs of major corporations, senior officers in the military, leaders of foreign nations, members of the Supreme Court, and at least one president of the United States. It is a vast network of "prayer cells" of two or three individuals who see themselves as God's agents on earth. The Family, as it is most commonly known, is like some immense, deep-sea leviathan that is only rarely glimpsed on the surface. Yet it is seen, like the Punxsutawney groundhog, at least once a year. This event is called the National Prayer Breakfast where the Family makes an effort to appear ecumenical and harmless. It is rather as if once a year Hannibal Lechter made a public appearance disguised as Mr. Rogers. What is known as the Family began with a clergyman named Abraham Vereide in Depression-era Seattle. Vereide, or Abram, as he is referred to by the Family, looked upon workers who went on strike to secure enough pay to feed their families as agents of Satan. He was convinced that the Kingdom of God would be secured if the best among us, the rich that is, guided by Jesus Christ, made decisions for the rest of us unfettered by such messy things as democracy and the rule of law. If the poor could be made to see that God intended them to be poor and humbly accept their lot all would be well. Abram, as one might have guessed, regarded the New Deal as an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Abram was a very effective salesmen for this idea among wealthy businessmen in Seattle. The Family grew through members recruiting new members who were either wealthy or in positions of authority. Over time, the Family's theology has been stripped down to "Jesus plus nothing." Members are expected to have surrendered themselves to Jesus Christ, but are certainly not asked to perform such unseemly acts as giving what they have to the poor or turning the other cheek. A prospective member gets reassurance that he (there are women involved, but with a few notable exceptions they have about as much power as the members of a ladies' auxiliary at a Moose lodge) has got Jesus watching over him, has his sins forgiven, and is now serving Jesus in everything he does. He gets to keep his power, his wealth, his vices. He is even able to tell himself that he is humble, or at least as humble as a man can be who reminds himself every day that he is one of God's elect. And he gets one hell of a network or powerful connections. What makes this different from other books on the Religious Right I've read, some of them quite good on facets of this phenomenon, is that those other books are about the more public, plebeian kind of fundamentalism one finds operating out in the open. Few participants in that kind of fundamentalism even know that the ethics-free kind of fundamentalism practiced by the Family exists.

This is one of the very few books of recent years that has kept me up most of the night reading. Those who discount the power of the type of schmoozing Sharlet describes have not spent much time working in and around government. I would recommend a trilogy: add to this book Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine and John Dean's Conservatives Without Conscience and you will get a pretty fair picture of the cynical, amoral manipulators who have been at the heart of our recent history and why they have been so successful. It's a difficult read, but so what? I was struck with the thought that Sharlet is actually describing a cult. In this case, the cult revolves around the idol of Jesus, who offers the monumental advantage of being dead and therefore never showing clay feet, nor contradicting the pronouncements made in his name. Thus, the greedy can more freely persuade the gullible to be happy with their lot in life. We need many more investigative journalists like Sharlet.

The Family is the best book available on the Christian right precisely because it unpacks the ways in which the people often described as such are neither Christian nor right. I don't mean that in the bumper sticker sense - I don't buy (and Sharlet does not suggest) that this elite group of religiously motivated power players are not real Christians because of their political interests (even if the group itself sometimes prefers not to use the word). Rather, he makes the case that such easy categorization does not do justice to, or sufficiently warn against, their actual influence and reach. The story we are often told - that there are "fundamentalists" and "evangelicals" who are easily understood because they are somehow separate from the world the rest of us live in, hidden in megachurches making megaplans -- is not found in this book. Instead, like a carpet expert explaining the patterns in an intricately woven Persian rug, Sharlet shows us how strands of fundamentalism have been woven into the fabric of the nation's history. As a journalist, I know and have worked with Jeff Sharlet, but then everyone who writes about religion does or should. His work is particularly popular among writers who cover religion because he tells a story that many wish they were allowed to tell. The history recounted in The Family is one most media outlets deem too complex for the average reader. (What in the world does union busting have to do with religion? A lot, in fact.) Sharlet does not regard complexity as something to be avoided, however, and his true talent is in finding just the right key for unlocking it. He frames keen-eyed analysis and impeccable research within a gripping narrative that lets readers with even a passing interest in the ways religion has influenced American life and politics understand it in a nuanced way. In an election season in which religion again and again rears its head, this book is particularly relevant. Yet its importance will not fade any time soon. The Family is a hundred year history that shows how we got to this strange place where candidates are forced to damn or defend pastors and everyone must genuflect to the idea that God is a part of the political process. The use of the word "secret" in the subtitle might imply to some that Sharlet is describing a hidden reality. After reading the book, signs of the Family's influence will be obvious to anyone with eyes to see.