A few weeks ago, the NBC Nightly News reported on the The Family, featuring dramatic video of Family leader Doug Coe preaching about the kind of "covenant" that he says made Hitler among others, powerful -- commanding loyalty among his followers, and that this is what Jesus requires.

The Family is an elite fundamentalist network that seeks and weilds power behind the scenes in Washington, DC, and among the powerful around the world. It recruits both Democrats and Republicans, (but mostly Republicans) to its concentric circles of influence. Prominent among the Democrats has been Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has refused to discuss her involvement, the contemporary fashion among pols to discuss their "faith journey" not withstanding.

Jeff Sharlet's ground breaking, forthcoming book: The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, will be published on May 20th by HarperCollins. It can be preordered from Powells, Amazon or your friendly local independent bookstore.

A few weeks ago, the NBC Nightly News reported on the The Family, featuring dramatic video of Family leader Doug Coe preaching about the kind of "covenant" that he says made Hitler among others, powerful -- commanding loyalty among his followers, and that this is what Jesus requires.

My fellow Kosacks (My First Diary):

Please refer to this article from The Nation, published in March of this year (link below).

This whole Hillary debacle started with the assurance given to her by her so called supporters that her nomination was just a pro forma to the presidency.

Along came the junior senator from the South Side of Chicago, a newbie, no name recognition, etc.

Someone that was easily dismissed as just a pesky fly, who did not know what he was getting into, playing in the big leagues.

Almost a year later, this no longer newbie, our Junior Senator from the South Side of Chicago, it’s our presidential nominee.

Obama has Wright.
McCain has Hagee, Parsely, et al.
HILLARY HAS DOUG COE.

Obama's Rev. Wright is a total Progressive clergyman, doing the charitable work and supporting social justice through clear thinking and awareness of historical context.

McCain's pastors Hagee and Parsely and the rest of his group of Christianists with reactionary ideology and profiteering tactics, are total opportunists and succeed in their ambitions by manipulating their "flocks" (read that as $HEEP), and obviously act as petty crooks fingering their marks.

Hillary's Doug Coe of The Fellowship (aka The Family) is THE FASCISTS' PASTOR. Doug Coe works to fashion the death of Democratic Freedoms and insert THEOCRACY instead. And he admittedly, by choice, uses the methods of Hitler (see his written instructions to his devotees, below)! Doug Coe's goals are the goals of an anti-Constitution degenerate who desires to mold a new world religious order based on a twisted "morality" of solidarity and obedience to Authority in a fascist context!

HILLARY MUST BE THOROUGHLY VETTED! SHE MUST!

HILLARY'S CONNECTION TO DOUG COE AND THE FELLOWSHIP MUST BE MADE CLEAR AND KNOWN!  It's an anti-Constitution connection.

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May First is the National Day of Prayer – aka the Official National Day of Religious Supremacism.

The congressionally authorized event is held annually, and the franchise to host official, and often controversial Day- related events is held by Shirley Dobson, wife of James. The official National Day of Prayer Taskforce operates out of the HQ of Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs. The legislation authorizing also reveals the role of the secretive network known as The Family, in shaping our national culture and political conversation, as detailed in the forthcoming book by Jeff Sharlet, who gave me permission to reveal some important facts from the manuscript of The Family:  The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.  

Hillary Clinton's rabid and continuous attacks against Reverend Wright are extraordinary and worthy of speculative analysis.  Is she exposing her position on the religious spectrum: Is Hillary incapable of tolerating a liberal Christian like Rev. Wright because she herself is a rightwing religious fundamentalist at heart?  Does this contention against Rev. Wright she is expressing  clarify her position on the religious spectrum?  Is Hillary a 'closet' rightwing religious fundamentalist like her many friends in The Fellowship?  Does trouncing Rev. Wright have symbolic as well as actual importance to her and her friends? Can we FINALLY ask Hillary Clinton what her position is on separation of church and state?!

Over the past few days, I've done some writing expressing concern regarding some revelations that Jeff Sharlet will be discussing extensively in his new book "The Family"--including information regarding apparently widespread and systemic use of pyramid-scheme-esque "cell church" groups, of which Hillary Clinton would appear to have been inducted through at least one, possibly two, levels of indoctrination within at least two separate cells within the group.  There's also some real concern that some of the same "bad habits" of this particular type of religious pyramid scheme may be showing up in "The Family's" cells as well--one of which we'll discuss today.

The news re cell-church groups in "The Family" is probably not going to be the only bombshell released by Sharlet's upcoming book.  My question is, what has "The Family" so spooked that they've apparently sealed all recent records about the group even to their own members?

On Friday, news reports started coming out to the effect that Hillary Clinton may be a member of a cell-church group run by the secretive "Family" nee "Fellowship" org; as the import of this is underappreciated by most (even by some researchers into dominionism), I posted a diagram of how cell groups work in "The Family".

There are actually a number of reasons--besides the obvious--why it should be a matter of concern that Hillary Clinton would appear to have been recruited into a religious pyramid scheme with strong political aspirations.  One reason I am gravely concerned for her right now is info I've dug up on the other reported members of her "cell church"--almost all of whom have strong history with dominionists...and it doesn't help that Hillary has also made some statements that point to her possible involvement in something very dangerous.

A few days ago, I wrote a post expressing concern re Hillary Clinton's reported involvement in a cell-church group operated by the longest-running political dominionist group in existence--some folks considered this a wee bit controversial, in part because it was "OMG CANDIDATE DIARY" (to be honest, I'm worried about her) and partly because folks noted "there is no clear evidence this is coercive".

After some discussion with Jeff Sharlet over in Fred Clarkson's article on "The Family"--in which he's discussed info that will be included in his upcoming book--it would appear that not only does "The Family" use the same model as other coercive groups using pyramid-like structures, but may well have originated its use politically.

There has been quite a lot of writing recently on Talk to Action (and today in regards to a secretive political dominionist group known as "The Fellowship" or "The Family"--especially in relation to an upcoming book by Jeff Sharlet (titled The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power--you can pre-order here) which threatens to blow the  "Family Secret" wide open.

Frederick Clarkson here on DailyKos has recently reported on an NBC News report--along with a recent Mother Jones article re Sherlet's book--which give disturbing confirmation to something I've suspected for a time: Namely, that "The Family" uses a particularly abusive "discipling and shepherding" model common in neopentecostal dominionist cell churches.

The abusive tactics could have major implications politically--especially as Sharlet's book has noted that no less than Hillary Clinton is a member of one of the cell-churches linked to "The Family".

NBC News had a segment last night on the secretive, elite influence network, "The Family," featuring an interview with Jeff Sharlet, whose book by that title, will be published next month.

The segment also featured dramatic video of the elite fundamentalist "Family" leader Doug Coe preaching about the "covenant" that he says made Hitler among others, powerful -- commanding loyalty among his followers. The program transcript states:

Some media have been struggling with the explosion of controversies over statements by prominent religious supporters of Clinton, McCain and Obama.  Of these, Obama's progressive pastor has received the lion's share of attention. The extreme views of Religious Right leaders Doug Coe, John Hagee and Rod Parsley, and their relationship to candidates Clinton and McCain, much less so. (At Talk to Action we have been covering these guys for a long time and discussed these things well ahead of the curve. for example, my first (but not the last!) post picking-up on Jeff Sharlet and Kathryn Joyce's Mother Jones story about Hillary Clinton and The Family, was in December. Our reporting on Hagee and Parley is better measured in years. I was the first to point out, for example, based on the reports of my Talk to Action colleagues, that McCain had courted Hagee for more than a year prior to his scoring the endorsement. I say this not so much to toot our horn, (not that it couldn't use a good tooting once in awhile) but because I want to underscore the value of ongoing research and reporting on these things.

We need leadership. We need change. We need diplomacy.  We need unity.  We need a President of the US who actually respects Americans. We need a President who wants the American people to have a voice.  We need a people's President, not a politician's President. We don't merely want..we need Barack Obama. The Democratic Party has a past, but is in dire need of a future.  The Democratic Party needs Barack Obama.

All men may be created equal, but in America, they are not all educated equally. So, what we don't need is the MSM hijacking this election by failing the American people as poorly as the outgoing administration has.

Clinton claimed today that Rev. Wright would never be her pastor, but it looks like Hillary Clinton belongs to a church called "The Family" that makes Wright look like a lamb.

http://www.cbsnews.com/...

"In the 1940s, The Family reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolf Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs."

[From the Frog Pond]

Hillary Clinton has gone too far.  In a conversation  with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Clinton presumed to tell Barack Obama where he should worship his God.  She suggested that Reverend Wright is guilty of 'hate speech' and compared him to Don Imus.  

OK, so I know there is already a diary about this, and by the time I post this there will probably be several more, but I just read the Mother Jones article from last September and thought I'd give my 2 cents.  I found this article through Barbara Ehrenreich's short article in The Nation from Wednesday.  Both are must reads  

More below the fold.

Have you heard of "The Family"?  Well you had better start finding about them.  This secretive religious group seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill.

The Family’s most visible activity is its blandly innocuous National Prayer Breakfast, held every February in Washington. But almost all its real work goes on behind the scenes – knitting together international networks of rightwing leaders, most of them ostensibly Christian. In the 1940s, The Family  reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolph Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs.

First McCain and Hagee/Parsley, then Obama and Wright, now Clinton and "The Family":  HRC's now part of the "preacher problem club".

From http://www.thenation.com/...:

There's a reason 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.

More about this after the jump.  

UPDATE: Well, well -- Back in 1998, the same Reverend Wright who HRC surrogates like Lanny Davis now gleefully attack was an honored guest at the first post-Monica-admission prayer breakfast, and was photographed with Bill Clinton.  Even more reason for Hillary to stay away from playing the preacher-problem game!