“The Family” and its hijacking of Evangelicalism
The Washington Fellowship, a Washington, D.C. and suburbs based Christian organization has received much publicity in the past two years. Jeff Sharlet’s new book, THE FAMILY says it reveals “the secret fundamentalism at the heart of American Power.”
If only zeal for Jesus were what “The Fellowship” was about, I might not bother writing this article, except perhaps to advocate on its behalf. Unfortunately it is abundantly clear that any alleged “fundamentalism” at the “core” of the Fellowship is much more akin to the New Age networking type than it is to Christian orthodoxy. Another prominent internet researcher, Wayne Madsen, charges that the Fellowship is using Jesus as a cynical logo in pursuit of cynical political pursuits. He goes so far as to call it a monstrous criminal plot to seize control of the “biggest prize of all — the United States government.”
Years ago the New Agers tried to pin the Jim Jones and his kool aid mass murder/suicide cult on what they called “fundamental Christianity.” I was happy to have played a small role in giving him back to his long time New Age Movement confederates. Jim Jones had been a New Ager from the beginning, listed in two major New Age directories in the early 1972s as a New Age center networking with other New Age centers.
Constance Cumbey: Discovering the New Age MovementNow that “The Family” together with its Doug Coe leadership is being pointed to as an example of “Christians” trying to take over the United States government and beyond, it is time that the record be set straight. It is much more akin to a New Age operation than any Christian one. That the Fellowship sometimes known as “The Cedars” is influential and powerful is hardly disputable. As the Los Angeles Times reported:
“While the annual breakfast is a widely known event attended by a succession of U.S. presidents and foreign dignitaries, the Fellowship’s role in diplomacy and current events has remained in the shadows. That’s the way the organization wants it …”
What I have discovered is that “The Family” and the Institute for Noetic Sciences, one of the most all time powerful New Age organizations, have intertwined core leadership and financing.
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