The book is "The Family", by Jeff Sharlet.
The National Prayer Breakfasts started with Eisenhower, who didn't like them, but felt he owed them one.
They are fond po calling congressmen and senators and telling them that they do not represent the people who elected them, they represent just one man; Jesus.
Their goal is to make the entire world Christian, in their definition of the word.
Jesus was hardly a political strategist and had few opinions on modern issues: he said nothing about wind power, could not imagine a cure for leprosy other than by a laying on of hands, believed that insanity was caused by demons (and could be cured by moving said demons to suicidal swine), and besides all that, has been dead for around 20 centuries and mute as well, and though he promised to return soon, well, hasn't. This makes it easy for the Family to put whatever words in his mouth they wish with no need for spin or reinterpretation.
It would be nice if we elected a president that would tell these clowns to just f*ck off, but I don't see that happening.
They are obviously a part of the oligarchy shadow government that actually runs this country, along with the Bilderbergs and the Bohemian Grovesters.
http://www.infowars.com/bg1.htmlJesus was a nice guy, but he is dead, and he does not run my country.
67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Important now, and for years to come, June 1, 2008
By Peter Manseau
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.
