What is C-Street? The C-Street house in Washington DC is actually a former convent and now it’s registered as a church. It is run by what is called the Family and is used to provide housing for six to eight congressmen at any time, and provide spiritual direction for these congressmen or politicians. Two of the members of the C-Street Family are Senator John Ensign of Nevada, and Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina who seem to have more in common then simply this house in Washington.
Jeff Sharlet is the author of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. According to Sharlets research, the Family is the oldest Christian Conservative organization in Washington and actually began 70 years ago. The founder believed that god gave him a new revelation saying that Christianity had gotten it wrong for two thousand years and that what most people think of as Christianity, as being about, helping the weak and the poor and the meek and the down and out, he believes god came to him one night in April in 1935 and said what Christianity should really be about is building more power for the already powerful. And that these powerful men who were chosen by god can then if they want to dispense blessings to the rest of us, through a kind of trickle-down fundamentalism.
“One of the leaders of The Family was explaining why King David was important and it's not because he was a good man. It's because he was a bad man. You know, he seduced another man's wife, he actually had the husband murdered and he once explained why this was a model and he said it to one of the men in the group. He said, suppose I heard you raped three little girls. What would I think of you? And this guy, being a human being says, you would think I was a monster. Well, the leader of The Family says no, not at all because you're chosen. You're chosen by god for leadership, and so the normal rules don't apply.”
I suppose this could explain the reluctance on the part of these two jerks to resign from their respective offices.
So it appears that this kind of radical theology has reached into the government at the congressional and Senatorial level, and obviously at the state level as well. Not exactly what I’d call a friend of the democracy that these elected officials are supposed to be supporting.
Comments
Reporter Larry Brown is correct: The real story behind the Ensign and Sanford scandals appears to be their membership in a semi-secret cult of right-wing religious extremists who take advantage of ordinary people. To learn more, read this news article at veteransforcommonsense.org/index.php/civil-liberties/809-paul-sullivan
Hi Paul,
This is really weird stuff, and a bit scary. I've followed the Christian Reconstructionist or Dominionist movement for a long time. I'm not sure what this is, but we have legislators promoting this theology in congress, and I think its dangerous. They pander relentlessly to the religious segment of our country, and are always the worst of hypocrites. But then, they live by a different set of rules. The normal rules of a moral society don't apply to them.
Did Bill Clinton resign?
Hi Larry,
Here's another piece I've just added to the C Street House story - the house is owned by Youth With a Mission, whose founder Loren Cunningham can be seen in a recently produced video espousing a video Cunningham says he shared with Bill Bright and Christian conservative theologian Francis Schaeffer, in which Christians would achieve world control by infiltrating key areas of society such as business, government, education, and media.
see: www.talk2action.org/story/2009/7/11/13276/5281
I know Sharlet. He does great work.
Correction - that should read "a video presenting a vision Cunningham says he shared with..."
Sean, this response: "Did Bill Clinton resign?" is called Tu Quoque. The tu quoque fallacy is committed when it is assumed that because someone else has done a thing there is nothing wrong with doing it. This fallacy is classically committed by children who, when told off, respond with “So and so did it too”, with the implied conclusion that there is nothing wrong with doing whatever it is that they have done. This is a fallacy because it could be that both children are in the wrong, and because, as we were all taught, two wrongs don’t make a right. By your logic, The Romans kept slaves. Therefore: We can keep slaves too.
Aside from the circumstances being completely different, Clinton wasn't a member of some secret society representing himself and the other members as paragons of virtue and morality. He was, and still is a "hound-dog" and never pretended to be something other than what he is. Being holier than thou, will come back to haunt you eventually.
Hi Bruce,
Francis Schaeffer is the father of Frank Schaeffer who has left the Christian Right movement that his father was an integral part of, and has written some incredible stuff about what was happening on the inside. He was there, and part of everything. He knows where all the skeletons are. He's currently writing for the Huffington Post. If you haven't read his articles or seen him in interviews, you should.
Bruce,
Just read your article on C Street, and watched the video. It seems pretty clear that we have some very heavy duty religious fanatics doing whatever they can to alter our government to their religious orientation. If you haven't checked out Paul Sullivans article at Veteransforcommonsense.org, do so. It illustrates more of what all of us are seeing. I'm really happy to know you and Paul.
Here's where all the weak minded and delirious hang out. Someone named Larry speaks of morals! Liberals have no morals. Liberals like butt sex from other men. Liberals like sex with children. Liberals can't produce and product. Liberals can't debate. Liberals believe every form of "news" as long as it supports what they think they want to hear. Liberals are dirty, immoral, physically and mentally weak. Liberals can't dig out the truth because they get so stuck on all the propaganda and lies from all the other jackass weak-minded, hand-wringing, bed-wetting, panty-wearing pustules. If Liberals are so enlightened, why do so many become Conservatives, yet not a single Conservative ever became a Liberal? Secret clubs and societies are bad news, try to find how many imbecile Liberals were/are in secret clubs. None of you can think for yourselves. Can't defend yourselves either. Cowards.
to liberal grinder: you are not entirely correct; ed shultz is a failed conservative and finding that he couldn't be another Rush switched to the dark side. Also his reach-around friend olbermann was a failed fox sportscaster-how do you fail at sports casting again? He was described by the Rupert Murdoch as "crazy"-sure, he's a liberal pimp. Too bad Pravda isn't hiring.
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