The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #101088   Message #2326616
Posted By: GUEST,Serenity
26-Apr-08 - 09:25 PM
Thread Name: BS: Popular Views on Obama
Subject: RE: BS: Popular Views on Obama
The story about Clinton and the so-called Fellowship is a weak one at best. To claim she is part of a secret elitist ruler religious cult for participating in the National Prayer Breakfast with the rest of the Congress, is a bit of stretch.

From Chronicle of Higher Ed:

April 4, 2008
Questions About Hillary Clinton's Religious Ties Put College's Archives in the Spotlight

A series of recent news reports examining Hillary Clinton's connections to a secretive religious group are drawing attention to the archives of a small Christian college in Illinois.

The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College keeps in its archives more than 50 years worth of records from the Fellowship, a Christian organization that has played a role in Washington politics since the 1940s. While best known for organizing the National Prayer Breakfast, the group also has played a significant behind-the-scenes role in national and international politics, advising and bringing together many members of Congress and world leaders, most with decidedly conservative leanings.

Outside interest in the Fellowship—also known as "the Family"—has surged over the past year as Mother Jones, The Nation, The Atlantic, and, most recently, NBC News have published or aired pieces examining Hillary Clinton's ties with the group.

Jeff Sharlet, a former Chronicle of Higher Education reporter and an associate research scholar at the NYU Center for Religion and Media, infiltrated the Fellowship for a March 2003 Harper's Magazine article and is the author of a soon-to-be-released book on the group, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (HarperCollins, 2008). In an interview this week, he said Mrs. Clinton is not formally considered a member of the group, but she has attended its prayer meetings since 1993 and has turned to its leader, Douglas Coe, for spiritual advice. "Her connections are strong enough that, through the Family, powerful conservative activists were able to go through back channels to her," Mr. Sharlet said.