Those of us who consider ourselves political junkies (most of us on GMD?) and watch the campaigns closely undoubtedly take relief in that none of the major Dems running would be considered “Bible-thumpers” by any stretch of the imagination. Undoubtedly, some of us with a more secular or even atheistic bent squirm in our seats when we hear Obama or Clinton go heavy on the “faith” talk (I know I do), but by and large we know we're not dealing with the same problems that the reactionary theocratic wing of the GOP holds over its candidates and the party itself.
However, there's another side to Hillary Clinton's faith that is somewhat disturbing, in that she's associating quite regularly with some rather unsavory characters. This isn't another one of those “Hillary Hatin'-Vince Foster killin'-lesbian baby-eater” stories that the right-wing is so fond of. It actually seems to be on the level. Hop below the jump for an in-depth look at this interesting and rather disturbing aspect of our potential future President.
Now, the article's actually a few months old, but in the September issue of Mother Jones, Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet have written a piece that's a bit of an eye-opener. It gives a bit of historical background about Hillary's faith in her younger years, as a Methodist and self-proclaimed “Goldwater girl”. Although by no means infected by the virulent strain of evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity, Hillary, from what we can gather, seems to take her faith quite seriously, and it often has an a quite conservative bent to it. Some background:
Clinton's faith is grounded in the Methodist beliefs she grew up with in Park Ridge, Illinois, a conservative Chicago suburb where she was active in her church's altar guild, Sunday school, and youth group. It was there, in 1961, that she met the Reverend Don Jones, a 30-year-old youth pastor; Jones, a friend of Clinton's to this day, told us he knows “more about Hillary Clinton's faith than anybody outside her family.” Under Jones' mentorship, Clinton learned about Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich—thinkers whom liberals consider their own, but whom young Hillary Rodham encountered as theological conservatives.
The Niebuhr she studied was a cold warrior, dismissive of the progressive politics of his earlier writing. “He'd thought that once we were unionized, the kingdom of God would be ushered in,” Jones explains. “But the effect of those two world wars and the violence that they produced shook his faith in liberal theology. He came to believe that the achievement of justice meant a clear understanding of the limitations of the human condition.”
Tillich, whose sermon on grace Clinton turned to during the Lewinsky scandal, today enjoys a following among conservatives for revising the social gospel—the notion that Christians are to improve humanity's lot here on earth by fighting poverty, inequality, and exploitation—to emphasize individual redemption instead of activism. Niebuhr and Tillich's combination of aggressiveness in foreign affairs and limited domestic ambition naturally led Clinton toward the GOP. She was a Goldwater Girl who, under the tutelage of her high school history teacher Paul Carlson (whom Jones describes as “to the right of the John Birchers”), attended biweekly anticommunist meetings and later served as president of Wellesley's Young Republicans chapter. Out of step with the era's radicalism, Clinton wrote Jones from college, lamenting that her fellow students didn't believe that one could be “a mind conservative and a heart liberal.” To Jones, this question indicated that Clinton shared Niebuhr's notion of Christians needing to have “a dark enough view of life that they can be realistic about what's possible.”
But that's not really the scary part. Look here (emphasis mine):
Through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as the Fellowship. Her collaborations with right-wingers such as Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and former Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) grow in part from that connection. “A lot of evangelicals would see that as just cynical exploitation,” says the Reverend Rob Schenck, a former leader of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue who now ministers to decision makers in Washington. “I don't….there is a real good that is infected in people when they are around Jesus talk, and open Bibles, and prayer.”
Clinton's prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or “the Family”), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to “spiritual war” on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship's only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has “made a fetish of being invisible,” former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan.
Scary, huh? This ain't exactly a fellowship of benevolent hobbits and such. If that rings a bell, some of you might have remembered the news a few years back about a Christian organization that was providing DC luxury housing for certain legislators. It's the same group. Lisa Gretter did an expose on the group in the LA Times about 6 years ago. (the actual LA Times link requires registration, so I found a copy of it here.) Some interesting facts:
They also share a vow of silence about Fellowship activities. Coe and others cite biblical admonitions against public displays of good works, insisting they would not be able to tackle their diplomatically sensitive missions if they drew public attention. Members, including congressmen, invoke this secrecy rule when refusing to discuss just about every aspect of the Fellowship and their involvement in it.
Jennifer Thornett, a Fellowship employee, went so far as to say that “there is no such thing as the Fellowship,” even as she helped lead a group of 250 college students around Washington this month, part of a Fellowship-sponsored national leadership forum on faith and values.
The Fellowship has quite the central role in that “National Prayer Breakfast” in DC you might have heard about, which has an almost exclusively Christian focus. In addition, they host frequent regular prayer breakfasts. Harper's has a good account of one of them hosted by former Reagan AG Edwin Meese, here, to give you an idea of what they're like. The piece really gives a good insight into the nutty, Christ-happy mindset of the Fellowship member, at times with them sounding like starry-eyed cultists for Christ.
As the LAT reveals, not only do they provide inexpensive housing for several members of Congress, they've paid for overseas trips for congressmen in its ranks, “who sometimes mix diplomacy and religion during meetings with foreign heads of state”.
One name that crops up in both articles is Fellowship leader David Coe, who in Clinton's “Living History” autobiography, she describes as “a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God.”
Once again, from MoJo (emphasis mine):
Coe's friends include former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Reaganite Edwin Meese III, and ultraconservative Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.). Under Coe's guidance, Meese has hosted weekly prayer breakfasts for politicians, businesspeople, and diplomats, and Pitts rose from obscurity to head the House Values Action Team, an off-the-record network of religious right groups and members of Congress created by Tom DeLay. The corresponding Senate Values Action Team is guided by another Coe protege, Brownback, who also claims to have recruited King Abdullah of Jordan into a regular study of Jesus' teachings.
Those names aren't exactly paragons of virtue, enlightenment, and tolerance. Are you just a little bothered? It certainly calls into question Mrs. Clinton's judgment and on a deeper level, makes me seriously wonder how, if elected, she will be when it comes to church and state issues as these forces of the religious right continue to push to make this nation into a Christian one. It's easy to question her intentions, as pandering to various groups for political benefit is really nothing new to Mrs. Clinton. However, the last line of the MOJo article really does give one pause for concern, in that maybe this isn't necessarily a pander after all:
Then, as now, Clinton confounded secularists who recognize public faith only when it comes wrapped in a cornpone accent. Clinton speaks instead the language of nondenominationalism—a sober, eloquent appreciation of “values,” the importance of prayer, and “heart” convictions—which liberals, unfamiliar with the history of evangelical coalition building, mistake for a tidy, apolitical accommodation, a personal separation of church and state. Nor do skeptical voters looking for political opportunism recognize that, when Clinton seeks guidance among prayer partners such as Coe and Brownback, she is not so much triangulating—much as that may have become second nature—as honoring her convictions. In her own way, she is a true believer.
Somone needs to step up to the plate and ask her about these associations. They make Obama's little pander to the homophobes and such look like small potatoes in comparison. Anyone truly concerned about the separation of church and state should sit up and take notice, for this is indeed truly disturbing news.
