Who Is The Family?

A powerful and somewhat secretive group has been slowly permeating headlines recently in Washington. They are The Fellowship, also known as The Family, a growing circle of conservative Christian political leaders who seek to put their concept of God directly into our country's governance.

The Family is not new to the Washington scene, they were formed decades ago. They host the national prayer breakfast, an event that every president has attended since its inception. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were counted among its membership. Watergate conspirators were also involved. The famous Camp David summit between President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and Egyptian President Sadat was orchestrated in part by The Family.

The group's current membership is a who's who of conservative idealogues in the US Congress, including Senators James Inhofe, Sam Brownback, Jim DeMint and Representative Bart Stupak.

Why should we be concerned? Because this is a non-governmental group which has direct influence on the federal government. Because The Family inserts itself into international diplomacy and often helps to bridge the gap between the US government, defense contractors, foreign dictators and executives of transnational corporations. The members of The Family work closely together in a non-transparent way to propose and pass legislation. Furthermore, The Family has recently been linked to an effort in the country of Uganda to punish homosexuality with death.