Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics

[EV_Ares]

For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating—or living her faith? 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."

When Clinton first came to Washington in 1993, one of her first steps was to join a Bible study group. For the next eight years, she regularly met with a Christian "cell" whose members included Susan Baker, wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat.

The Fellowship's long-term goal is "a leadership led by God—leaders of all levels of society who direct projects as they are led by the spirit." According to the Fellowship's archives, the spirit has in the past led its members in Congress to increase U.S. support for the Duvalier regime in Haiti and the Park dictatorship in South Korea. The Fellowship's God-led men have also included General Suharto of Indonesia; Honduran general and death squad organizer Gustavo Alvarez Martinez; a Deutsche Bank official disgraced by financial ties to Hitler; and dictator Siad Barre of Somalia, plus a list of other generals and dictators. Clinton, says Schenck, has become a regular visitor to Coe's Arlington, Virginia, headquarters, a former convent where Coe provides members of Congress with sex-segregated housing and spiritual guidance.

These days, Clinton has graduated from the political wives' group into what may be Coe's most elite cell, the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast. Though weighted Republican, the breakfast—regularly attended by about 40 members—is a bipartisan opportunity for politicians to burnish their reputations, giving Clinton the chance to profess her faith with men such as Brownback as well as the twin terrors of Oklahoma, James Inhofe and Tom Coburn, and, until recently, former Senator George Allen (R-Va.). Democrats in the group include Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, who told us that the separation of church and state has gone too far; Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) is also a regular.

Unlikely partnerships have become a Clinton trademark. Some are symbolic, such as her support for a ban on flag burning with Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) and funding for research on the dangers of video games with Brownback and Santorum. But Clinton has also joined the gop on legislation that redefines social justice issues in terms of conservative morality, such as an anti-human-trafficking law that withheld funding from groups working on the sex trade if they didn't condemn prostitution in the proper terms. With Santorum, Clinton co-sponsored the Workplace Religious Freedom Act; she didn't back off even after Republican senators such as Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter pulled their names from the bill citing concerns that the measure would protect those refusing to perform key aspects of their jobs—say, pharmacists who won't fill birth control prescriptions, or police officers who won't guard abortion clinics.

That's how it works: The Fellowship isn't out to turn liberals into conservatives; rather, it convinces politicians they can transcend left and right with an ecumenical faith that rises above politics. Only the faith is always evangelical, and the politics always move rightward.

((entire article @ link below))

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-3.html

[GeminiProgressive]

1. creepy

[MadHound]

2. This is just another reason that I can't vote for Hillary

This hobnobbing, in a religious setting, with those who are out to bring a theocracy to our country, is simply wrong. I don't care what Hillary's religion is, however this sort of behind the scenes association is disturbing to say the least. And frankly, it is my experience that the more evangelical you become, the more conservative you become. That, and via the backdoor, religion continues to interfere with politics.

[ChiciB1]

11. Yeah, But It Looks Like You're Gonna GET HER... Before Even One

vote has been cast! I know, IT SUCKS... but with Rahm Emmanuel & Chuck Schumer pulling the strings, you can kiss any "fairness & objectivity" GOOD-BYE! And it's a real SLAP in the face to the OTHER candidates and a SLAP in the face to Democracy!

I just posted earlier that when it ends up this way, I'm just going to focus on "my family" and try to keep my head above water! I will be opting out of the political process, because real "competition" is not an option anymore!

One good thing though, the money I've spent to help Democrats in the past will come in handy, and I may really really need it!

[papau]

3. more nonsense - Hillary never stopped being a devoted Methodist from grade school to today -not very

secretive about it but she didn't blast it over the news like the GOP folks like to do.

Brothers in Christ has a meaning - even if some non-believers can't understand that concept - it was the original "bring us together"

Being a Christian is not "moving rightward" - and being against both the sex trafficking in children and against prostitution is not a right/left issue, although Mother Jones seems angry that they wanted to include an effort against prostitution in the funding they were passing.

[MadHound]

4. Oh, so it's OK to blast Bush(another Methodist), Santorum, Brownback, et al

For their religious connections, and how their religious leanings and associations influence their political decisions. But it's "nonsense" to criticize Hillary for the same exact thing? Double standard, don't you think?

[papau]

6. To try to convert a nation to war or control of a women's body is wrong - no one condemns

Bush, Santorum, Brownback for their religion


the only double standard is the one attacking all those who are religious while giving a free ride to to the 6% who are atheist.

[MadHound]

8. What we condemn Brownback et al for is allowng their religion to control their politics

Given that Hillary is meeting, in anonymity and behind closed doors, with these same people is suspicious to say the least. This isn't about "attacking all those who are religious", that's a big fat strawman and you know it. This is about what sort of undue influence that religious right is having on this country and on Hillary, her votes, her policies.

We have seen thread after endless thread around here condemning Bush, Ashcroft, and many others for allowing right wing religious organizations to have too much influence on their decision making process. If we're going to condemn some for this practice, we have to condemn all. Giving Hillary a pass simply because she has a D after her name is simply wrong, and rather hypocritical.

Who knows what influence this group has already had on Hillary? She's been attending Fellowship meetings since Bill got into office, and in that time while she was first lady, Bill signed off on both "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and the Defense of Marriage Act. Did she influence her husband(after all, she was supposedly a backroom player in Bill's administration)? We simply don't know. But I do know that this sort of closed door, right wing religious gathering raises many doubts about Hillary and what her true positions and intentions are.

Like I said, it is simply one more reason why I, and many, many others, simply can't vote for her.

And like I said earlier, stop claiming that we're "attacking all those who are religious". That's the kind of strawman I would expect, and have seen on other, much more conservative sites. It's wrong there, and it's wrong here. This is legitimate criticism of Hillary's association, and frankly it is just as valid as criticizing her association with Murdoch, the DLC, and the other organizations she belongs to.

[papau]

14. Get real - values control your prefered policies - and religion can express your values

n/t

[rinsd]

10. There's a double standard alright

Here's a 4 threads dealing with Obama and his use of religion on the stump.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3610281

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3616404

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3609018

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3606931

Nary a comment from you, but for Hillary you make a special case.

[MadHound]

13. LOL, you are sadly transparent

First of all, has Obama been having clandestine, closed door prayer meetings with the likes of Santorum, Brownback and other religious right members? No, he hasn't.

Secondly, it seems as though you're assuming I'm an Obama supporter, I'm not.

Third, Hillary is the front runner and could very well be our next president, as much as it pains me to say that. Therefore don't you think that it's a wise thing to bring to light all of Hillary's connections and influences? Or would you rather wait and find out that she's been unduly influenced by the radical religious right after she's in the White House.

Frankly, as the front runner Hillary is going to be the target of more criticism than others. You may not think that this is fair or right, but that is the way it is, so I suggest that you deal with it.

I find Hillary's association with this group, the Fellowship, downright disturbing and rather scary, and simply one more reason that I can't vote for her. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, if Obama or any other Democratic candidate is exposed as having religious ties to the radical religious right, I'll jump on their case too. Happy?

[niceypoo]

5. So, anyone who is a christian is turning into a republican?

Um, my mother has gone to church every week for 70 years. She has always been, and will always be, a democrat. My mother in law goes every day and she is a democrat.

A lot of people believe that the christian right are actually christians, which they are not. They are rapture cultists, which isnt in the bible.

[josh_edwards07]

7. I didn't know

Hillary and religion existed together. This coming from the person who in the debate at Dartmouth what her favorite bible verse was said, "the golden rule"

[MadHound]

9. You obviously don't get the point of the article.

It isn't that she is a religious person per se that bothers many people, it is the fact that she is having regular, closed door meetings, under the rubric of prayer and religion, with these self same Christian right politicians. This sort of secretive get togethers with the "rapture cultists" as you so aptly put it, leads many to wonder what sort of effect they're having on Hillary, and how it will effect her leadership, both in the Senate and the White House, if she gets there.

[EV_Ares]

12. Correct, this last paragraph is what worries me:

""That's how it works: The Fellowship isn't out to turn liberals into conservatives; rather, it convinces politicians they can transcend left and right with an ecumenical faith that rises above politics. Only the faith is always evangelical,............

--- and the politics always move rightward.---""