Jesus as Rorschach

The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet is the kind of page turner that will keep you up at night reading it, and then give you nightmares if you do manage to fall asleep. But it explains so much of the inexplicable that the leaders of our country have done: from arming tyrants and ignoring governments whose people are under assault, to fighting against women's freedom of reproductive choice while refusing to provide health care to all children. Hillary Clinton on the same side as Sam Brownback? Ignoring the Israeli/Palestinian confict even as its leader were attempting to resolve it and asking for our help? And yes, sadly, it explains President Obama's choice of anti-gay rights pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration.



This book tells the history of the path of conservative Christianity to radical right-wing Christianity, and describes how deeply entrenched in our nation's politics is this group. With the philosophy of "Jesus plus Nothing", this group's leaders have sought out world leaders of all faiths, or no faith, and for the price of giving it up for Jesus, brokered deals with the Christian right in our government for money, for power, for support, for arms. What is "Jesus plus Nothing"? Basically, it is Jesus without having to have any knowledge, or even any principles. It is Jesus without the shackles of religious study, Jesus as whoever you want Him to be. The convolutions of thought that allow "Christian" partnerships with tyrants and torturers, and deny aid to the poor and tortured are amazing. And yet, it all makes sense.



Give yourself to Jesus, ask Him for anything, and he will give it to you. Contrariwise, if you are poor, lost your home, your job, a loved one, no need for aid, because you are obviously suffering because it is God's Plan. Why do the wealthy not feel that they should help those who are less fortunate, and why do the less fortunate support the wealthy and powerful?



This chilling eye-opener takes us through the the history of this radical Christian movement, its populist and political branches, and how they both serve the leaders of the movement.



Invasion of the Body Snatchers may have been about communism in the 50's, but today its embodiment is very much the Christian Fundamentalist movement that calls itself "the Family".



So when you finish this book, maybe you should be thankful you can't sleep.