This article is part 12 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 11 articles can be accessed at the following links:
- Part 1: Born in the USA
- Part 2: Horrific Details
- Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
- Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda
- Part 5: State Dept Must Make US Policy Clear
- Part 6: Richard Cohen and debunking gay cure
- Part 7: Evangelicals were for it before they were against it
- Part 8: Rick Warren forced to oppose Ugandan bill
- Part 9: Condemn the bill to Uganda’s President
- Part 10: The Family finally condemns bill
- Part 11: Not to become law
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Rachel Maddow’s recap of the The Family, how it permeates governments and interview with a high-ranking Family member
Here is Rachel’s interview with Bob Hunter, long-time member and leader of The Family (also known as The Fellowship) who worked extensively in Uganda to help build that nation (13 min.):
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Doug Coe was one of the leaders of The Family. The short segment of one of his speeches to members in the video clip above is, I think, unconscionable and disturbing. To tie Jesus and Christianity to the Soviet Red Guard and Hitler’s Nazis turns my stomach. I have a big pet peeve about quoting from the Bible out of context. Coe takes one verse and equates it to horrible acts Jesus would never condone.
I’m not religious and I don’t go to church, but I have read the Bible cover-to-cover more than a few times. Why? Because I wanted to know what it says for myself. I also like to mess with born-again Christians who quote parts of it, but don’t actually know where the quotes come from or what they mean in context. What too many on the extreme Christian right claim to believe isn’t Christianity either. I’ll write about that sometime in the future.
What Jesus preached and what Doug Coe preached are diametrically opposed. To me, Coe got the wrong message about Jesus’ teachings entirely. The only parallel Coe has with a teaching of Jesus is his disciples were supposed to put him first in their lives. But, He knew all the Jewish laws, including the ones about family. In my reading, the whole concept Jesus was trying to portray was metaphorical, not literal. Jesus knew the law, but violated it whenever following it would cause something wrong to occur. Doing the right thing was more important than following the rules.
The founders of The Family required that members put the group before their families, their jobs and themselves literally. There is probably more to The Family than we know. They are not Jesus. Humans have free will and we make decisions on our own. If we include what we think God would have us do, great, but we’re still at the steering wheel. Their god is in no way the loving, forgiving, merciful God most believers follow.
I’m not convinced The Family is as benign as Mr. Hunter claims. From reporting on The Rachel Maddow Show and Jeff Sharlet, The Family has a lot of influence in politics and in a lot of areas all over the world. I also don’t buy it because of the amount of money they control, and their ability to get Senators and Congressmen to go to other countries on their behalf carrying out their assignments.
Bob Hunter says The Family is too secretive and is addressing being more open. He denies there is any real membership in The Family and claims it is a loosely associated group of around 10,000 groups throughout the world and in many professions, including journalism.
So, all these groups form The Fellowship and they, obviously—even though they‘re linked together, they‘re atomistic and they‘re out there and there‘s no—they—there‘s no one position. Nor does The Fellowship deal with politics in anyway, because we‘re trying to attract people from diverse political perspectives. – Bob Hunter from interview with Rachel Maddow
Again, I smell a rat. The Family has control of a huge amount of money and sends powerful politicians around the world on their behalf.
Part 2 of the Bob Hunter interview (7 min.).
No one in The Family in America is thought to be in favor of the kill-the-gays bill in Uganda. They have taken this stance much more openly since they were made aware of the legislation details. Before that, many were on board with the concept of making homosexuality a crime, but didn’t understand the bill being written was so harsh.
Ugandan members of The Family, with false information from Evangelicals and cure-the-gays industry members, are the people who introduced the bill against the push-back from American members. High level American Family members, like Bob Hunter, are working behind the scenes to stop the bill. The U.S. State Department is working with their Ugandan counterparts to stop this legislation.
President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have spoken out publicly against this bill. President Obama attended this year’s U.S. National Prayer Breakfast, as many presidents have since President Eisenhower was in office, and spoke out to the attendees against the Ugandan bill.
It is beginning to look like progress is being made to stop this legislation.
\\ tags: Bob Hunter, kill-the-gays bill, Rachel Maddow, The Family, The Rachel Maddow Show, Uganda
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