Dear Jeff Sharlet:
Re: Jesus Killed Mohammad story and The Family.
Sorry to get off on the wrong foot with you. I have differences and see deficiencies but “thin research” was a poor choice of words. I doubt if I defamed you, but have my apology. I will point out the areas where I differ with in the hope you will fill in a very large missing link, which is who fund and fires the Family. Mr. Coe is no doubt very good at covering tracks of those who do not want to be seen tied to him.
To quote our website: Our mission is to rescue followers of Christ from the apostasy called Christian-Zionism.
We reach out to the “lost sheep” inside our churches who do not know they are lost. They will remain lost if they listen only to their apostate religious leaders. Our purpose is to point the ancient way to the “Strait Gate.”* Christian-Zionism, by whatever name, is not that path and is purely a political movement. We would turn Christ followers to Peacemakers, away from the evil of warring on behalf of Israel, or for any other foreign state. We humbly believe God must see Christian-Zionism as the vilest apostasy in the 2000 year history of Christianity.
It has been a struggle to find demonstrated plausible links between World Zionism and evangelicalism/Christian Zionism. Difficult because the men who took the money from those who financed were very good at covering up…they were not self serving braggarts and blabbermouths, as we wish they would have been. No doubt this is the case with Mr. Coe “the Stealth Persuader” as he has been so dubbed by a major magazine.
In case you do not know, I came out of the Southern Baptist Convention which I left in 1990 just in time to plead with it to abandon its tacit support of Bush Sr.’s war plan to bomb Iraq. I recognized a form of judeo-Christianity in the, “evangelical” church, that had no basis in the faith of following Christ. The 20 million member SBC supported the war because: (1) It was widely perceived to be supportive of Israel, (2) it is anathema to Islam, and (3) it furthered the end times prophecy of the church toward an ultimate Armageddon. The term “Christian Zionism” was unknown at that time.
We Hold These Truths has done more to Christian Zionism than most, and we know the term CZ had arrived when Ariel Sharon used to identify his church-friends. Sharon also applied our invented litmus test to these churches. I am grateful to him for showing us we were on the right track.
I am familiar with “Dispensationalism,” the theology that fires Christian Zionism by whatever name. I suspect you would benefit from knowing more about who promoted it and how it became the biggest slice of white Protestantism, including even some Catholics. You will find it on our site www.whtt.org/show.
Jeff Sharlet wrote to CEC:
“As for The Family and Christian Zionism — they’re surprisingly, though not
completely, unrelated. Christian Zionism has largely been a phenomenon — an
ugly one, I think — of populist fundamentalism.”
Carlson differs:
Yes, CZ is populist, and those who say it may influence 70 million souls are not wrong. But this grass roots base was built only with huge support from world (Jewish) Zionism, and media support it did not generate on its own. It is not well understood and it is illogical, and unchristian in applications, so it had to be promoted to gain huge ground over traditional Christianity, without which it never would have been more than an embarrassing splinter of the Protestant movement. It is this aspect of Christian Zionism that I suggest you look into, and I would not be surmised if the Family is not being promoted by the same powers.
Sharlet:
“The Family grew out of an older, more elite strain that while not, for the most part, explicitly anti-Semitic, was certainly not friendly toward Jews. If you read The
Family, as you say, you know that they’ve always been concerned with
petroleum and geopolitical power — two interests that have driven them
toward very friendly relationships with Muslim leaders such as Suharto and
the various big men of the Arab dictatorships. In the 1930s and 40s, many of
the Family’s top men were explicitly anti-Semitic — especially after the
war, when the group recruited and whitewashed former Nazis.”
Carlson:
Whatever the history may have been, I doubt if the Colson, Dobson, or Brownback are other than sophisticated, calmed down, Christian Zionists. I suspect the latter has a perfect AIPAC voting record. You have done well to expose this “greater man” theology. However, every CZ like Hagee also sees himself as a great man blessed with the truth by God. And Israel claims land rights based on being “God’s Chosen” back to Abraham, which is clearly racism supported by no evidence of linage. James Dobson would be embarrassed by the crude John Hagee, but I suspect you will find Dobson erroneously believes, “The state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy,” as do all Christian Zionists. To the extent the Family may also accommodate greater-man agnostics, they would not believe the bible is relevant. I suspect the Family is a mixture of both.
Here is my conclusion about those who affirm this litmus test, “Is the state of Israel is the fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy,” drawn from our considerable experience and supported by various Pew Foundation polls: A yes answer usually identifies a Christian Zionist by whatever name; “ No, or I don’t know” is usually someone other than a CZ. Those who answer “Yes” will usually also support bombing Iraq, the blockade of Gaza, an offensive strike on Iran, and the need to torture prisoners. The statistical accuracy of the litmus test is 60 to 80% depending on which question and how you ask it.
Christian Zionists uniquely believe in the divinity of the State of Israel as a part of their deeply held religious dogma. This means they do not change easily, they are not as fluid in political beliefs as are other professing Christians. If certain Congressmen cater to the Family, but have the CZ virus, they will probably fall into the above pattern, no matter what the Family teaches. They will not vote against what they perceive to be in the interest of Israel.
It would be interesting to compile an Israel friendly voting record for those you consider under the Family influence, or better yet, get their AIPAC voting record! All you must do is look at the mad antics of John McCain to see this how important the CZ vote is.
Sharlet:
“I hope you agree with me that one can be an opponent of both Christian
Zionism and Nazis.”
Carlson:
I am not aware that Nazis are significantly in the picture today. I know a few very young people who even say they are Nazis, but they do not fit Jesus’ definition of Christianity. Our mission is to educate Christian Zionist by whatever name back to Christianity. I oppose all aggressive racism, including, but not limited to, anti-Judaism, anti-Christ and anti-Islam. I have to oppose them because Jesus did no matter how I may feel personally.
Sharlet:
“In recent years, as Christian Zionism has grown in popularity among the
mainstream of populist fundamentalism, it’s cropped up in the worldviews of
the politicians involved in The Family. I write about this, too, in my long
chapter on Christian Zionist Senator Sam Brownback.”
“So while I appreciate your willingness to reconsider your statements, I’m a
little confused at your declaration, following your defamation of my work,
that I’ve not really addressed this issue. In the book, and in the many
media interviews I gave, I did address it.”
Carlson:
I have not yet done an essay or a review of your book though I perhaps I should, only a brief remark drawn largely from someone else’s review of “Jesus Killed Mohammad.” .
My criticism of Jesus Killed Mohamed is that the Air Force Academy’s religious scandal is really an example of CZ at work, not the greater man theory of the Family. It is the Christian Zionists who have declared war on Islam. It is this war on Islam which now dominates the Chaplin’s corp., as your story points out to a degree. I am well aware James Dobson is from Colorado Springs and has influence on the Academy Campus.
A friend named Col. David Antoon, an Academy graduate, proudly saw his son accepted at the AFA, but the son and dad, a AFA Cadet himself, both walked out on registration because they discovered the Chaplin Corp was solidly CZ. By this I mean the chaplains are anti-Islamist inventing reasons why it is OK for Christian Airman to incinerate children of Muslim parents. You are dealing with anti-Islam racism with a Christian flavor.
I do not know where the Family stands on wars against Islamic states because your book did not make it clear. Those Muslim state leaders you mention are former dictators like Suharto, are tyrants wearing Muslim arm bands with a lot of oil in place. These are secular dictatorships, not Islamic “Republics” and their relationship to Islam is political show business, and example being Egypt.
Can you, for instance, tell me what the Family tells congressmen about the leadership of Pakistan vs. the Taliban, Iran, and the government of Sudan, Hezbollah, and Hamas? These are the sites of the Islamic movement today. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are not.
It would be great if your research identified where Doug Coe’s big money support comes from. It would be an unfair criticism for this because it’s a first book on a very tough and secretive outfit. But we need to know.
Sharlet:
“I’m opposed to Christian Zionism. I’m opposed to Israel’s war crimes. I’m
opposed to The Family’s subversion of democracy. These are three distinct
problems. There is more than one kind of bad under the sun.”
I wonder if these are not three related problems…at least the first two are finger on the same hand. I am anxious to learn more about the Family.
Best regards,
Chuck Carlson
Harper’s Magazine, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation Apr 16, 2009
Harper’s Magazine Cover Story: Evangelical Proselytization Still Rampant in U.S. Military
Under Obama Administration, Offending
Officers Continue to Serve, Promoted
ALBUQUERQUE – The May issue of Harper’s Magazine (www.harpers.org) reveals the continued practice of Christian evangelical proselytization in the American military and a lack of recourse within the Obama administration, according to a leading civil rights watchdog group prominently featured in the magazine’s cover story.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF: www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org) and its founder and president Mikey Weinstein were profiled by Jeff Sharlet in his piece for Harper’s Magazine, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.” Mr. Weinstein is the nation’s leading advocate for the protection of individual soldiers’ constitutional rights to religious freedom and a frequent critic of the U.S. military hierarchy’s blind eye to efforts to evolve the nation’s military into a modern day band of Christian crusaders.
