http://www.therevealer.org/ en-us the.revealer@nyu.edu 2009-07-01T12:22:47-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/main_story_003177.php By Jeff Sharlet The Revealer is on summer hiatus, but I'm currently blogging at KillingTheBuddha.com, an online literary magazine about religion I created with novelist Peter Manseau back in 2000. Read more about that here. KillingTheBuddha.com has just published a new book of which I'm co-editor, Believer, Beware: First-Person Dispatches from the Margins of Faith. I hope you'll check it out. But I'm guessing Revealer traffic today will be driven by NPR's "Fresh Air," on which I discuss my book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, and the Family's connections to Senator John Ensign's and Governor Mark Sanford's public confessions of adultery. The Family is just out in paperback this month. Here are some of the responses to its hardcover publication last year: “One of the most important accounts of the intersection of fundamentalist religions and politics in recent memory... Sharlet combines his experiences going undercover at The Family’s Arlington, Virginia, compound, skillful interviews with insiders and allies, and exhaustive historical research to produce this riveting account that transcends the recurring question of whether the religious right is dead.” ” — American Prospect “Just when we thought the Christian right was crumbling, Jeff Sharlet delivers a rude shock: One of its most powerful and cult-like core groups, the ‘Family,’ has been thriving. . . . Sharlet’s book is one of the most compelling and brilliantly researched exposes you’ll ever read—just don’t read it alone at night!” — Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times bestselling author of Nickel and Dimed “Jeff Sharlet [is] a confessed non-evangelical whom top evangelical organizations might be wise to hire—and quick—as a consultant. As an outsider, Sharlet sees what a lot of us insiders need to see.” —Brian Mclaren, one of Time’s “25 Most Influential Evangelicals” “An engaging writer with a keen eye… the author discovered a right-leaning political ideology informed by deference to capitalism, a weakness for foreign dictators and a fascination with the leadership techniques of Adolf Hitler.”—The Washington Post "The finest religion book of 2008, far and away." -- Tony Jones, author of The New Christians, on Beliefnet.com “It’s not possible to comprehend the entanglement of religion and politics in our country without reading The Family . . . Sharlet has done us all a favor.”—Kansas City Star “This is a gripping, utterly original narrative about an influential evangelical elite that few Americans even know exists. Jeff Sharlet’s fine reporting unveils a group whose history stretches from the corporate foes of the New Deal to the congressional lawmakers who gather each year at the National Prayer Breakfast. The Christian Right will never look the same again.” — Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: the Life of William Jennings Bryan and The Populist Persuasion: An American History ”Passionate, principled, and powerful.”—Bookforum May be the best book anyone has written about the politics of the Christian right.” – Minnesota Independent “Simply outstanding.” – Chattanooga Times Free Press “Deeply researched yet fast paced, moving easily from first person to third person and incident to overview, The Family is an exceptional piece of bookcraft…. Sharlet proffers one shred of hope—‘believers and unbelievers alike, all of us who love our neighbors more than we love power or empire or even the solace of certainty.’ Secular humanists can scoff if they like, but I’m here to testify that Sharlet is both more intelligent and better informed than most of them. If he believes that ‘believers and unbelievers alike’ fall into this sainted host, I believe him.” – Robert Christgau, Truthdig.com “One of the most important books on American religion and politics to appear this year…. this is a subject that demanded unconventional reporting…. and historical legwork. To his credit, Sharlet ably accomplishes both, demonstrating both thorough research skills and elegant—at times, outright beautiful—prose.” – Chris Martin, Popmatters.com “Sharlet’s storytelling is elegant, and his evocation of the mood of theologian John Edwards’s work is one of the most compelling this reviewer has ever read. Further, his analysis of what such seemingly mundane details as the wording of prayers reveal about the mindset of his subjects is perceptive. Sharlet has unearthed an occurrence that is all the more startling for its being hidden in plain view. Highly recommended.” — Library Journal (starred review) "Jeff Sharlet’s prodigiously researched text reminds us of conservatism’s abiding power. The book does for conservative Christianity what Greil Marcus did for punk in Lipstick Traces (1989): it establishes connections between disparate phenomena, thereby enabling fresh thinking about religious conservatism.... Sharlet touches on some of the “spectacles” that attract bloggers, but he contextualizes and analyzes them much more perceptively than is customary. Though one would like to see further explication of important categories like gender, this work contributes vividly to our understanding of Christian conservatism. While the tone is different from that of an average monograph, this work is original in its conception and articulation and is a fine contribution to the literature." --Jason C. Bivins, Journal of American History “I was once an insider’s insider within fundamentalism. Unequivocally: Sharlet knows what he’s talking about. He writes: ‘Our refusal to recognize the theocratic strand running throughout American history is as self-deceiving as fundamentalism’s insistence that the United States was created a Christian nation.’ Those who want to be un-deceived (and wildly entertained) must read this disturbing tour de force.” — Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy For God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back 3177@http://www.therevealer.org/ main_story 2009-07-01T12:22:47-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/main_story_003176.php 3176@http://www.therevealer.org/ main_story 2009-04-24T17:11:28-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/main_story_003175.php In New York people just know they're sinners. By Nicole Greenfield “New York City is wide open to the Gospel,” Pastor Ron Lewis declared one Sunday at St. George’s Church, a neo-Romanesque building where his Morning Star New York congregation held its evening services until 2007. “There is a hunger for and a desire to experience God.” Lewis peered through his frameless glasses at the hundreds before him. “Every day people are turning to Jesus,” he continued, much more slowly and with a smile revealing teeth that sparkled under the bright lights. “Every day.” It was September 11th that brought Ron Lewis to New York City. Moved by how churches filled up “in the wake of tragedy,” as he puts it, Lewis hopped in a car two days later with Rice Broocks—a college friend Lewis met through his involvement with a charismatic, and controversial, campus ministry called Maranatha—and made the drive from North Carolina in order to take advantage of the city’s “spiritually opened hearts.” With the help of the larger Morningstar International organization, Broocks started the Morning Star New York church plant within weeks, while Lewis went back to Durham and committed to his own church, King’s Park International. “Then one morning in June or July,” Lewis recalled, “I was in prayer and at 4:17, to be exact—the red letter clock said 4:17 am—I remember clearly hearing something on the inside of my soul saying that I needed to go serve in New York City.” He smiled and took an awkwardly long pause. “So I’ve been part of this community ever since.” Continue reading at Killing the Buddha. 3175@http://www.therevealer.org/ main_story 2009-03-15T22:32:14-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timeless_003168.php The "Hindu face of the Taliban” is making trouble for canoodling couples in India. Self-proclaimed morality police, the vigilantes of the extremist group Sri Ram Sene storm bars and night clubs to attack women and men sipping drinks in mixed... 3168@http://www.therevealer.org/ timeless 2009-03-12T13:26:39-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timeless_003174.php Peter Manseau: When Pope Benedict XVI visited Auschwitz in 2006, the prayer service he led began with the words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Words from the Psalms, they no doubt had been uttered within the prison gates before, by Jews praying as Jews in their final days. 3174@http://www.therevealer.org/ timeless 2009-03-12T07:53:04-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/today_003173.php Is the Religious Right dead? It should be, suggests Sarah Pulliam in evangelicaldom's most influential magazine, Christianity Today. Not the movement; the label. "Several politically conservative evangelicals said in interviews," writes Pulliam, "that they do not want to be identified... 3173@http://www.therevealer.org/ today 2009-02-15T03:39:26-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_003172.php Sharlet: Several times now reviewers of my recent book, The Family, have incorrectly charged that I claim in the book to have exposed a fundamentalist right-wing conspiracy. In fact, I do nothing of the sort... 3172@http://www.therevealer.org/ timely 2009-02-15T01:06:13-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timeless_003171.php Mark Dery reviews the great J.G. Ballard’s latest and possibly last book, a “pre-posthumous memoir” titled Miracles of Life, for L.A. Weekly. “In response to my inquiry about who would be bringing out Miracles of Life in the States, and when,” writes Mark in a chronicle of his correspondence with Ballard for his blog, Shovelware, “he replied (with exasperation mellowed by resignation) that the book wouldn’t be coming out in America because—my paraphrase, not a direct quote—he was well and truly fed up with American reviewers’ middlebrow moralizing and pop-psych insistence on Deep Feelings over astringent ideas. American critics complain that his characters are crash-test dummies; that his books are plotless film loops, obsessive-compulsive meditations on the pathologies of everyday life in postmodernity. Ballard’s point exactly... 3171@http://www.therevealer.org/ timeless 2009-02-14T14:08:25-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_003170.php Jeff Sharlet: Among the dead of Continental Flight 3407 was a 66-year-old historian and activist named Alison Des Forges. In a short essay about the media responses to Rwandan genocide for The Revealer in 2004, I referred to Des Forges' 1999 book on the subject, Leave None to Tell the Story, as "a painful masterwork." That did not do the book justice. It is a modern scripture... 3170@http://www.therevealer.org/ timely 2009-02-14T13:37:47-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/today_003169.php Louis A. Reprecht asks, "How have we gone from a beheaded priest to a giddy worldwide day of romantic love? In a word: the widespread conviction that love is a dizzying sacrifice."... 3169@http://www.therevealer.org/ today 2009-02-14T13:29:25-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/today_003166.php Michael Steele, new Republican National Committee chairman, is African-American; he's also a serious Roman Catholic who spent three years studying for the priesthood. The former fact is front and center in mainstream coverage of Steele and his new job; the... 3166@http://www.therevealer.org/ today 2009-02-02T10:12:41-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_003165.php Prayers for Bobby "is a film designed to teach us a lesson about religious intolerance," writes Tanya Erzen, "but in doing so it reproduces the unspoken rules for rendering gay people sympathetic or likable to a television audience: they were 'born that way,' they never have sex, and, of course, they die tragically." We thought the same thing when we saw the much bigger budget Revolutionary Road, Sam Mendes' accidental advertisement for the anti-abortion movement, a move so misogynist that it makes Underworld: Rise of the Lycans seem like a feminist parable. In the film, women are 'born that way,' of course, but in more ways than one -- they're conniving but not too bright, sex for them is a form of vengeance or control, and they often talk too much. Star Kate Winslet does have sex -- once to control Leonardo DiCaprio, once to take vengeance on him, and then never again. And, of course, she dies tragically, the wages of sin -- the result of aborting a baby Leo wanted. The movie opens with a deluded Winslet berating her husband; it ends with an old man happily turning off his hearing aid as his wife yammers on. 3165@http://www.therevealer.org/ timely 2009-02-02T09:43:24-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timeless_003164.php Sharlet: It's a treat to be able to announce that Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, by Revealer contributing editor Peter Manseau, is the winner of this year's National Jewish Book Award for fiction. You can hear Peter talk about his novel with NPR's Scott Simon here. You can read an excerpt from the book -- and my review -- here. 3164@http://www.therevealer.org/ timeless 2009-02-02T09:30:39-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_003163.php SarahPAC.com, the website of Palin's new political action committee, is notable chiefly for what's missing from it -- any mention of God, religion, or "values." Political journalists will speculate that this absence is the result of calculation -- with the religious right already neatly tucked away, Palin can afford to direct her pitch exclusively to the economic right. But it's more likely that SarahPAC is simply the real deal, a statement of the governor's priorities. That doesn't mean that her religion was a sideshow, but rather that it's woven into her beliefs about money. "Sex, death, and taxes," goes the old saying. For a biblical capitalist like Sarah Palin, each leg of that stool is a matter of ultimate concern. 3163@http://www.therevealer.org/ timely 2009-02-02T09:06:52-05:00 http://www.therevealer.org/archives/timely_003162.php By Angela Zito Groundhog Day is upon us again. Having once discussed the film with Alex Kusczynski of the NYT, back in 2003, I am approached yearly by journalists who find this first interviw online for my “take” on the film starring Bill Murray... 3162@http://www.therevealer.org/ timely 2009-02-02T08:57:59-05:00