Sen. John Ensign has made no secret of the importance of Christianity in his life, although he prefers to be private about it. He never brings up his faith to constituents or reporters unless asked about it. He belongs to a church in northwest Las Vegas described by its congregants as evangelical, though he shies away from that term. But it's another church with which Ensign is involved that raises all sorts of questions.
A year ago, the Associated Press picked up a story about six members of Congress who share a Washington townhouse subsidized by a secretive religious organization, known simply as the "Fellowship." As one of those legislators was our own Sen. Ensign, the story received some play in local papers. Much of the coverage focused on the $600 monthly rent the congressional residents paid, a sweet deal for the well-appointed Capitol Hill townhouse—which is officially registered as a church, the C Street Center.
Reached for comment, Ensign's office indicated that the senator only pays rent for living space, and does not belong to the Fellowship (although they acknowledge that Ensign takes part in house prayer sessions). This denial may surprise his landlord. When Maine congressman-turned-Gov. John Baldacci distanced himself from the Fellowship after leaving Washington, a Fellowship spokesperson couldn't hide his disappointment from the Portland Phoenix. " 'I have no comment on that,' he said glumly. 'I'm not going to judge him.' "
Responding to the AP story, Ensign's office composed a form letter for concerned constituents reiterating the rent explanation, and denying "any common agenda" between residents and the Fellowship. But profiles in the Los Angeles Times in 2002 and in Harper's last year tell a different story.
The Fellowship began as a series of prayer breakfasts in 1935 by Seattle Methodist minister Abraham Vereide, who feared that socialists planned to bring the city under Soviet control. Vereide's prayer groups enlisted business executives and the wealthy, surmising that with enough ministry already to the downtrodden, his would encompass men with the wherewithal to seize power for Christ. Within three years, Vereide's organization would install one of its first members into Seattle's mayoralty (later going on to serve as governor of Washington).
By 1945, prayer breakfasts in Washington, D.C., attracted up to 100 congressmen and nearly a third of the Senate. This culminated in 1953 with the Fellowship's only overt function: the annual National Prayer Breakfast every February. The Breakfast regularly attracts the top echelons of Washington power—including the president—as well as many spiritual and world leaders. Some are friends of the Fellowship. Others are being groomed. All invitees receive unique access to Washington influence.
Yet the Fellowship keeps its name out of it officially—invitations are sent out as coming from "members of the Congress of the United States of America" (i.e., legislators in the Fellowship or friendly to it), and the Breakfast is festooned with the presidential seal. Attendees and outsiders assume the Breakfast is organized by Congress, the president, or both. Even though, as one Jewish participant told the L.A. Times, there is no pretense to interfaith—Christianity was the only religion mentioned during the Breakfast he attended.
Operating with the same stealth, the Fellowship uses the Breakfast and other high-powered prayer gatherings (including some at the Pentagon) to gain its own access and influence, nationally and internationally. Sometimes, it's used for good: the Fellowship was instrumental in initiating the Congo-Rwanda peace accord in 2001. Other times, however, the not-so-good is at work. The Fellowship helped foster ties between the Reagan Administration and two Central American generals associated with death squads and mass torture. The genocidal Indonesian ex-president General Suharto was also counted among the Fellowship's ranks.
The Fellowship's worldwide network is a sort of "old boys club" meant to aggregate power—except where those clubs use camaraderie to advance its members' own interests, the Fellowship's interests are that religious fraternalism. Agents of power in its fold reach out to other agents of power. The Fellowship privately boasts that it has off-the-books carte blanche with the State Department to bring anyone in from overseas to their Virginia estates—even if they're on the terrorist watch list. Two years ago, during an official fact-finding mission, three House members affiliated with the Fellowship discussed the organization with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and extended informal invitations to National Prayer Breakfasts.
It's all designed for the ultimate consummation: the elimination of the separation of church and state, and the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world. Internal documents revealed in the Harper's exposé talk of "the place and responsibility of national secular leaders in the work of advancing His kingdom," and the Fellowship's "desire to see a leadership led by God—leaders of all levels of society who direct projects as they are led by the spirit." This is to be achieved through Fellowship "core groups"—designed like Communist cells—each meant to act as "an invisible 'believing group.'" Harper's correspondent Jeffrey Sharlet, in a follow-up interview with the online Guerrilla News Network, drove the point home: "The goal is an 'invisible' world organization led by Christ ... a worldwide invisible organization."
Sen. Ensign's office avers that he is not part of the delegation that sends out Breakfast invitations, and has never brought up the Fellowship with foreign dignitaries on trips abroad. But they also note that the Fellowship has no dues or like trappings of typical membership organizations. As such, it is difficult to ascertain to what extent anyone could "belong" to the Fellowship. Moreover, reports indicate that Fellowship members are either asked or required to keep silent about the group and its activities. Some will even deny it exists.
Invisible organization, indeed.
Jeremy Parker writes about politics biweekly. His website is lasvegasweblog.blogspot.com.