The Fellowship and its Florida connections. Just how powerful is this group?

[madfloridian]

I knew Grace Nelson, wife of Senator Bill Nelson of Florida was part of the Fellowship, as is he. I learned more from the Mother Jones article today. She is really quite involved.

Mother Jones on the Fellowship

A few snips about Grace Nelson and how influential she is in politics and religion. Since this group is tax exempt, they should not be so much about religion in the offices of government.

When Clinton first came to Washington in 1993, one of her first steps was to join a Bible study group. For the next eight years, she regularly met with a Christian "cell" whose members included Susan Baker, wife of Bush consigliere James Baker; Joanne Kemp, wife of conservative icon Jack Kemp; Eileen Bakke, wife of Dennis Bakke, a leader in the anti-union Christian management movement; and Grace Nelson, the wife of Senator Bill Nelson, a conservative Florida Democrat.

This next statement by Grace Nelson is stunning and to me alarming. I was raised in the church, Southern Baptist, but I never subscribed to the notion that leaders world wide must have a calling from God.

We contacted all of Clinton's Fellowship cell mates, but only one agreed to speak—though she stressed that there's much she's not "at liberty" to reveal. Grace Nelson used to be the organizer of the Florida Governor's Prayer Breakfast, which makes her a piety broker in Florida politics—she would decide who could share the head table with Jeb Bush. Clinton's prayer cell was tight-knit, according to Nelson, who recalled that one of her conservative prayer partners was at first loath to pray for the first lady, but learned to "love Hillary as much as any of us love Hillary." Cells like these, Nelson added, exist in "parliaments all over the world," with all welcome so long as they submit to "the person of Jesus" as the source of their power.

Run that by me again?

Cells like these, Nelson added, exist in "parliaments all over the world," with all welcome so long as they submit to "the person of Jesus" as the source of their power.

That is the wife of our Senator Nelson saying that they welcome only Christians who submit to Jesus into these cells in "parliaments of the world".

The Fellowship, whose goal is to work toward a leadership led by God, is considered tax exempt.

More about the Fellowship

" You’re combining, on some level, religion and politics, " Chuck Lewis, director of Washington’s Center for Public Integrity, told the L. A. Times’ Lisa Getter, about the Fellowship.

A similar reaction to the group came from the Reverend Barry Lynn, head of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, as expressed to the AP: " What concerns people is when you mix religion, political power, and secrecy. "

On the Fellowship Foundation’s annual Form 990 tax-exempt-organization report to the Internal Revenue Service, under " Relationship of Activities to Accomplishment of Exempt Purposes, " the foundation declares that its aim is " to identify laymen who have an understanding of what it means to work towards a leadership led by God and introduce them to others with similar goals and interests. " Theocracy literally means government by God, and it could be defined as " a leadership led by God. "

Senator Bill Nelson's wife, Grace Nelson, is on the board of directors of the Fellowship Foundation.

Getter quotes the group’s long-time leader, Doug Coe, 73, as saying that its mission is to establish a "family of friends" around the world by spreading the word of Jesus to powerful people: "The people that are involved in this association . . . are the worst and the best. Some are total despots. Some are totally religious. You can find what you want to find."

Members, who carry no cards and are very loosely defined, are required to keep quiet about their activities. But publicly available documents reveal that the Fellowship Foundation — a central legal entity, but far from the only one involved with the group — has an $11-million-a-year budget and a board of directors including Grace Nelson, wife of Florida’s Democratic US Senator Bill Nelson. Its president is Richard Carver, Air Force assistant secretary under President Reagan. Its rich backers include Jerome Lewis, a Denver oilman; Republican contributor Michael Timmis; and Paul Temple, a Maryland investor. Among members, Getter writes, are congressmen who are in charge of the State Department and foreign-aid budgets."

Bill and Grace Nelson are Florida power people. I am upset that such a group has found it important to be so secretive.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[madfloridian]

2. Actually that is a lie.

And I don't like being followed around and being accused of that.

I hope others will go ahead and post if they wish. Some have told me that when I am attacked like this they won't post in the thread.

Getting tired of it.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[madfloridian]

5. That is 3 in 5 minutes. This is out of control.

.

[illinoisprogressive]

4. know what, jmp, I think Howard Dean is wonderful and the hero of our party.

he saved and strengthed the dnc after the clinton's dlc buddy, Mcauliffe ran it into the ground.
Not only that but, he saved our party from becoming little republicans and moved us into a new progressive era.
hooray!!!!!!!!
Dean rocks.

[madfloridian]

6. Thank you.

I am keeping track now of how often jmp does this to me.

Appreciate the nice comment. The post is deadly serious about the religous halls of power in this country.

:hi:

[illinoisprogressive]

8. It's scary as hell. don't know why jmp hates Dean.

[madfloridian]

15. Something is going on with disruption here.

It is scary.

[jmp]

10. He said something nice about Dean ...

Not you. Though I'm starting to wonder. :eyes:

[madfloridian]

12. I can not post a thread without you trying to bring it down.

I am a she. I don't know who the he is you are referring to.

I am not employed by any group, I happen to be a member of DFA and a great respecter of the work Howard Dean has done for the party.

You are harassing me.

[jmp]

20. Well that was like pulling teeth.

Thanks for the disclosure.

[jmp]

7. That's all fine ...

Even though I don't agree. My issue is with what I believe is a PR campaign being run on here under the guise of 1 Democrat's opinion. If you are a paid shill, then you should admit as much. To not do so is dishonest.

[illinoisprogressive]

9. I don't think so. sometimes an issue gets to a person and you become passionate.

[illinoisprogressive]

11. Wonder what. i like Dean and supported him in 04 and think he is doing a great job.

I also think this story is really scary.
so, what is the problem with that. i am entitled to my opinion

[razors edge]

13. Actually,

You sound like the paid shill, or a disruptor at least.

[madfloridian]

14. Contact the administrators, jmp. Let them decide if I am a PR person.

Talk to them, write them, email them.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

21. Contact the mods about me. Go ahead.

I don't mind at all.

[madfloridian]

16. I am waiting for you to contact the admins. NOW

I am very tired of your hounding me from thread to thread.

It is getting quite scary.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[illinoisprogressive]

19. Dictat, people have a right to an opinion even if it doesn't gel with yours.

just because people express an opinion different from you doesn't mean anything. If you disagree with me, are you a shill for someone else. that is so immature.
as for Madfloridian, she is passionate about this issue. so why is that bad. it is good to have passion.

[razors edge]

22. I have an antique lodge portrait

of the "The Founders of the Odd Fellowship in America" hanging in my basement, picked it up at a garage sale years ago.

I keep it to remind me from time to time that these secret societies do exist and take themselves very seriously. Just one more way the game is rigged against us.

While they don't seem to have the same zeal for religion, they do represent the secret hand of control.

A quote from the portrait: "THE MOST POPULAR SECRET ORDER EXTANT, NOW HAVING A MEMBERSHIP OF OVER 1,286,000."

http://www.ioof.org/ioof_history.htm




The all seeing eye once again.

[madfloridian]

24. I had never heard of them, but on a search I found this article

from the Boston Globe last week.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/08/26/attrition_pomp_threaten_to_render_historic_odd_fellows_fraternity_irrelevant/

The article is most interesting.

I also saw this nursing home Washington. Very nice.

Oops editing link for picture of nursing home

http://www.oddfellows.com/

[razors edge]

26. They seem like a decent group,

with a long tradition, sort of the first tradesman's union.

Somehow all this organization, with the mason's, the shriners, and other, has broken down.

I don't care for the secrecy, but these organizations did, and still do, help the needy.

[madfloridian]

27. Let your light so shine before men....

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

I just don't see a need for secrecy when a group is doing good works for others in the name of God.

[razors edge]

28. Nor do I, n/t

[madfloridian]

29. Well, of course I don't think people need to make a public spectacle

of their good deeds either. :7

Just no need to be secret as an organization.

:hi:

[hedda_foil]

23. The Fellowship is the essence of fascist fundamentalism

The seminal article about it was published in Harpers a couple of years ago by a writer who actually lived at the Fellowship House in the DC area for a couple of weeks. It's horrifying and a must-read. Here's the link. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2003/03/0079525 The fact that Nelson and his wife are so intimately involved with this bunch is definitely something worth worrying about.

BTW, I alerted on your harrasser and I'm sure I'm not the only one, mf.

[madfloridian]

25. Thank you so much.

I am concerned about their involvement also.

:hi:

[madfloridian]

30. Interesting how the group works.

"Coe counsels that Fellowship cells shouldn't engage in direct evangelical activism, but rather allow Christian causes to benefit from the bonds that develop within the cells. Former Nixon counsel Chuck Colson provides a rare illustration of the process in his 1976 Watergate memoir, Born Again. Facing prosecution in 1973, Colson allowed Coe to ensconce him in a Fellowship cell with a Nixon foe, Senator Harold Hughes. Hughes became the Nixon hatchet man's staunchest defender, voting in favor of a possible pardon for Colson and later supporting Colson as he built Prison Fellowship, now one of the most powerful organizations of the Christian right.

That's how it works: The Fellowship isn't out to turn liberals into conservatives; rather, it convinces politicians they can transcend left and right with an ecumenical faith that rises above politics. Only the faith is always evangelical, and the politics always move rightward.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-3.html

[Supersedeas]

32. with us or against us mentality

[MadHound]

31. The Fellowship is just one more tool to mold politicians of two parties

Into the corporate controlled shills of a one party government. Scary how far along this path the American people have gone.

[madfloridian]

33. Prayer cells in government?

It just seems too much. And our leading presidential candidate has been in on the ground floor for years.

We just accept it all now so naturally.

:shrug:

[madfloridian]

34. Bill Nelson will have an announcement today about the DNC

Will be interesting.

Looks like he is in charge of the party here for sure. Sounds like a lawsuit. I may be wrong. It would be one more way to break the finnacial back of the DNC.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/floridapolitics/entries/2007/09/06/friday_dem_primary_meeting_pos.html

"Florida Democrats this morning have canceled Friday’s planned meeting on the Jan. 29 primary situation, which would have included discussions about setting caucuses so late in the process — possibly May — that the January primary would maintain its relative importance even though it would technically be non-binding.

Word is that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to announce some action challenging the Democratic National Committee’s sanctions against Florida today, and that the state party did not want to “get sideways” with the state’s top elected Democratic, said one insider."

(The state party did not want to "get sideways" with him? Oh, Lordy, he really is boss here.)

[madfloridian]

35. Update to PBP statement.....about Nelson.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/floridapolitics/entries/2007/09/06/friday_dem_primary_meeting_pos.html

"UPDATE: While Nelson has started laying groundwork for a possible lawsuit regarding the DNC sanction, he is not planning any announcement today on that issue. Instead, he is filing a bill that would formalize a system of regional primaries for the 2012 presidential election.

Nelson did, though, lobby against holding the meeting Friday, arguing that it was premature and too early to put a caucus plan on the table.
State Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said that state chairwoman Karen Thurman “took his opinion into account.”

The meeting will likely be held next week, after the party receives information from the DNC and the four early states regarding what precisely the candidates’ “pledge” not to “campaign or participate” in states that set their votes too early means.

Original:

Florida Democrats this morning have canceled Friday’s planned meeting on the Jan. 29 primary situation, which would have included discussions about setting caucuses so late in the process — possibly May — that the January primary would maintain its relative importance even though it would technically be non-binding.

Word is that U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to announce some action challenging the Democratic National Committee’s sanctions against Florida today, and that the state party did not want to “get sideways” with the state’s top elected Democratic, said one insider.

No response yet from Nelson’s office.

Read more details about the Democratic primary situation here.