Exposing a Network of Powerful Christians

Author Jeff Sharlet.

Sharlet is on to something in his treatment of the international influence of the Fellowship, particularly in post-World War II Germany: Vereide and friends may well have had a role in expediting the rehabilitation of certain German captains of industry who should have been subjected to closer scrutiny because of their Nazi ties. But in general, political realism—and particularly the fear of communism—were far more decisive than Fellowship back-channel work in making U. S. leaders tolerate and often support unsavory authoritarian rulers around the world.

There is another problem. Some politicians supposedly under the sway of the Fellowship have often worked for goals abroad that even liberals would praise. Brownback's legislative efforts to combat the slave trade and other abuses of human rights around the world have distinguished his political career. And as Wooldridge notes in his World Affairs article, Coe himself has often used his network of international friends to help resolve conflicts between and within nations in Africa, notably within Sudan.

Sharlet's book has received advance praise from many leading thinkers and writers on the left. Thomas Frank, a Wall Street Journal columnist and author of What's the Matter With Kansas? calls it, of all studies of the American right, "undoubtedly the most eloquent" and "quite possibly the most terrifying."

But to Washington insiders who know the evangelical players and activists in the city, Sharlet's picture of the Coe and the Fellowship is absurdly overblown. "People think because he doesn't like publicity he's up to devious things," says Michael Cromartie, head of the Evangelical Studies Projects at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. "This is a case of intense paranoia about a group that is politically harmless and pastorally helpful, particularly to people who are powerful but might be going through a personal crisis."

Calling the Fellowship politically harmless may be too strong a denial of its influence in the halls of power. The Fellowship has unquestionably provided an important spiritual support group for mostly conservative politicians, activists, and business people. But even if its purposes are primarily spiritual, this network has facilitated communication and cooperation among people who also share large worldly interests, including money and power. But is this network a quietly decisive force in the larger conservative movement? The case remains unproved.