Ask Senator Grassley to Use His Family Connections to Save Gays in Uganda
by Alta Price, M.D.
Having had the foresight (or perhaps just the good luck) to take this snowy day off from work, I have a little time to bring this latest Chuck Grassley story to the attention of BFIA readers. Thanks to the good work of One Iowa, once again our Senator is drawing national attention, this time for his ties to “The Family”, a.k.a. the Fellowship. Grassley has been a member of the Family since the 1980’s.
The so-called Family is a secretive organization mixing politics, wealth, and a version of Christianity I dare say most Christians would not recognize as Christian. The Family owns a house on C Street in Washington, D.C. that has been at the center of some recent GOP sexual scandals. You can learn a lot about the Family at Wikipedia.
There is also a book available in paperback about this organization, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet. Paul from Prairie Lights in Iowa City comes to my church early in the holiday season to recommend books for our holiday shopping, and he said this is the best political book of the year. (If you shop online, buy it from Prairie Lights or your own favorite independent bookstore.)
If you read the (long!) Wiki article, you can see for yourself this secretive organization may do some good work. However, you will know them by their fruits, right? (Matthew 7:15-19) Let’s look at some recent Family-connected fruits.
The Family provides housing to Senators and Congressmen at their C Street Center in Washington, D.C. One such resident is GOP Senator John Ensign. A service provided by the Family to Senator Ensign was counseling on concealing and ending his affair with his campaign treasurer, the wife of his co-chief of staff. This advice was provided by another C Street resident and Family member, GOP Senator Tom Coburn. Although ending the affair might have been laudable, the bribes offered to the mistress and her husband broke many different laws.
Another beneficiary of affair-related counseling at the C Street Center was GOP Family member Governor Mark Sanford, who last June over Father’s day left South Carolina governor-less for four days and his children fatherless when he used state money to fly first class to Argentina to visit his mistress. And the wife of GOP Congressman Chip Pickering, a former six-term Representative from Mississippi, filed a lawsuit in 2009 against Pickering’s mistress, a college sweetheart with whom Pickering restarted a relationship while living at the C Street Center.
You can watch this Rachel Maddow video, an interview with Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family, describing how the “Jesus plus nothing” theology of the Family explains the attitudes and actions of these prominent GOP Congressmen. Basically, the founder of the Family believed that God appeared to him and told him the Christian church got it wrong. Jesus does not endorse all this “help the poor and oppressed” stuff. No, Jesus wants powerful men (I do believe men only) to become as rich and powerful as possible, and then they can help the poor (“trickle-down” Christian compassion, I guess).
The newest evidence of the radical religious views of the Family is in their promotion of an anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda, introduced by a Uganda legislator who is a Family member. The President of Uganda is also in the Family, and the Family has been bragging about their influence in that country. According to The Family author Jeff Sharlet, Senator Grassley “has been very active in African affairs on behalf of the Family.”
The Ugandan anti-gay bill will put gay men and lesbians in prison for life, unless they have AIDS or have had sex more than once with someone of the same sex, in which case they will be put to death. People will be prosecuted and jailed up to three years for failure to report to the government within 24 hours the identities of anyone they know to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, or anyone who supports human rights for those who are. Someone advocating for civil rights for gays and lesbians could be imprisoned up to seven years.
One Iowa has a petition you can sign asking Family member Chuck Grassley to use his pull with the Family in Uganda to stop this outrage. This action by One Iowa reached national attention on the Rachel Maddow Show last Tuesday night.
Finally, once again BFIA calls on our many readers to call Chuck Grassley’s offices and politely (remember, the staffer you talk to is not the problem) ask Senator Grassley:
You can make your views known to Senator Grassley at the following offices:
Washington, D.C. 202-224-3744
(or email Senator Grassley from this site http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm )
Cedar Rapids 319-363-6832
Council Bluffs 712-322-7103
Davenport 563-322-4331
Des Moines 515-288-1145
Sioux City 712-233-1860
Waterloo 319-232-6657
Alta Price is a physician practicing Pathology in Davenport, Iowa. One of the original Deaniacs, she stays involved with Democracy for America, Iowa, and the Quad Cities. She advocates for quality, affordable health care for all, primarily as a volunteer with Progressive Action for the Common Good (Health Care Reform Issue Forum). Watch for Dr. Price's Health Care Reform Update every Tuesday here on Blog for Iowa. E-Mail Alta Price
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