Conservative Christianity and Adultery -- Trying to Explain Sanford and Ensign

There is one odd coincidence being noted about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nevada Sen. John Ensign (aside from the adultery, that is): They are both linked to the mostly secretive D.C.-based Christian The Fellowship, also called The Family.

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Dan Gilgoff over on the US News "God & Country" blog has a good summary of the connection.

But neither he nor anybody else I've seen have answered this question: Shouldn't involvement in a highly personal, conservative Christian group offer some inoculation against getting caught with your drawers down in the wrong place? Even critics of The Fellowship say it works to get politicians with desired religious positions into high office.

Wouldn't you think that an important part of the indoctrination would include the list of which of the Ten Commandments are most likely to make political advancement difficult if you're caught breaking them?

Coveting your neighbor's wife enough to take her on a "trail walk," if you know what I mean? Not OK. Breaking the Sabbath? Probably OK. Unless what you're doing is that "trail walk."

Turns out I know two people who have an unusual insight into the inner workings of what is a very private outfit.

Lisa Getter was a reporter for the LA Times when she worked on what may have been the first major story ever done about The Fellowship back in 2002. So I asked her what might explain the apparent cognitive dissonance between what you'd think The Fellowship is teaching and these extremely high-profile falls. Her succinct reply:

"It's all about reconciliation. They do not care if their members fail. I would argue that human vulnerability is a cornerstone of their power."

Longtime religion reporter Jeff Sharlet wrote a book about the group that was published last year. (I suspect the book would have sold better if Hillary had become the Dems' presidential nominee because he was able to link her to The Family.)

I asked him the same questions: Is there something about the theology or culture of that outfit that leads its members to think that they won't get caught? Or attracts people who are particularly vulnerable to scandal? He says:

"They've certainly specialized in political figures with scandals -- David Durenberger, Ed Meese, Mark Hatfield (his scandals long forgotten; they loaned him money to get him out of a pinch) . . . and now this pair of fine fellows."

Footnotes: Durenberger is the former senator from Minnesota convicted of misuse of public funds. Meese was attorney general under Reagan and was part of the Iran-Contra scandal. Hatfield was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee in 1992 for failure to report gifts. Google for any of their names and the word "scandal" if you want more details.

So how about the theology?

"The Core of the Fellowship ("Core" is their term) and those drawn to its approach to faith certainly reject adultery. In fact, they offer themselves as a kind of necessary antidote, teaching that men are hopeless on their own and thus need the accountability of a prayer cell," Sharlet said in an e-mail

But it doesn't work?

"That's where the yes comes in. At the most obvious level, the prayer cell can act as a sort of 'get out of jail free' card. 'Accountability' is a strange term with which to describe what happens in elite prayer cells of politicians, where men tell one another that confessing to the cell is enough. But there's a much deeper problem, and that's the Core's rejection of morality altogether -- its belief that morality is a prideful human construct. This derives from a bastardized Calvinism, a deep distortion of Calvin's idea of an elect. The best way to understand it is to look at how the Family views the King David story -- David is forgiven everything....

"They're not saying that this means you should transgress. Rather, that you will transgress, but that you must bravely accept the fact that you're still among the 'new chosen' and thus must soldier on as a 'servant-leader' in one capacity or another."

Wait!!! There's no morality??? Then how do they figure out right and wrong?

"Why, your prayer cell! Men receive messages for other men in their accountability group. So it might have gone like this -- pure speculation, based on firsthand accounts of elite prayer cells and my own short participation in a young men's cell. Sanford would bring the problem to his cell. The men would meditate on it. They might say nothing for some time. Finally, one of them would say that he thinks Sanford has to tell his wife. But it's not that he, himself, thinks this -- it's Jesus, working through the group, according to Matthew 18:20, one of the key verses of the Fellowship. Sanford might not do so, and they'd let it ride for awhile, but eventually he'd have to do so to remain in fellowship. Because part of the explicit agreement one makes upon joining is that the other men in the group have veto power over every decision in your life. Your decisions are not your own anymore.

"You can see how this might be devised with an eye toward accountability and end up leading somewhere else."


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