Gustavo Alvarez Martinez
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
[likes Moonpies and ginger ale]
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Mohamed Siad Barre
Mogadishu, Somalia
[likes Campari and soda]
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Artur Costa e Silva
Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
[likes Bananas Foster]
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Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
[likes Twinkies and A&W Root Beer]
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Jonas Savimbi
Bie, Angola
[likes Twizzler's red licorice]
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Suharto
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
[likes peanut M&Ms and strawberry-flavored soy milk]
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Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova
San Salvador, El Salvador
[likes espresso with cane syrup]
---
In colonial times, freemasonry helped propel educated
individuals to the forefront of politics. Nine of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence and thirteen of the signers of the Constitution
were freemasons.
Although freemasonry considered itself an apolitical
fraternity,1 because so many colonial political leaders were
freemasons, it is difficult to separate their political activities from their lodge
activities. Prosperous men who had time to join fraternal organizations had time to devote to politics.
The rituals of freemasonry contributed to the development of the middle-class male identity.2 Masonic lodges served as focal points for political activities with freemasons playing significant roles in both the French and American revolutions.3
So is that what we have here? That so many politicians have been involved in Fellowship Foundation activities that to say Gerald Ford was a member, and Richard Nixon was not, is pointless because the Fellowship Foundation convinced Ford to pardon Nixon?
Is it futile to compile a list of Fellowship Foundation "members" because any politician interested in re-election knows that he or she must attend the National Prayer Breakfast?
Doug Coe is a student of history. Perhaps he fancies himself as the Grand Poobah of Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge No. 26? No offense, lodge brothers among us!
1. Kutolowski, Kathleen Smith. Freemasonry and Community in
the Early Republic: the Case for Antimasonic Anxieties. American Quarterly
1982; 34(5): 543-561.
2. Cary, John H. Joseph Warren: Physician, Politician,
Patriot. Urbana, IL:
University of Illinois Press, 1961.
3. Stevens, Jay. The Riddle of Joseph Warren. Yankee 1993;
57(7): 52-57.
Why do I believe that Doug Coe and his cohorts are hell-bent on world domination? Where is my evidence? Consider these questions, first:
My underlying outrage in what I have posted about Fellowship Foundation (Cedars, C Street properties) and ties to Renaissance Weekend is directly related to my beliefs about prayer's place in federal and state government activities.
I grew up in a politically and religiously conservative
home, granddaughter of European immigrants, and ended up believing precisely
what my parents believed until I went away to college and never looked back,
politically or spiritually. As an aside, I didn't know until much later about my great-grandfather's subversive political leanings that got him deported in 1942, but I digress.
I majored in Anthropology, ended up traveling the world, and tended to fall in love with exotic men. Over the course of my career, I worked in two developing nations whose national religion was not my own, and I accepted the infusion of all things religious into my daily life as I was a guest worker in their countries, and I was not observant of my own traditions.
I had always been vaguely aware of these prayer fests in Washington but thought it was confined to deeply flawed individuals who could not make it through the day without atoning for something.
Now that I realize that this ecumenical approach of C Street organizers was designed to fool the eye (not as sophisticated as trompe-l'oeil, though), I am alarmed and upset by the pervasiveness of this. As AJM said, "The easiest way to hide a piece of straw is a hay stack." Please don't dismiss this as a Christian plot to save souls; this is world domination.
I live in a state that fights to pray at school board meetings; erects ten commandments sculptures in public places; asks people to bow their heads in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ at state-assisted educational events; and allows a new license plate design that features a cross.
I am a stranger in a strange land, unwilling to bend to local custom like I did in those developing nations. As someone who slips into the local chapel from time to time to honor religious loved ones (of all faiths) that I've lost, I believe this to be true:
Matthew 6:5-6
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
