The Revealer: My Loveless World
Not long after I published The Family, my account of a network of elite evangelicals in government, military, and business, I received a surprising invitation: Marvin Olasky, about whom I’d written briefly in the book, wanted me to visit him at his Empire State Building office. Olasky, a Jewish convert to evangelicalism, is one of American fundamentalism’s most influential — and most thoughtful — intellectuals, the author of a book titled The Tragedy of Compassion that set the tone for more than a decade of “compassionate conservatism” and editor-in-chief of World magazine. He’s a compassionate guy, which is why, after we spoke for three hours, he still holds out hope for me:
Sharlet’s world is a loveless universe where the real mission of individuals and groups is expanding their own power and controlling the behavior of others. And that’s the second reason evangelicals should not dismiss Sharlet. Leo Tolstoy wrote, “I have learnt that all men live not by care for themselves but by love.” Sharlet has not yet learned that, but he’s only 36.
Olasky is only 58, but I hold out hope that he’ll be more careful the next time he reports on a conversation that’s being recorded. His article is a mess of factual errors and misrepresentations. I haven’t read his book Telling the Truth: How to Revitalize Christian Journalism. For all I know, maybe he thinks facts are heathenish.
Meanwhile, I don’t suppose I’m missing out on a lot of sales to readers of World, which I once described as “an angry, fierce magazine with a hard-to-believe veneer of sweetness — the Mike Tyson of evangelical publishing.” But in the spirit of interfaith dialogue, I’ll nonetheless offer a few corrections in the same gentle spirit in which Marvin teases that I “yearn for dominating power.” Hmm. Actually, that’s kind of kinky.
Power vs. love
Jeff Sharlet reflects the growing paranoia about evangelical influence in politics.
Marvin Olasky, World Magazine.
…And then, in the end, there’s my loveless world. Sheesh! I hope Marvin doesn’t know something about my family he’s not telling me! I, on the other hand, know something about our conversation that he’s not telling his readers: We talked at length about the love ethic that ultimately trumps power. If Marvin forgot, he could have just checked the book: The last page is my terribly earnest declaration of hope for a democracy embraceable by “believers and unbelievers alike, all of us who love our neighbors more than we love power or empire or even the solace of certainty.”
Here’s hoping Marvin will one day meet us there.
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Thanks, Bene.
You’re welcome Jeff, I’d actually like to read his interview but it isn’t worth signing into the mag to do so.
Given how you’ve been treated at the World blog in the past, I’m curious.:^)
Hi Jeff,
I only just heard of your book “The Family” today, having read an interview with you in Harpers. I have to say I find it incredibly irresponsible and sensationalist that the first thing you do is compare evangelical devotion to their faith with Hitler…. Might you be a tad bit hyper-paranoid?
Devout Christians have ALWAYS called for full devotion to Christ–reflecting back to the Torah’s call (repeated by Jesus) to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” (Deut. 6:4,5) Only among certain elites in the past 100 years or so has devotion to ones faith–more than that of a casual hobby–been seen as characteristically suspect of would-be-totalitarians.
I know Doug Coe, and my father and he are friends. Dad helped organize the National Prayer Breakfast for over 20 years–and I helped during that time as well. NEVER EVER, have I heard anyone associated with the Fellowship Foundation express any admiration of any kind for Hitler or Mao–nor have they shown any love for anything resembling a totalitarian form of government–on the contrary most are small-government conservatives-verging-on-libertarians.
Every world religion that I know of envisions a time when all people will come to accept the universal truths that religion holds… And most world religions (Christianity included) see that day coming about NOT THROUGH ANY COMPULSION. The Crusades–and the mentality behind them–ended 700 years ago–and the great majority of Christians, evangelical fundamentalists included–see no place for forcing their faith on anyone. Gotta watch out for those Amish fundamentalists, right? Islam….not “The Family” (shudder! is it the MAFIA???) in its fundamentalist form is the biggest risk today–not those who believe, teach and live, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16)
Why you, and others are so afraid of people that actually make their religion (not their politics…) the deepest and most central aspect of their life–ie they are religious about it…. I’ll never understand.