Major Christian publication looks at The Family

World Magazine, one of the leading Christian publications in America, has their own expose` on The Family (aka The Fellowship) and the now-infamous “C Street” house in Washington, D.C., where U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan lives. The article cites Chris Halverson, son of the late chaplain of the U.S. Senate Richard Halverson, who was one of the original and most powerful members of the Family from the 1950s until his death in 1995.

Chris Halverson, who was also a member of the group from the early 1960s until about ten years ago, confirmed the group’s focus on secrecy, telling WorldMag, “If you talked about it, you would destroy that fellowship.” Halverson confirms much that was written by Jeff Sharlet in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, including the group’s view of itself as a Christian mafia:

In fact, said Halverson, “they used to call themselves the Christian mafia—and they would laugh. Meaning one family is in strong power and then other families around that family have some power. . . . I would have been considered one of the families that have power.”

One of the mysteries surrounding the “C Street” house was how much the residents there, including Stupak, pay in rent. Other publications have said the rent was $600 a month, but WorldMag cites a figure of $950 a month. The article also cites, as Sharlet did, the Family’s ties to a string of brutal dictators around the world, including Suharto of Indonesia, Siad Barre of Somalia and Somoza of Nicaragua.

All of the residents of the “C Street” house, refused comment for the article. When questioned by the Michigan Messenger a couple weeks ago, Stupak vehemently denied any knowledge of the organization at all despite living at a home owned by them and having a long history of participating in their events.