Jeff Sharlet, author of The Family and sometime “Rachel Maddow Show” contributor, added a comment Saturday night to a Box Turtle Bulletin item concerning recent clarifications and obfuscations over the possibility of Sharlet’s having misrepresented Family organizer Bob Hunter’s knowledge of Ugandan Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo.
In such an important historical moment, when the lives of homosexual Ugandans might be in serious peril should proposed draconian legislation see the light of law, Sharlet’s main point is not to be lost:
Bob is trying to bring peace and human rights to Uganda. We can disagree about how to do that, we can even disagree about what constitutes “peace,” but right now, on the brink of murder, our disagreements don’t matter as much as our common cause.
Fair enough. But we also can’t help but take note of how one document unearthed by Sharlet sheds light on the Family’s goal of “God-led government.” Referring to Senator Jim Inhoffe’s specific efforts in Uganda on behalf of the Family, Sharlet finds “one aspect of the Africa work” defined as
“2. THE EXECUTION OF THE VISION
A. A congressman and/or Senator from the United States will befriend the leader of another country and tell him/her how Jesus and His teachings will help his country and its poor.
B. U.S. leader and foreign leader will select 5 men (mentors) from the foreign country to commit to learn about Jesus and how He will help themselves, their country and the poor.
“… We will teach the mentors to confess their sins (known or unknown) and to ask the Holy Spirit of Christ to live in them, and to teach them how to live, what to think and what to say.”
When last Sharlet dropped by the Maddow Show set, he referred to Inhoffe as someone who saw his Family sponsored trips into Uganda and Rwanda as a bragging point and clear demonstration of how his status as a U.S. senator could be leveraged in this way.
He’d have had plenty of time to figure it out. As noted in a mid-November press release, “Senator Inhofe has had 108 visits to countries in the continent of Africa, more than any other Senator in the history of the U.S. Senate.”