Also called for the release of those detained without charges but land said this was unacceptable Britain's parliament will attempt to defy prime minister Boris Johnson's BRACKS It plans today as lawmakers seek a way out of the impasse that's gripped the nation since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union the House of Commons is confronting Johnson over his insistence that the U.K. Leave the E.U. On October 31st even without a withdrawal agreement today it will consider a measure that will try to block a departure without a deal Johnson said Tuesday he will seek a general election the lawmakers succeed taking his message directly to the people in his bid to deliver BRACKS It. Is going to do more I just told negotiations to tell I'm not the point I was delayed to bring it to attention so you could be the only way to resolve this but it's unclear whether he will have the votes for such a move the Labor leader Jeremy Corbin said he'd welcome a vote but only after no deal BRACKS It is off the table. Good Bill Struth. Was there was an order to tell you that I would still have to tell you will on Tuesday Jones and lost his 1st vote in parliament since becoming prime minister and July and has seen his tenuous grip on power weakened by defections from his party that cost him his working majority a total of $127.00 military construction projects are being sidelined by a Pentagon decision to shift $3600000000.00 to build part of president trumps border wall Defense Secretary Mike Mark esper approved of the transfer of funds on Tuesday officials say details about the projects losing their funding will be released after Congress has notified the Pentagon accompt trawlers says the projects are being deferred and not. Canceled though there is no guarantee the funding will be restored by Congress the money is to be used to build 175 miles of wall along the US Mexico border Congress approved 1370000000 dollars for Wall construction in this year's budget same as the previous year but far less than the $5700000000.00 at the White House that. Authorities believe all 34 people who were sleeping below deck on a southern California pleasure boat perished when flames raced through the boat Monday as it anchored off Santa Cruz Island northwest of Los Angeles the search for survivors ended Tuesday at least 20 bodies have been recovered and officials continued efforts to bring in others spotted on the ocean bed some may still be inside the sunken boat. Under withering criticism the trumpet ministration is reconsidering its decision to end a program that allows a seriously ill immigrants to apply to stay in the country whilst they undergo life saving medical treatment Christopher Martinez reports the top administration has moved to and the medical deferred action program came with little fanfare last week when people in the program began receiving letters telling them to leave the country within 33 days or else face deportation to reach for many Democrats such as presidential candidate Joe Biden they're literally giving notice Judy's family that they got to unplug their kids to get them out of hospital or take them out of America why did that ever happen in United States other Democrats have also weighed in East Bay Representative Mark to Sonia has sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security asking them to reconsider the case of a Concord resident from Guatemala who is getting treatment for a rare genetic disorder treatment that is not available in Guatemala the trumpet ministration says it will now reopened certain medical deferred action cases for people who have been sent denial letters Congress member disowning A has introduced a bill to help the Concord woman who is getting care under the program reporting for Pacifica Radio News K P.F.A. Christopher Martinez the state assembly has approved legislation designed to crack down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations but Governor Gavin Newsom's office said immediately after Tuesday's vote and he'll seek additional technical amendments affecting one of this legislative sessions most hotly debated issue the bill by Democratic Senator Richard Pan of Sacramento but allow state public health officials to investigate doctors who grant more than 5 medical exemptions in a year and schools with vaccination rates of less than 95 percent official say lower rates are road to community immunity limits measles outbreaks like those that reach their highest level in decades this year upon. On and say the measure improperly interferes with doctor patient relationships mostly sunny today in the San Francisco Bay Area highs in the seventy's and eighty's lows tonight in the fifty's in the central San Joaquin Valley sunny and hot with high is above 100 IMAX Pringle NEWS returns at 830 on. Good morning you're listening to up front I'm Capt Brooks there is a conservative Christian group exerting a lot of influence in Washington D.C. And a few other places they call themselves the fellowship or the family you may remember author Jeff Sharlet writing about them and now there is a new mini series Netflix documentary directed by Jesse Moss that takes a deep dive look into the organization to the mosque is a documentary filmmaker his 2014 film The overnighters was shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars has directed for independent feature length films 3 television documentaries and produced 15 documentaries must teach us filmmaking at San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area with his family good morning thank you for having me really excited actually to have you here I watched the entire mini series in one sitting thank you for watching we had one of our interns come in and was like Have you heard about this organization called the family and I was like you talking about went promptly home that night and watched all 5 episodes. Fascinating terrifying and intriguing So tell me listeners who who is the fellowship the family who has a little well there and amorphous and in some ways hard to describe organization but I think the closest analogy might be a ministry there are a Christian ministry they have a long history which we can get into they were born in the 1930 S. In Seattle so here on the West Coast they now operate from a headquarters in Arlington Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. And they are a very influential and very secretive Christian ministry that preaches to people in political power both in the United States and around the world I want to get into their identity as Christians. It's not your traditional viewpoint of Christianity they've got their own by. All right just as Jesus on the front of it that's right there they print a little book that's actually the work of Doug Coe with a longtime leader of the organization who just passed away he reduced the Bible in the New testament to the 1st 4 books and it's his own interpretation and it's embossed with the word Jesus on the front and they give this to people who attend the National Prayer Breakfast and some other other events so it's up in a way a representation of a different kind of theology which is the pioneering vision of the fellowship we could talk about that and rather than you hear most Christian not all but most Christian theology be about sort of lifting up the the struggling the weak the poor the hungry they're about lifting up God's chosen leaders that's right that that was the vision of the founder of the organization Abrams virility who was a minister in Seattle who had a vision that Christianity had been getting it wrong and that rather than preach to the down and out which is how I traditionally understood the teachings of Jesus he should preach to the up and out the politically powerful and by doing so he could have a kind of trickle down effect if if they caught the idea his idea and came to his understanding of the teachings of Jesus that they could and then in turn have because they had political power that they could reach the masses so he concentrated his efforts 1st in Seattle on the politically powerful elected officials and business leaders in the 1930 S. And then took his vision to Washington D.C. In the forty's and fifty's and from there it grew and that's right it's really an inversion of the way many of us think about. The teachings of Jesus. I have to say as I was watching trump a few weeks ago look up to the sky and say I am the chosen one the language from the mini documentary rang in my head what is Trump's relationship with these people that's a great question and really a motivation for me in undertaking the series the project was as you pointed out it's based or inspired by a book by Jeff Sharlet called the family and a 2nd book called C. Street which was a further investigation into their work and influence and I started the project about 2 years ago after reading Geoff's books and I had a question which was what 2 questions one was was this group Jeff had written a book the books had come out about 10 years ago and my question was 1st is the group still relevant Are they powerful What are they up to the 2nd question is can they help me understand the Evangelical Relationship to Donald Trump but how is this community this constituency people of devout faith wrap themselves around someone like Donald Trump someone seemingly so on pious in his personal conduct and his political action and I hope that in the theology of the fellowship and the story of this group and their theology that I might come to understand that relationship and the group's relationship to Trump himself and it I definitely this is explored in the 5th episode of the series really it did help me understand how I mean what the fellowship embodies is. I guess a willingness to see political leaders as God's instrument that God works through people like Donald Trump and that they as. Their. Vision of. One world under God that this can be achieved by working with people who may be themselves flawed instruments but nonetheless doing God's God's work and that this is not an aberration that what we see now that this . This view is been part of the strategy the religious worldview of the Fellowship since its founding in the 1930 S. And it's not I should say an aberrant strain of thinking this is a very powerful very influential group they are behind the National Prayer Breakfast which is an annual event in Washington D.C. At the at the Hilton Hotel in Washington has been held every year since Eisenhower was president every president has come this is really a testament monument to their influence that this event and it's not just a president coming in giving an address it's actually brings people from around the world political leaders many influential Washingtonians it's an it's a very. It's a striking testament to their power talk about the evolution of the National Prayer Breakfast like how it began where it is now and then I want to get into how you got into this invite only shorewall that well the movement the fellowship was at in its early years known as the Prayer Breakfast movement and this was part of the founder Abram's Verdi's idea was that by bringing leaders together political leaders and business leaders around the breakfast table that you could minister to them and you could spread this idea of this unusual theology and if they because they were powerful you could do more work rather than by say. Establishing a church and opening your doors to anybody who might be interested this was a very specific and particular vision that you would bring these powerful people together around this idea and that you might then harness their political influence to get more and also evangelize and so this was known as the Prayer Breakfast movement and it started in Seattle and then the prayer breakfast was exported to Washington D.C. a Perm took it to Capitol Hill and he established what is now known as the National Prayer Breakfast and from there the prayer breakfast movement grew to become an international phenomenon There are prayer breakfasts in many many countries around the world some of which are the work of or have been. Created as a result of the work of the fellowship are people who were inspired by the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington bringing that idea back home to their their countries and so in one episode of the series we explore the Russian National Prayer Breakfast and how that came to be so it's still very much is a movement of Prayer Breakfast Jeff Sharlet. There's something kind of I've been I went to the National Prayer Breakfast last year didn't I got a ticket you actually. Can't buy a ticket you have to be invited and. I'm not quite sure how we slipped in with a ticket but we were given tickets and I wasn't allowed to film because no cameras are permitted but I was able to kind of freely move around and meet people and have some interesting conversations which are are some of which are actually in in the series and. It's but what's kind of boring I mean as you would imagine I think for some of us the idea of a prayer breakfast you know if someone eat pancakes and somebody stands up and says a prayer ice enough fine but Jeff Sharlet uses the phrase the evil of banality there is behind the banality of the surface of a prayer breakfast actually much more going on and that is what the series attempts to unpack and I should say I'm not a conspiracy theorist I have my documentary work is not trafficked in conspiracy theory neither is Jeff Sharlet And I think that his work what impressed me about the book is it rests on very solid reporting a great deal of historical work and investigative reporting and this series as well rests on fact which has not been challenged and this is a real organization they have a website they have tax returns in yet they do hide and so there's a tension there that's what we wanted to explore in the series of so many follow ups to what you just said let's start with the fact that the high they are the secret organization. But you managed to get them to talk to you they don't like to talk when they were in their infancy. The founder was more public with their work and when Doug Coe the 2nd leader of the organization took over in the 1960 S. He very intentionally took the group underground that was a word he used in in in the fellowships own archives are documents that Jeff Sharlet and our production team were able to dig up and look at and they're fascinating because they tell the history of the organization in their own words I think they're kind of strong evidence to what their motives are and how they chose to work and secrecy. They call they refer to themselves. As a non organization. And they made it Doug Coe recognized that they could be more influential if unlike many organizations of the Christian right you know if you summon an image of who that might be you imagine a you know a pulpit pounder on television right with a you know a large mass of congregation. Perhaps someone embroiled in some scandal OK that's a popular conception of some version of the Christian right that is not the fellowship they have always intentionally operated very differently and to great success because they I think what what Doug Coe said is that they do their best work invisibly and they work relationally I mean these are so small groups the original Prayer Breakfast was a small group of men and their organization still very much is small groups of men almost. Therapeutic in their way to meet together and talk and share openly like a Bible study I don't mean to cast a negative a light on it and in fact I attended one such group is going to get into that OK and hold on to that will come to that but. But so you asked about secrecy and they are not a transparent organization they are they there is no church they have no denominational affiliation. You can't go to a meeting of the Fellowship unless you have a ticket to the National Prayer Breakfast and even there it's not quite clear Well they don't take credit for organizing the event in fact that's another. Reflection of their sort of lack of transparency secrecy is that they are. Present the National Prayer Breakfast the invitation is actually provided by a group of members of Congress. But the event itself is actually organized by the Fellowship Doug Coe who until he passed away would would be in the called the shadows behind the stage not sometimes acknowledged by a president and you see that in the series but someone who didn't want the limelight and recognized I think astutely that he could be more effective in his ministry work if he was not on stage like Billy Graham he was referred to as the the stealth Billy Graham or the shadow Billy Graham Billy Graham course was. Incredibly telegenic and monumental figure. But but Doug Coe was the opposite Let's talk about the 2nd leader of the organization described by a bunch of leaders including Hillary Clinton as a mild peaceful loving spiritual. Leader mentor what do we know about him Well that was another big motivation for the project was to really to the extent we could understand this incredible. And influential leader of the organization for decades. By all accounts somewhat unassuming and yet quietly charismatic in the room I was I loved asking people about Toto and hearing them come try to explain his charisma his power his influence and I think he was like the organization a sum of contradictions and that he was had great humility I think which is admirable and yet clearly a design for secrecy and in that you read the archives of The Fellowship in the words of Doug Coe and this was. I think clearly his intent to take the group underground again so so. Someone of obviously an ability to really connect and powerfully move and inspire people and yet committed to a vision a theology that again is. Quite different to what we commonly understand to be. Those teachings of Jesus and his he was very close to a number of presidents and powerful political people and you hear them at the National Prayer wrecked prayer breakfast talk about him but I think you know I can see that we you know. We never fully under ravelled the mystery of Doug Coe but I think he deserves he deserved our attention in the series because he's little understood and yet wise has been enormously powerful in building this organization so it's about some of the contradictions it almost like Doesn't this power I mean this is a man that had a old for lack of better word uplifted the loyalty that Hitler was able to command among Nazis that's right one of the more disturbing things that we included in the series are and what I think was fond of doing as Jeff Sharlet has reported is extolling the virtues of a 30 certain model of authoritarian leadership and we excerpt as a sermon he gave at the navigators which is a ministry in based in Colorado and in it I mean he talks about what he's talking about is that the power of a small group of people to do extraordinary or in this case terrible things he invokes. Hitler. Now and. It's it's curious in a way that the models of leadership that he extols are these models and not you know he could certainly have invoked the you know the power of nonviolent resistance that we've seen you know in the last 4050 years and yet he talks about the Red Guard and someone who. Who who was forced to cut off her father's head as a an expression of ideological conviction and this is a disturbing story and this you know you might argue he's he's going merely making a point about what he calls the the power of the Covenant and there's a scene that Jeff described Jeff Jeff Sharlet joined the fellowship right as a young man and he lived for a time at the fellowships youth ministry which is called Ivan wall in Arlington Virginia it's part of their compound and while he was there he. Had a chance to attend some small group discussions with Doug Coe and. One such conversation is traumatized in our series that was the best way for us to show what Jeff Sharlet experienced and how Doug Coe presented himself and talked to these young men and I think that was what Jeff witnessed and what disturbed him and what motivated him to then undertake the reporting for the book was he couldn't make sense of it. And I think that we started the conversation talking about about Donald Trump you know and one of the things that I think we're all really struggling with right now is a recognition that there isn't a kind of authoritarian drift in our country and that The Globe and The Globe to certainly and in across Europe and you know what what. The role that faith organizations will play will they be a ball work to protect our democracy or where they accelerate that these tendencies and I think there's a group we live in it's I don't think an exaggeration to say we're at a precipice right we recognize that democracy here and abroad is under assault and we've seen certainly we know you know what what the slide can look like in the 20th century and. I think that you know what scared scared Jeff and scares me in looking at this organization is they have a history of working with authoritarian leaders not just an adoptee people like Donald Trump and his tendencies but for its entire history abroad working with dictators despots murderers in the post-war era and in Nazi Germany Fredy actually worked with former Nazis and. Ministry work and and I think that you know they they felt like in a sense the worse the person and this is not perhaps and you know I have I've worked with people who did prison ministry I mean I think. You know I guess I respect on some level this is again a is a tension that I think we see reflected in some of the activities not just of Doug Coe but other representatives of the organization like a desire to engage people who might be despicable and I think there are aspects to that that I I can relate to and yet I think the problem that the Fellowship races is when these are members of Congress U.S. Senators engaging with some of these people. Whose work are they doing are they doing ministry work or are they fancying our collective interests as a country as elected officials and I think the fellowship is always obvious obfuscated that right so I want to back up a little bit for listeners I might have skipped that and said baseball there are. Members of Congress that are members of the family right so there's not a membership role at least there were there was based on the fellowships historical records some of which we had access to they did identify people who they would try to recruit into the organization and in their literature in their brochures there were prominent people mentioned I think the way Jeff describes the organization today is they have there is a family at the center of the organization which is the CO family not just Doug Coe but his sons his daughters and his extended family which have played a central role so not just dug himself but the family has played the actual family has played a key role on in this movement since he has been involved in it but they have I guess I would say affiliates and friends and there is there may be a membership roster that they keep today but I'm not aware I mean I don't have access to their contemporary his records so I don't I don't know but I think people what Jeff learned is that people speak about their relationship as a friendship or an affiliation so you for example in the invitation that you might get to attend the National Prayer Breakfast comes from members of Congress who are part of a essential a steering committee Democrat and Republican Democrat and Republican that's right and historically mostly Republican and conservative Democrat but certainly members of both parties and that's a big part of their their message is that they bring people together from all over the world different political points of view and there's truth to that and that was to me an attractive idea I think it interested me and kind of seeing what that spirit of they call it reconciliation or fellowship really looks like the truth is that in in the United States at least most of those elected officials are conservative now. Are they members if you you know if you just. Come to the National Prayer Breakfast doesn't make you a member if you're involved in organizing that an event are you a member a friend an affiliate I think that's what makes the organization kind of opaque and a bit hard to understand is that like a ministry and I think if they if you come to their idea you might become then an evangelist for their vision but you might work independently of the leadership of the organization so does that make you a member or someone who is just inspired by them on a chair. That is the voice of Jesse in American documentary filmmaker talking about his new documentary The family which follows a Christian organization with a lady too much influence in Washington D.C. We are going to continue our conversation with Jesse Moss about the family after these news headlines IMAX print all of these headlines hurricane Dorian centers moving parallel to Florida's northeastern coast as it turns northward in the Atlantic the storm's maximum sustained winds this morning are near 105 miles per hour making it a Category 2 storm Dorian is centered about 90 miles away from Daytona Beach Florida and is moving at about 8 miles per hour officials in the Carolinas are bracing for the possibility of dangerous storm surge in the region Meanwhile officials in the Bahamas are just beginning to assess the widespread damage there at least 7 deaths have been reported in the Bahamas in the wake of Dorian that number is expected to rise in the coming days own Kong chief executive Kerry lamb is announced the government will formally withdraw an extradition bill that has sparked months of demonstrations in the city bowing to one of the protesters key demands 1st the government will formally withdrawal the bill in order to fully public consensus. The secretary for security will move a motion according to the rules of procedure when the legislative council recent The bill would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be sent to mainland China for trials However the lamb named 2 members to a police watchdog agency investigating issues of police brutality today protesters have also called for the release of those detained without charges but Lamb said this was unacceptable British M.P.'s are voting today on whether to extend a Bracks that line to avoid a no deal with drawl from the E.U. On Tuesday parliament voted to take control of the agenda from Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is threatening a snap election in the measure to block in no deal BRACKS It passes. Stuart Smith reports from London a vote will take place later whether to block a no deal breaks it Opposition M.P.'s want to force the prime minister to extend the deadline if he does not manage to get a deal with the this is something Boris Johnson has said he will not do meaning he'll call a general election if the vote passes but he'll need the support of 2 thirds of M.P.'s for the election to go ahead which is not guaranteed on Tuesday M.P.'s managed to take control of the House of Commons agenda allowing them to cool this vote on no deal Stuart Smith London authorities believe all 34 people who were sleeping below deck on a southern California pleasure boat perished when flames raced through the boat Monday as it anchored off Santa Cruz Island northwest of Los Angeles the search for other survivors in did Tuesday at least 20 bodies have been recovered and officials continued efforts to bring in others spotted on the ocean bed mostly sunny today in the San Francisco Bay Area highs in the seventy's and eighty's lows tonight in the fifty's in the central San Joaquin Valley sunny and hot with highs above 100 I'm Max Pringle NEWS returns a 10 on K.P.S. . No Randall Munro he's the stunningly original cartoonist author and scientific theorist who created X K C D which Monroe him self describes as a webcomic of romance sarcasm math and language Randall Monroe will be doing a K.P. a Fade benefit to introduce his new book How to absurd scientific advice for common real world problems this happens Tuesday September 10th 7 30 pm at 1st Congregational Church 2345 Channing way in Berkeley there's wheelchair access Brian Edward speaker will host with distinctive enthusiasm tickets available at brown paper tickets dot com and independent bookstores in the East Bay around the room September 10th. 8 35 in the morning here on up front I'm cat Brooks we continue our conversation. About his new doc a series the family so they work with murderers dictators except as a Christian There's a brilliant tension you capture the film because you're seeing the meat with particular types of people but they're going in for prayer right there we just want to pray hard to argue with them absolutely but give an example of a friend of the family doing such business that may not necessarily be in the interest of U.S. Citizens so when I went to the National Prayer Breakfast in an elevator I recognized former congressman Mark cell Chander and. I asked him if I could come and interview him at his home in North Carolina and at this point the Fellowship had said no we're not going to cooperate with your project I had sent them a official polite letter asking if if I could come and interview them and and their compound in Arlington and they they as they really always have to the media said no we don't we don't talk to the media civilly or particularly post Jeff Sharlet Yeah they don't like Jeff they didn't like the scrutiny that they received they prefer to do their work invisibly and so I was not surprised and yet we continued to kind of try to reach people around the periphery of the organization who maybe didn't answer to the leadership and were still willing to talk to us and Mark still janitor was someone who who did agree and Mark he's like Doug Coe embody some contradictions Mark. He's a very politically conservative former member of Congress from Ohio he. He told a story about traveling with Doug Coe to Libya to try to meet with Gadhafi at that at a time in which our relationship cut Libya agents at Khadafi direction had bombed Pan Am jet over Lockerbie Scotland and killed hundreds of people and so this was a fraught time in our relationship with Gadhafi and Libya and still Jantar. And Co nonetheless decided well you know what's to see if we can go pray with him and perhaps it'll help our fraught relationship and so Mark I mean it's a kind of madcap story and I don't want to spoil all of it for viewers hopefully but but but Mark and Doug Coe proceed to make their way to Libya. Prayer and Suze and you know you can't on one level argue with that I mean it perhaps if you know if that gesture helps lead to peace and reconciliation you know perhaps that's what's needed nonetheless they're working outside that you know traditional parameters of the State Department state craft. Free agents if you will and and yet. You know back to what we were discussing you know whose interests are being served there are they vandalizing their vision of Christianity are they representing America's or our as Americans are our interests our geo political interests it's a little it's a little muddled and I think that's always the terrain in which the Fellowship has operated and I think they've recognized that members of Congress. Can get in the door to see powerful people and you and I can't you know if we were evangelists for the fellowship and we traveled to Libya they would meet with us but if your mark still Jantar former. Member of Congress in good standing with certain. People no Republican Party you you might be able to do them a favor you know so Doug the fellowship recognize that people like. Like Mark sell Chander could could be powerful evangelists for their work both in places like Libya and in Africa particularly one of the politicians get in return for being friends of the family well for someone like Mark soldier who's a former congressman or current sitting Congressman Robert Aderholt who we profile in one episode who travel to Romania paid for by the Fellowship in places like Romania if you're an American congressman you're actually a pretty powerful person in your received as a powerful person you may be one of 435 members of backbencher with no great party leadership influence and yet abroad you can have an outsized influence in a country like Romania and you can. I think I think there's you see it without a whole a chance to. Advance your religious worldview working in alliance with politicians and faith leaders in a different country and I think that that's a story that we unpacked a bit because I think it's a current story you know it's Mark's children or was in Libya 30 years ago Congressman Robert Aderholt fellowship paid for him to go in 2017 and at the same time as Romania was prepared to vote on a ballot proposition that would make same sex marriage illegal so this was an instance of. Whether it's the fellowship or Congress matter hole advancing a specific conservative social agenda under the guise of. Prayer and reconciliation a conservative social agenda that in certain parts of let's say of Africa leads to the death and stoning of people that's right so this was the contemporary story in Romania and same sex marriage being that the battleground but as Jeff Sharlet did extensive reporting this was an issue that the Fellowship had gotten involved in in Uganda where there was. A what was called a kill the gays Bill. Being introduced by a very conservative fellowship inspired parliamentarian David Bahati and so there is a this is not an aberrant episode I think is that the important context here there is a history here the fellowship in alliance with other religious leaders. Committed to a more conservative social policy agenda have organized around where they haven't say in recent years been 6 successful. In in the United States obviously gay marriage is is is legal now they've exported that political fight to countries where they can continue to wage that battle and Central Europe we see that happening now you said earlier on in our interview that they like to avoid scandal. Not always so successful. Where they get their money from it's well because their own days it's really hard to follow the money with we were able to follow the money with Congressman Adam Holden to see because he has to file travel disclosure forms with the House of Representatives you can see who paid for his travel it's a fellowship. But where the financing for the fellowship as an organization I think their budget last year was not huge by Ministry standards International Ministries standards about $10000000.00. But I think that they are a decentralized organization and yet where that money comes from it's not clear that religious organizations have certain tax obligations but the expenditures are reported so you can see where grants are made and what they pay for staff but where that money comes from you cannot see and so it's a little bit of a black box and I think you know Jeff Jeff has a phrase he calls it the man method of doing work and. Spreading your influence send a man Methodist where like somebody does you a favor somebody with a private jet flies helps lets you fly on their jet from here to there to do some ministry work now that's the man method one man to another helping out and I think that this is a kind of network of influence resources that the Fellowship has. Long exploited and I wish we knew more than that this came up and to scandalous degree. 10 years ago and this is the substance of Jeff Sharlet 2nd book called C. Street the fellowship what Jeff learned when he was. Living with the fellowship is that they also maintained in addition to their mansion compound in Arlington Virginia they had a town a beautiful townhouse on Capitol Hill about one block from the Capitol itself and that townhouse was in fact rooming house for members of Congress who at that time were receiving. Below market rent and living to a market way below Mark market rent. And living together and now we interviewed former Congressman Zach Wamp who was part of this house called C. Street and. You know when Jeff wrote the family great great book made a splash but I think a lot of people were like wait a minute I'm not sure I you know I buy this isn't really what you know what you're reporting Jeff and and and I think a lot of people dismissed it and yet about a year later the scandal erupted at C. Street which was that there were a number of members of Congress Senator John Ensign and others who were embroiled in a sexual scandal infidelities and it sort of burst out in the public consciousness and. It was unfortunate for the fellowship brought a great deal of scrutiny to their activities and it turned out that the C. Street residence was in fact. Zoned as a or classified and their tax returns they say they were claiming it was a church and a parent now we number of clergy. We interviewed one of the clergy members who have objected to this and felt like this was the kind of activity that it gave churches a bad name real church churches where you could go and attend a religious service but you couldn't do at C. Street and with the fellowship you can't do that. There's was an abuse of the law and that there was a complaint filed and that that the classification of that building St was since changed so that was one instance where I think a little bit of what I want to say follow the money but follow the you know that a Byzantine chain of title and there's a there are a number of foundations and non-profits that are loosely connected in some cases more tightly connected and unpacking all of these relationships and it's it's not a conspiracy but it's a network of organizations and individuals who are working in concert and together to advance a shared vision so one of the questions that you had that you stated at the outset of your film was are they still relevant today Doug Coe has passed there's a new leader of the organization who is that it's not clear who is going to step into docos big shoes and it looks like there's a little bit of a leadership struggle actually so. The question of relevance today was was a big one for me and it was answered by both Congressman at or Holt's travels to Romania which was I think a demonstration of their continued influence internationally but secondly by the scandal of the Russian spy Maria Bhutto who was arrested and charged with spying a 10. In the National Prayer Breakfast in an attempt to influence American policy towards Russia this is a story we listeners may recall over the last year this erupted and I think it's notable that when Bhutto at the direction of Alexander torsion very influential Russian politician of some ill repute. When she when she was infiltrating these American organizations she targeted the National Prayer Breakfast the fellowship and the N.R.A. She went to places where she. Recognized were networks of. Right wing power and so I mean this has happened midway through our production and to me was I think confirmation that this organization remains relevant that the prayer breakfast is still a vital event and clearly more than just a breakfast with a prayer right if a Russian spy is working the back room now if you read the affidavit in a case pretty interesting one of the doco son in law who's excerpted in the episode because he is the he's the family to fellowship ambassador who really forged the relationships with the with the Russians who attended the prayer breakfast including boots and I think you see kind of how that event works and how relevant it remains as a network of power and I say evangelical tool I'm hesitant to go where I want to go next because it was such a plot twist but it was a really important piece of the journey for me as as someone who lives of tries to live a faith based life and I was struggling right with well yeah you should go play with people the way people eat what's happening and the distortion of what I believe jesus teachings. And this image we have of these being all you know white conservative men with this political agenda but there are small groups of the family made up of your everyday people across the country correct there are I mean it was an exciting and unexpected dimension to the story that I encountered through the My attendance at the National Prayer Breakfast a group of men from Portland Oregon and they invited me in a very open way to attend their small group meeting in Portland and they're far from the center of power right I thought this was a network of powerful. People which it is but there are men who are not politicians and but there they were inspired by Doug Coe and by this vision and they meet weekly Friday mornings in a strip mall and it's a very unassuming place and I was impressed because at the National Prayer Breakfast one member of this small group stood up and asked one of the leaders Doug Burley a very challenging question about transparency and accountability and I thought wow that's I didn't expect to see that kind of. Internal criticism and they you know. They were open to me and I think that there is that dimension to the prayer breakfast of the sort of openness of like well if you know perhaps God led you here and you know and lead you to us they said that to me when I came to Portland to go to their small meeting on Friday morning and they this is so this is a group that's been officially led by a man named Larry Anderson who's African-American former police officer from Portland How about half the group I think when I was there is about 15 or 20 men about half are African-American many have are coming out of prison have you know like I think are come from a very different background than the the white members of the group are more upper middle class middle class what's striking about the group is that they were devoted to a conversation around race and I found it really kind of bracing and refreshing because this as you alluded to the leadership the fellowship these are this is a group led by white men and always has been and they do work with leaders internationally. Of different races but the leadership of the group and it's always been a patriarchal group and a white patriarchal group and but the leader of this small group in Portland Larry Anderson. Immediately challenge me personally 1st of all they said if you want to film this group you have to put yourself in it you have to be a part of it and you're there for it you did it and I don't normally put myself on camera I prefer to be behind the camera but I felt like this was not a request and I should. Respect it and it's messy I'm alone I was a little embarrassed by it and yet I felt like I wanted to represent to the audience in a truthful way and and you see me struggle they challenge me because my crew was all white and they said Here you've shown up in this group it's about it's about you know race and honest accounting of race and yet you're look at you you're you know what's wrong with you and and I was caught off guard and I you see me struggle to answer the question and reflect on it and. And you can see them doing to me what I think. Any new member of the group experiences or current members too it's a way in which you challenge each other and I found it it's it's uncomfortable but I've never been in a any kind of therapeutic small group and yet refreshing in a way I mean the faith component to it I have a harder I mean the scene ends with Larry Anderson asking me to get on my knees and submit to his I think is their vision of Jesus right and that was not what I was willing to do but I was willing to go there and have an honest conversation and Larry. You know he's he knew Doug Coe and was inspired by Doug Coe and yet he refers to the group as the Christian mafia and he calls them out and yet he's a member of the group so there's a kind of contradiction or a tension there too and does Larry represent. A new generation of leadership in the fellowship or is he just an outlier you know what does this group how does this group fit in the hole and I guess I you know I can't fully answer that question and I I think the series is full of some sort of. Some contradict contradictions like the group itself I think it doesn't all resolved neatly and I've come to I guess understand that about documentary particularly is that it's not fiction it doesn't wrap up in neat and tidy ways and I think audiences recognise and embrace that kind of complexity and I think you see that in this Portland group but usually because well 1st of all they don't steal for. Going to have an honest conversation and you could have very easily have edited out your fumbling around the race question I mean you could have edited it that we wanted to so I as a viewer and as a journalist appreciated the transparency but I thought that this conversation about race taking place in this particular group in Portland Oregon to sort of the you know the center of the growing white nationalist the premises movement in the country was fascinating yeah I mean I felt like there was a whole movie to be made with there I would love to go back and you know one of the things we've come under some criticism since the series came out the fellowship released a statement and they said that I felt that I had mischaracterized their work they haven't articulated what what that Misc characterization is I would love to know if they have further critique if we got any facts wrong I'd love to know that. But it was affirming to me that actually the members of that group Larry and another member who invited me were happy with the way that they were presented I think they felt like I was in on a spree trail and I think you know we did work hard you asked about access right so we initially they said no they're the leadership said no and after about a year of persistence they did agree to allow 2 senior members of the organization to sit down and speak to us and those are conversations that are included in the series is former Congressman Zach Wamp to place a senior role in the National Prayer Breakfast and Larry Ross who is there unofficial spokesman so getting that you know I guess I guess I wanted to let them speak in their own words about their work I mean that's my documentary work. Has tended to I've tended to do that I like to allow people to speak for themselves and . So I think that they are allowed to represent themselves and I think the audience . You know these are sharply divergent points of view. Jeff Sharlet point of view and what Zach Wamp and Larry and others have to say about the work of the fellowship and. And I think that. There are strong voices of critique that come from within the faith community and those were very important for me to find in this telling the story now you know I'm I'm on my own journey and for me this began before this project I made and a movie about a Lutheran pastor living a very different kind of. That project inspired this in a way because I watched a pastor open the doors of his church to well talk to welcome homeless men who were unemployed and looking for work and the North Dakota oil field and I saw him sacrifice everything to help these men and to love them and it destroyed his life and it blew the congregation his congregation apart and I thought wow like I know that that is he wasn't just preaching he was practicing his faith in a profound way and what interested me about the fellowship was they I wanted to know how they practice their faith and not just preach it but practice it in on the biggest stage in the world right in in Washington and internationally and that was the conversation I one of the series to have and and to not be you know us looking from the outside in but to really be inside of it and so I'm talking to members who are still who you know who are who think of affectionately about doco and were and were inspired by his words and his work and yet are very critical of the fellowship I'm thinking of Doug Hampton who was a senior aide to Senator John Ensign who fell out with the group but he's to me one of the strongest voices of critique when he says Jesus and Capitol Hill don't mix. I can believe you know where Doug is coming from I may not share his faith but I believe where he's coming from and so that was important for me to have his view and others like him in the series if you listen up front on Cap Ex I have been in conversation with filmmaker Jesse Moss about his new Netflix mini doc called. The family. Is an American documentary filmmaker whose 2014 film The overnighters was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars he has directed for independent feature length films 3 television documentaries and produced 15 documentaries boss teaches filmmaking at State University and lives in the bay with his family Thank you Jesse thank you so much. That's it for us stay tuned democracy now is coming your way at 9 o'clock. This is a church accessible event in the Bay Area. 50. Holds a luncheon featuring Native American mental health activists Janet King. The luncheon takes place on Saturday September 14th at 11 30 am at 30 Smith branch role in San Rafael registration by September 9th is required for details call 15726959 The community college is produced by the 1st choice apprenticeship program. Accessible listing for consideration at least 4 weeks in advance to K.P. If they bought 51929 months between Greenway in Berkeley park email counter. Or to hear this counter again 510-848-6767 extension 61 is going to also. From New York State Democracy Now. History it is a scene of devastation in the Bahamas after. Hurricane residents of Florida Georgia and the Carolinas are now bracing for the storm. Go to the Bahamas for the latest then we look at press freedom and threats to journalists around the globe in the Philippines the American journalist and activist Brandon Lee remains in critical condition a month after being shot outside his home in what supporters believe was an assassination attempt by the Filipino government meanwhile in Nigeria the independent journalist former presidential candidate more lay shoring has entered his 2nd month and person after calling for antigovernment protests. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now Democracy Now dot org The War and Peace Report I mean the good men the Bahamas have been left utterly devastated after the category 5 hurricane Dorian ravaged the island nation the death toll has gone up to at least 7 people in the Bahamas as the island continues its rescue efforts dramatic images reveal the extent of the damage with entire neighborhoods decimated on the island and Grand Bahama as many as 13000 homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged some reports say 70 to 80 percent of the affected areas remain underwater including the Grand Bahama International Airport New York Congress member Alexandra Cortez tweeted about the disaster she said this is what climate change looks like it hits Rollerball communities 1st residents of Florida Georgia and the Carolina.