They insist they are simply several friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious firm in Washington. They state they are not Christians, but simply believers.

Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 continues to be the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of force for the powerful. Their goal is usually ‘Jesus plus nothing.’ Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith-part free-market fundamentalism, component imperial ambition-has become interwoven with the affairs of nations all over the world.