Sarah Posner, who compiles The American Prospect’s always-informative “The FundamentaList,” a round-up of religious-right stories each week, interviews Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the media’s coverage of religion, about his new book, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.

As Posner writes:

The Family exposes the inner workings of an elite and secretive association of politicos (The Family boasts a bipartisan but mostly Republican roster of members, including Sens. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, and Mark Pryer, an Arkansas Democrat) and business executives (such as the CEOs of Continental Oil and the defense contractor Raytheon) who have exploited their uber-masculine, uber-capitalist version of Christianity to serve political and profit-making goals, from union-busting here at home to imperialist adventures abroad.

. . .

The Family is best known to the public for its annual National Prayer Breakfast, a seemingly innocuous event routinely attended by presidents and members of Congress.

Read the interview. Also check out TFN’s report on the National Day of Prayer (.pdf!).

Posner also authored a new book this year, God’s Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters.