Unmoved

Religion | Six months of media scrutiny later, the Fellowship remains a closed group–but some within its ranks are calling for openness | Emily Belz

Photo by Tom Williams/Roll Call Pix/Newscom

WASHINGTON—Since South Carolina governor Mark Sanford announced his infidelity in a June press conference, mentioning the counsel he received from the "C Street group," the spotlight-shunning organization behind C Street—the Fellowship Foundation—has felt the glare of the media spotlight.

The news of Sanford's affair was followed by revelations of infidelity surrounding two onetime C Street residents: Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and former Rep. Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican. The organization came under criticism not just for its possible role in congressional philandering, but for its obsession with privacy, its unclear theology, and its distance from the established church ("All in the family," Aug. 29, 2009).