In a rare public forum, controversial pastor Doug Wilson took center stage Thursday night at an auditorium on the University of Idaho campus, to field digital questions from the local community, accompanied by two leaders from his Christ Church ministry.
“We are part of this town, and we would like to get along as much as possible,” said Wilson, explaining the purpose of the town hall.
Since its founding, Christ Church has frequently clashed with the wider Moscow community. One recent point of contention was the church’s vocal opposition and active resistance to federal and local COVID-19 restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic’s spread. Wilson urged followers to “resist openly” these measures, referring to it as a “cold civil war.”
In September 2020, the church organized two anti-mask protests at Moscow’s City Hall, leading to citations, arrests and a subsequent legal battle where a judge ruled the city wrongfully arrested protesters since religious and protest activities were exempt from mask mandates.
The church was founded in the 1990s, and experts studying the church estimate the size of the congregation and its offshoot churches at about 2,000, or 10% of the city’s total population, according to The Guardian.
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(Photo: Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, CC BY-SA)
Wilson told the town hall that members of Christ Church have “substantive disagreements” with the secular worldview but added, “It is not the case that we have to disagree about absolutely everything. … So I have a very modest goal, which is to remove misunderstandings and unnecessary disagreements that simply create unnecessary friction in our town.”
As he spoke some members from the audience jeered, many carrying signs that read “Christ Church Not Welcome Here” and “F _ _ _ Christ Church.”
Wilson said those heckles are why Christ Church doesn’t host more community forums.
Wilson and other ministers have also faced widespread criticism for the church’s handling of sexual abuse cases in its congregation. The allegations against the church involved requesting leniency for convicted abusers, siding with alleged perpetrators over victims and discouraging victims from speaking out.
Several members of the church, including former deacon Alex Lloyd who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in 2022, have faced arrests and convictions related to sex crimes.
When asked about this at the town hall, Wilson stated that any church leader admitting to a sexual offense would be required to resign.
However, there have been accusations that the church has not always properly reported alleged crimes to law enforcement. One of those accompanying Wilson, King’s Cross Church Pastor Toby Sumpter, maintained that if made aware of a crime, the church would notify the police. Critics have questioned the church’s transparency and responsiveness in dealing with such allegations among its members.
Adding to locals’ unease, Wilson co-authored a 1996 book, “Southern Slavery as It Was,” that portrayed slavery in the pre-Civil War American South as relatively benign, sparking accusations of racism. The first question of the Town Hall Thursday night was about Wilson’s book.
Wilson said his church can’t “defend anything that’s indefensible,” including the accounts of slaves who were abused and mistreated, but noted that wasn’t the case for all enslaved people.
When the crowd hollered responses to Douglas, they were met with “Be quiet!” from Christ Church members in the audience, who seemed to be the majority. The panelists quickly moved to the next questions.
In addressing the misconceptions the community has about Christ Church, Wilson said his congregation doesn’t want to conduct “a hostile takeover” of Moscow, making a reference to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
But Wilson reasserted several of his controversial viewpoints that have sparked tensions with the broader progressive voices in Moscow in the past. He reiterated his belief, based on biblical teachings, that women should be prohibited from certain leadership roles within the church. He also expressed skepticism about climate change, questioning whether it is a real phenomenon, if it is caused by human activities and if it can be reversed, while adding that he does not necessarily view climate change as inherently negative.
Furthermore, Wilson reaffirmed his long-standing opposition to same-sex marriage and his stance against abortion, including in cases where the pregnancy results from rape and incest.
Wilson, who has said he wants Moscow to “become a Christian town,” explained at the forum that he stands by that but wants it to happen “by means of persuasion and evangelism and by us being good neighbors and serving our neighbors and cultivating good relationships. That’s what I want. But what I don’t want is any kind of coercive top-down takeover.”
The panelists emphasized the church is evangelizing the town through Christian education, family and business. “We also have a number of entrepreneurial business people in the church that are trying to provide goods and services for the community,” Sumpter said, noting Christ Church members own numerous coffee shops and restaurants throughout Moscow.
More than 100 people attended the forum, which was organized by the student group Collegiate Reformed Fellowship.
University of Idaho student Henry Truillo said he was disappointed more students didn’t attend the forum, noting it felt like mostly Christ Church members in attendance. “It felt like it was set up by them and that the questions weren’t from college students,” he said.
Student Josie Gregg agreed, adding that Wilson seemed to be defending the accusations against his church, which seemed unChristian.
They left the forum early, both agreeing the town hall didn’t accomplish its mission to bridge any divides in town.
This article was originally published by FāVS News in Spokane, Washington.
Award-winning journalist Tracy Simmons has been a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas and Connecticut and is a contributor to FāVS News.
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20 Responses
Yikes! A significant population of his city attends this church? Excerpts from Doug Wilson’s book on slavery, Southern Slavery, As It Was:
“Slavery as it existed in the South … was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence,” the excerpts read in part. “There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world. …
“Slave life was to them [slaves] a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.”
If a woman is raped, the rapist should pay the father a bride price and then, if the father approves, marry his victim.
Gay men and lesbians, Wilson says, are “sodomites,” “people with foul sexual habits.” But the biblical punishment for homosexuality is not necessarily death, Wilson says in trying to distance himself from Reconstruction. Exile is another possibility.
Cursing one’s parents is “deserving of punishment by death,” Wilson adds. “Parental failure is not a defense.” And Christian parents, by the way, “need not be afraid to lay it on” when spanking, he says.
Source: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/doug-wilson%E2%80%99s-religious-empire-expanding-northwest
Yikes! See the scary viewpoints below. Here are some quotes from Doug Wilson’s book on slavery:
Slavery as it existed in the South … was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence,” the excerpts read in part. “There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world. …
“Slave life was to them [slaves] a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.”
If a woman is raped, the rapist should pay the father a bride price and then, if the father approves, marry his victim.
Gay men and lesbians, Wilson says, are “sodomites,” “people with foul sexual habits.” But the biblical punishment for homosexuality is not necessarily death, Wilson says in trying to distance himself from Reconstruction. Exile is another possibility.
Source: https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2004/doug-wilson%E2%80%99s-religious-empire-expanding-northwest
Rob, thanks for sharing these excerpts. It’s unfathomable to me how anyone can still think this way (and say it out loud) in the 21st century.
RF,
“If a woman is raped, the rapist should pay the father a bride price and then, if the father approves, marry his victim.”
Where is this law in scripture?
If anyone takes the time to understand Wilson’s view of slavery instead of just quoting excerpts, you will find it to be thoroughly biblical.
Not when it’s bearing false witness, which it clearly is. We have myriad accounts of horrible beatings, harsh conditions, families ripped apart during slavery.
Th chattel slavery of the US was, according to OT Levitical law, kidnapping and was a death penalty offense.
‘
1) It was a capital crime to kidnap a person and sell him into slavery (Exodus 21:16)
2) It was a capital crime to own a person who had been kidnapped for slavery (Exodus 21:16)
3) Female slaves were protected from abuse and sexual assault.
4) An injured or abused slave was to be released (Exodus 21:26-27.
5) Run-away slaves were to be protected and given freedom.
6) The maximum duration of slavery for indebtedness was six years, and even “life-long” slaves were to be released every 50 years (Exodus 21, Leviticus 25).
To be intellectually honest and be biblical, then ALL slave owners and all slave traders should have been put to death. “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.”
Maybe that is what the Union armies should have done at the end of the Civil War.
So anyone who says agrees with Wilson that American slavery is biblical, is either ignorant or intentionally dishonest.
show me anywhere that Wilson says American slavery was biblical.
Mark – you yourself said that Wilson’s view of slavery is “thoroughly Biblical”. Perhaps you should answer your own question by clarifying.
He said Wilson’s VIEW on slavery was biblical, not that Wilson said slavery is Biblical.
From Wilson’s book:
“God created the human race in Adam and Eve, and all of us are descended from them, and are therefore cousins. Lest the point be missed, we are also all descended from Noah and his wife (again), and it turns out we are all still cousins. Racial vanity and racial animosity can find no foundation in Scripture” (p. 26).
“American slavery had the additional complication of its racial basis. And so we as Christians, especially as American Christians, must denounce as a matter of biblical principle every form of racism, racial animosity, or racial vainglory” (p. 38).
“I have no interest in defending the racism (in both the North and the South) which was often seen as the basic justification for the system, and I do in fact condemn it most heartily” (p. 42).
“Like radical abolitionism, all forms of race hatred or racial vainglory are forms of rebellion against God. Such things are to be vigorously opposed because the Word of God opposes them. In brief, God has raised up all nations from one man (Acts 17:26). We are all cousins. And not only are the races connected through God’s creation of Adam, we are united (this time in harmony) in the redemption purchased by the Son of God. ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth’ (Rev. 5:9-10)” (p. 49).
I don’t know which is worse: knowing I have brothers and sisters in Christ who believe the enslavement – complete with the dehumanization, disenfranchisement, and brutality – of people who look like me was Biblical; OR that they believe my ancestors were happily enjoying the “life of plenty and simple pleasures” of being someone else’s property, with NO consideration for their humanity. (And let me guess, they were singing Negro spirituals while on the slave ships and working the fields, too!).
Sigh. Jesus, come quickly.
I disputed the so-called “Biblical” notion of slavery (especially in the US) in my earlier post.
Even as far back as the early 19th century churches in the conservative Reformed Presbyterian Church opposed slavery in the US (even before the Quaker Abolitionists) using the verses I used earlier.
https://heidelblog.net/2021/09/some-reformed-churches-rejected-american-slavery-from-the-beginning/
Apologies, Charles; that comment was in response to Mark, not you.
“When asked about [the church’s handling of sexual abuse] at the town hall, Wilson stated that any church leader admitting to a sexual offense would be required to resign.”
What if the church leader doesn’t “admit to a sexual offense”? What if he proclaims his innocence, says the accuser is lying and also she started it, and even declares himself blameless in the fact of a criminal conviction? Would he be required to resign?
How would Doug Wilson/Christ Church define sexual abuse? There are so many possibilities here and so many ways he could say it wasn’t a sexual offense. Does Doug Wilson acknowledge marital rape? What about date rape? How easy would it be to say that the girl or woman tempted him (blame shifting)? Is consuming porn considered a sexual offense?
Without details, Wilson’s statement sounds like empty words.
Yes, it sure does sound empty.
I wish church leadership would understand felony behavior cannot be treated as an in house problem. They cannot go through a ‘process of restoration’ back to church leadership. If you are a teacher or counselor, doctor, etc. you would lose your credential and have a felony, be required to register whoever you move to. These are harsh realities. For whatever reason, many church ‘leaders’ do not seem to or will not understand the ramifications of allowing ‘abusers’ back into positions of authority. There is something good to be said of working with your hands. Men like to talk of ‘grace’ and ‘forgiveness’; or they mention King David while ignoring Scripture as presented in Timothy. Paul gave kudos to those who wish to ‘minister’ but a stern warning of the qualifications and to beware, as judgement will be ‘harsher’ for those in authority.
We all are in need of grace.
My desire is for leaders to realize we are Christ’s Body and Jesus in no friend of those who abuse ‘the least of these.’ God is a God of ‘Justice and Grace’.
I pray the victims in this situation will have peace, healing and a calm sense of purpose and hope.
“If a woman is raped, the rapist should pay the father a bride price and then, if the father approves, marry his victim.” – So, according to Doug Wilson, a woman who has been raped is not a victim who should be helped, comforted, and assisted in gaining the justice they deserve – they should marry their rapist! I have no words…
“ One recent point of contention was the church’s vocal opposition and active resistance to federal and local COVID-19 restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic’s spread. Wilson urged followers to “resist openly” these measures, referring to it as a “cold civil war.””
I’m no Wilson supporter by any means, but he was among the few in leadership that got it right. Not sure why the author failed to mention the $300k payout to his church.
Anyone can research the other “pandemic” early in the 20th century and see the seeds of lies, manipulation and control were well planted, and had over a century to grow.
https://www.drleemerritt.com/media/The_Pandemic_of_1918.docx
The same Dr. Lee Merritt who is an orthopedic surgeon, not a virologist, epidemiologist, pathologist, or microbiologist. One who is a conspiracy theorist who fancies herself an expert on disease transmission and COVID. But then I suppose you are OK with having your colonoscopy done by your eye doctor or having your broken leg set by your urologist.