This morning, a group of 28 local faith leaders and other community members sent Mayor Nadine Woodward a letter asking her to formally assert support for the separation of church and state.
“We ask that you make very clear that you renounce Christian nationalism and white supremacy,” the letter reads, in part, “We ask you to show with your words and actions that you fully embrace Spokane’s newly adopted slogan, ‘In Spokane, We All Belong.’”
The letter is in response to Woodward’s appearance at Sunday night’s Let Us Worship rally, where she was introduced by Matt Shea, former Spokane Valley state representative and prayed over by Shea and Christian nationalist praise leader Sean Feucht.
“Every problem we face in this country whether it’s a bonfire, homosexual marriage, transgender issues, whether we’re talking the economy. Every single problem in this country has one answer and his name is Jesus Christ,” Shea said, shortly before welcoming the mayor and other political leaders to the stage.
Joining Woodward on stage were Spokane Valley City Council candidate and local Moms for Liberty chapter chair Jessica Yaeger, Spokane City Council District 3 candidate Earl Moore and Natalie Poulson, who was defeated by Rep. Timm Ormsby in the 2022 Washington House of Representatives election.
Let Us Worship is a nationwide touring revival, and a partnership between Feucht and the conservative Turning Point USA Faith (TPUSA Faith) organization. The northwest tour dates, including Spokane, were organized by Spokane-area residents Caleb Collier and Gavan Spies in their capacity as employees of TPUSA Faith.
As RANGE reported last Friday, Feucht, Shea and Collier have spent years leading various movements that call for Christians to assume governmental power and remake society based on their interpretation of scripture. A quote from Feucht at an event earlier this year offers a succinct summary: “We want God to be in control of everything. We want believers to be the ones writing the laws.”
Though Woodward had previously denounced Shea in 2019, video from the event Sunday show her hugging him before exiting the stage on Sunday. After clips and quotes spread widely on Twitter and Reddit and garnered criticism from Lisa Brown, her opponent in the mayoral race, other political candidates and constituents, Woodward responded to the backlash with a statement saying, in part, “I am deeply disturbed that Matt Shea chose to politicize a gathering of thousands of citizens who joined together yesterday to pray for fire victims and first responders. I attended the event with one purpose only and that was to join with fellow citizens to begin the healing process. I am also disappointed that Lisa Brown has chosen to distract from our community’s primary purpose at this moment – and that is to do all that we can to embrace the victims and help them in their time of need.”
After Woodward posted her statement, Shea hopped on Twitter to contradict her claims that she attended the event in the spur of the moment and primarily to support fire victims.
Community criticism on social media began while the event was still in process, as video began to circulate of Woodward on stage with Shea. RANGE was the first news outlet to break the story Monday morning, and as media attention swelled to include articles not just from RANGE, but also by the Inlander, the Spokesman, and KXLY, Woodward shared another statement on Wednesday. Most of the text was dedicated to criticizing Brown, but a paragraph at the bottom again stated Woodward’s opposition to Shea’s views and reiterated that her only reason for attending was to pray for fire victims.
RANGE reached out to Woodward, Communications Director Brian Coddington, and the Spokane City Council for comment. Only Councilmember Karen Stratton responded, saying in an email, “As elected leaders, it is our responsibility to accept and serve all citizens of our community, regardless of race, religion, color, sexual identity. We are here to work with all residents to enhance the quality of life and promote belonging. Judging others and promoting hatred, violence and bigotry is never the answer and is not welcome in our community.”
By Thursday afternoon, Councilmembers Betsy Wilkerson and Zack Zappone joined Stratton in sending a press release expressing similar thoughts, and concluding with, “We stand with the overwhelming amount of Spokanites who are gravely disturbed, disappointed, and remain committed to the [motto], ‘In Spokane, We All Belong.’”
RANGE reached three of the faith and community leaders who co-wrote the letters and found themselves disturbed by Woodward’s behavior and association with prominent Christian nationalists, which spurred their statement.
The first name on the list, and the person responsible for knitting together the letters from contributions and edits by many of the signers is Rev. Gen Heywood. Though Heywood lives in Spokane Valley and is not one of Woodward’s constituents, she was formerly represented by Shea, and believes it is the responsibility of her group to speak out against any Christian nationalism in the Eastern Washington and North Idaho region.
“It’s my responsibility as a Christian to say that the Christ that I know isn’t one who leads in this way, and if we don’t speak up, then it would appear that they’re speaking for us when it’s not the case,” Heywood said.
The letter was also signed by retired state senator Maralyn Chase, who contacted Heywood to sign the letter. Even though she lives on the west side of the state, she has been a decades-long player in the fight against white nationalism and white supremacy, and even served in the state legislature at the same time as Shea.
“I’m very alarmed,” Chase told RANGE. “Because we as an elected official take an oath to uphold the constitution of the United States and the state of Washington, and these people who subscribe to white Christian nationalism, they do not uphold the Constitution … I think that elected officials and retired elected officials simply must come out in opposition to this.”
Among the Spokane residents signing was Liv Larson Andrews, who serves as pastor of the Salem Lutheran Church. Andrews drafted the first version of the letter, and as a resident of Spokane — one of Woodward’s constituents — she said she couldn’t help but feel disgust at Woodward’s presence at the event.
In the early months of the pandemic, Andrews said she had made the call for her congregation to stop gathering in person — as much to protect their most vulnerable members, some of whom were in nursing homes, as to comply with government mandates. So when she saw images of her mayor on stage alongside Shea and Feucht, she couldn’t help but think of the way Feucht has proudly identified himself as a “SuperSpreader” and “Washington’s Number One COVID Violator.”
“I see that image and I think to myself, What do people of faith living in those restrictive kind of scenarios think when they see our mayor attend an event with a person who put on these events?” Andrews said. “Bending a phrase about people getting sick and dying to be about the Gospel … that flirts with blasphemy.”
She also feels a special duty as a Lutheran — a denomination founded in Germany that was both “annexed” by the Nazis and was the spiritual home for many of the faithful who opposed them — to oppose any expressions of faith that dehumanize marginalized people. She says such expressions “fly in the face of the Jesus of scripture who calls all people together and cries out against injustice,” Andrews said. “I think about members of my flock who are queer and transgender and people in these white nationalist circles have called for their harm and even their death and I have to stand up and say this is not the way. This is not the gospel.”
Heywood, Andrews and the other signatories are members of the group Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience of Eastern Washington. They have previously condemned transphobic rhetoric, hosted Earth Day vigils and they provide ongoing support to faith communities in crisis.
A core goal is to be a chorus of people of faith who project an inclusive and community-centered vision of faith to counteract belief systems that are closed and controlling. Andrews says the work can be exhausting, and occasionally feels Sisyphean. She said the work feels even harder when elected officials appear on stage with self-professed Christian nationalists.
Lastly, Andrews expressed sorrow on behalf of herself and colleagues, who have been “called to the table by civic leaders and city leaders, some of them for decades, for the purpose of reconciliation,” only to have events like this make any progress seem ephemeral. “I’ve lived here for almost 16 years and I still feel a little new,” Andrews said, “but I’m sitting at the feet of colleagues and friends who have been at this conversation for longer, striving for a more human and compassionate Spokane. We remain undaunted but I wish that genuine progress could be shown on those things.”
For some, it is not just exhausting, it’s also risky.
Heywood, who has been the target of digital harassment by Collier via the Facebook page of his podcast, Church and State, and recent in-person vandalism of her church that the Spokane Valley Police Department called a hate crime, told RANGE she refuses to let the negative attention towards her prevent her from denouncing Christian nationalism.
“Silence is dangerous,” Heywood said. “Silence is not protection.”
