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- Elijah House -
How Idaho’s Christian Nationalist group wants to reshape the state
In the future that the Idaho Family Policy Center envisions, every public school classroom in the state would begin the day with teachers reading from the King James Bible. Verse by verse, over 10 years of school, children would hear their teachers recite the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and the repeated exhortations that Jesus Christ is God. Students who didn’t want to listen would have to bring a note from their parents. The policy center’s attempt to make that vision a reality — a bill introduced this year in the state Legislature — failed to get traction. But the policy center’s president, Blaine Conzatti, is playing the long game. (Moscow Pullman Daily News 7/26/25) READMORE>>>>>
In the future that the Idaho Family Policy Center envisions, every public school classroom in the state would begin the day with teachers reading from the King James Bible. Verse by verse, over 10 years of school, children would hear their teachers recite the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and the repeated exhortations that Jesus Christ is God. Students who didn’t want to listen would have to bring a note from their parents. The policy center’s attempt to make that vision a reality — a bill introduced this year in the state Legislature — failed to get traction. But the policy center’s president, Blaine Conzatti, is playing the long game. (Moscow Pullman Daily News 7/26/25) READMORE>>>>>
Behind Influential group working to make Idaho a Christian-state
One of the most influential conservative policy groups at the Idaho Capitol is working to make Idaho explicitly a Christian state. In a perfect world for the Idaho Family Policy Center, every public school classroom would begin each day with readings from the Bible, and state lawmakers would identify as Christian. According to Deseret News, the policy center has become a legislative powerhouse that has contributed to drafting, sponsoring, and training state lawmakers to introduce and debate bills that promote Christian values in public spaces. In one example, the policy group pushed to mandate the daily Bible reading requirement, along with displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and allowing chaplains to serve as school counselors in State House Bill No. 162.
(Premier Christian 7/25/25) READMORE>>>>>
One of the most influential conservative policy groups at the Idaho Capitol is working to make Idaho explicitly a Christian state. In a perfect world for the Idaho Family Policy Center, every public school classroom would begin each day with readings from the Bible, and state lawmakers would identify as Christian. According to Deseret News, the policy center has become a legislative powerhouse that has contributed to drafting, sponsoring, and training state lawmakers to introduce and debate bills that promote Christian values in public spaces. In one example, the policy group pushed to mandate the daily Bible reading requirement, along with displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms, and allowing chaplains to serve as school counselors in State House Bill No. 162.
(Premier Christian 7/25/25) READMORE>>>>>
With New Campus, Pastor Doug Wilson’s Christian Valhalla Grows in Idaho
On 30 acres at the edge of Moscow, Idaho, construction crews are erecting a Jeffersonian set of classical buildings arranged around a central quad, resembling a miniature University of Virginia. But this isn’t a public university. It’s the new campus for Logos School, part of the influential pastor Doug Wilson’s decadeslong effort to transform this college town into a conservative Christian redoubt. (Julie Roys 5/30/25)READMORE>>>>>
On 30 acres at the edge of Moscow, Idaho, construction crews are erecting a Jeffersonian set of classical buildings arranged around a central quad, resembling a miniature University of Virginia. But this isn’t a public university. It’s the new campus for Logos School, part of the influential pastor Doug Wilson’s decadeslong effort to transform this college town into a conservative Christian redoubt. (Julie Roys 5/30/25)READMORE>>>>>
A look inside Christian nationalism — with an Idaho emphasis
Moscow — a college town that skews to the left of Idaho’s political mainstream — is an unlikely vanguard in the debate over Christian nationalism. But the preacher of a fundamentalist church is determined to transform the politics of the Palouse, as part of a bigger campaign to make America an explicitly Christian nation. Schools are the centerpiece of Doug Wilson’s crusade. In National Public Radio’s “Extremely American” podcast, Boise-based journalist Heath Druzin takes an in-depth look at Christian nationalism. The series focuses largely on Wilson, his Moscow-based Christ Church and its inroads in the region’s education ecosystem. In this email interview, we ask Druzin about what he learned — and how education is at the heart of the Christian nationalism movement. (Favs 9/21/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Moscow — a college town that skews to the left of Idaho’s political mainstream — is an unlikely vanguard in the debate over Christian nationalism. But the preacher of a fundamentalist church is determined to transform the politics of the Palouse, as part of a bigger campaign to make America an explicitly Christian nation. Schools are the centerpiece of Doug Wilson’s crusade. In National Public Radio’s “Extremely American” podcast, Boise-based journalist Heath Druzin takes an in-depth look at Christian nationalism. The series focuses largely on Wilson, his Moscow-based Christ Church and its inroads in the region’s education ecosystem. In this email interview, we ask Druzin about what he learned — and how education is at the heart of the Christian nationalism movement. (Favs 9/21/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Jones: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
Jesus was one of the earliest and most important advocates for separation of church and state. As he succinctly put it: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” In other words, our government acts in the temporal realm, while God is in control of the spiritual realm. We have seen a blurring of those lines in Idaho in recent years, with some zealous Christian organizations seeking to use the government to regulate everyday life in accordance with their religious views. Christian nationalist groups like the Idaho Family Policy Center have pushed legislation to restrict the right of parents to obtain necessary medical care for transgender children, have cast aspersions upon the LGBTQ community and have falsely claimed that librarians and teachers are trying to sexualize our children. The Christian nationalist Alliance Defending Freedom has worked closely with Idaho’s Attorney General to defeat the constitutional rights of LGBTQ Idahoans in federal and state court proceedings. In both the court and legislative arenas, the LGBTQ community has been falsely portrayed as a serious threat to Idaho kids that must be opposed at every turn. Consequently, the health and safety of LGBTQ Idahoans have been put at risk.
(Idaho Press 4/3/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Jesus was one of the earliest and most important advocates for separation of church and state. As he succinctly put it: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” In other words, our government acts in the temporal realm, while God is in control of the spiritual realm. We have seen a blurring of those lines in Idaho in recent years, with some zealous Christian organizations seeking to use the government to regulate everyday life in accordance with their religious views. Christian nationalist groups like the Idaho Family Policy Center have pushed legislation to restrict the right of parents to obtain necessary medical care for transgender children, have cast aspersions upon the LGBTQ community and have falsely claimed that librarians and teachers are trying to sexualize our children. The Christian nationalist Alliance Defending Freedom has worked closely with Idaho’s Attorney General to defeat the constitutional rights of LGBTQ Idahoans in federal and state court proceedings. In both the court and legislative arenas, the LGBTQ community has been falsely portrayed as a serious threat to Idaho kids that must be opposed at every turn. Consequently, the health and safety of LGBTQ Idahoans have been put at risk.
(Idaho Press 4/3/24) READ MORE>>>>>
In North Idaho, religious and secular activists work to fight Christian nationalism
Lerone Martin’s new book began with a cup of coffee that led him to sue the FBI. While working on a book about religious broadcasters, a colleague suggested over coffee that Martin, a religion scholar, research the FBI to see if they had any related files. At the time, the colleague, scholar William J. Maxwell, author of “F.B. EYES,” had been studying the FBI’s surveillance of Black writers. Perhaps the FBI had been keeping an eye on religious broadcasters as well. Martin, then living in St. Louis, began filing Freedom of Information requests. Around the same time, he was also hearing from local pastors in St Louis who had been contacted by the FBI in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The FBI, they told Martin, wanted to know what the pastors were going to do to calm protests in that city. (Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service 3/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
Lerone Martin’s new book began with a cup of coffee that led him to sue the FBI. While working on a book about religious broadcasters, a colleague suggested over coffee that Martin, a religion scholar, research the FBI to see if they had any related files. At the time, the colleague, scholar William J. Maxwell, author of “F.B. EYES,” had been studying the FBI’s surveillance of Black writers. Perhaps the FBI had been keeping an eye on religious broadcasters as well. Martin, then living in St. Louis, began filing Freedom of Information requests. Around the same time, he was also hearing from local pastors in St Louis who had been contacted by the FBI in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The FBI, they told Martin, wanted to know what the pastors were going to do to calm protests in that city. (Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service 3/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
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Feb 22, 2023: Religion News Service: How big Christian nationalism has come courting in North Idaho
Earlier this month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, addressed the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, whose purview runs from this small resort city up along the Washington state border. Before she spoke, a local pastor and onetime Idaho state representative named Tim Remington, wearing an American flag-themed tie, revved up the crowd: “If we put God back in Idaho, then God will always protect Idaho.” |
The origin of North Idaho’s relationship with contemporary Christian nationalism can be traced to a 2011 blog post published by survivalist author James Wesley, Rawles (the comma is his addition). Titled “The American Redoubt — Move to the Mountain States,” Rawles’ 4,000-word treatise called on conservative followers to pursue “exit strategies” from liberal states and move to “safe havens” in the American Northwest — specifically Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and eastern sections of Oregon and Washington. He dubbed the imagined region the “American Redoubt” and listed Christianity as a pillar of his society-to-be. Rawles made an exception for Orthodox Jews and Messianic Jews, saying they would also be welcome in the Redoubt because they “share the same moral framework” as conservative Christians. But the post, which has been updated multiple times since, concludes with a list of “prepper-friendly” congregations in the Reformed Church tradition (Rawles is a Reformed Baptist). “In calamitous times, with a few exceptions, it will only be the God fearing that will continue to be law abiding,” writes Rawles, who declined to be interviewed for this article. ---Jack Jenkins; Religion News Service; 2.22.23 |