About 40 protestors, some dressed as handmaids from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, lined the sidewalk outside the North Bend Theatre on Tuesday afternoon before a candidate forum hosted by the SnoValley Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Although seven candidates were there to participate in the forum the protestors were there for just one – Adam James. James is a pastor and co-founder of Grace City Church in Wenatchee, a controversial Christian nationalist church with ties to Christian dominionists like Douglas Wilson, who made headlines recently for his position that women shouldn’t have the right to vote.
Even other members of the clergy joined the protestors. Pastor Lee Hartman drove down from Monroe to join the picketers and brought a homemade sign that read: “Adam James preaches against democracy.”
“I’m not a big student of the candidate named Adam James, but I have listened to a sermon in which he preached directly against democracy,” Hartman said. “He spoke of democracy and kind of mocking terms.”
Haley Olson and Linda Grez both dressed as handmaids and were there because they took issue with James and Grace City’s teachings on the role of women in society and their dominionist theology that seeks to tear down the wall between church and state. Grenz also called out GCC’s teaching that empathy is a “sin.”
“Christian nationalism is is a particular sect of Christianity that many feel is actually un-Christian,” Grez said. “It teaches that empathy is a fault and a problem. I believe that we live in a country where freedom of religion is paramount, and we do not need people who are religious zealots making laws that conform with their personal beliefs.”
Hartman actually addressed the passage from the Biblical book of Genisis that GCC leaders and other Christian nationalists like Mark Driscoll rest their dominionist theology on, and said it’s a misinterpretation of the passage.
“They’re about dominion. And Christianity is based on the opposite of that. Christ gives himself away on the cross. He’s not a soldier fighting another army. He is a love warrior if there has to be warrior terms,” she said. “He forgives those who crucified him from the cross. He’s completely self-giving, nonviolent, humble. It’s the opposite of a Dominion model that takes itself. Maybe by Genesis or humanity is made in the image of God and given dominion over the earth, which I would take the main responsibility and the call to stewardship over the earth. Not a domination over.”
Jesse and David Ream came to protest because in their opinion James is the logical conclusion of the MAGA movement, and if men like him are allowed to run the government they will seek to codify their religious extremism into law. In his eyes, James’ religious bigotry isn’t necessarily about wanting to dominate and subjugate women – it’s about his distain for anyone who isn’t him and the small handful of men who think like him.
“I think he’s like, literally the bad guy from The Handmaid’s Tale,” Jesse said.
Inside the forum the topic of Christian nationalism didn’t come up. The moderated discussion focused mostly on economic topics, and what the candidates would do to change the way things run in Olympia. No audience questions were taken.
James was the only candidate with entourage, and about 25 to 30 people from his church applauded after every answer he gave until the moderator asked them to stop.
Onstage, elbow to elbow with other political hopefuls, he sounded much more like a moderate Republican than the Christian dominionist he does from the pulpit. When asked what specific policies would he support to improve affordability while balancing the need for a healthy economy and essential public services his answer was a hodgepodge of rightwing stock phrases, long on generalities and short on specifics.
“Less. Less. Less. Which policies? Less policies. We need less government and more freedom. We need free markets. No one has ever taxed themselves to prosperity. We need the government out of the way, off our backs, out of our pockets. We need less government across the board,” he said. “I mean, that’s literally like the answer. The scariest words ever for a citizen. Hi. I’m from the government and I’m here to help. That is not what we need. We need the government to get out of the way. We need the government to do less. So the policies that we need are to repeal, repeal and repeal.”
Following his answer his followers cheered and applauded again, prompting another rebuke from the moderator.
“Please, please, we’re going to hold (the applause). No, please. Okay. We want to hear everyone,” he said. “We want to make sure that we give everybody the same equal format here. I appreciate everybody’s enthusiasm, but please hold it to the end.”
You can watch that clip here:
You can watch the entire candidate forum on the SnoValley Chamber of Commerce’s Facebook page here.
And you can view a gallery of photos I took outside the event here:
Upcoming Event: Keep White Christian Nationalism Off Our Ballots
In related news, I’ll be on a panel of speakers at an event called “Keep White Christian Nationalism Off Our Ballots” on July 20 at Wenatchee Valley College.
I’ll be focusing on the history of Grace City Church, its ties to religious extremists and white supremacists like Douglas Wilson (a slavery apologist) and the fact that GCC leaders have not disavowed violence as a tool to enact the anti-democratic theocracy they want.
The event is free and for more information and to reserve a ticket, visit the event page here.
