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HomeNewsCommunity Forum at UI Thursday to Address Concerns About Christ Church

Community Forum at UI Thursday to Address Concerns About Christ Church

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News Brief by FāVS Staff

A town hall event on Thursday evening at the University of Idaho will provide a platform for the public to pose questions directly to leaders associated with Christ Church in Moscow.

The church and its pastor Douglas Wilson have come under fire most recently for vocally opposing COVID-19 restrictions, though Christ Church isn’t new to controversy. Wilson’s co-authored book “Southern Slavery as it Was,” published in 1996, portrayed slavery in the pre-Civil War South as relatively benign, an assertion he has denied constitutes support for the institution of slavery. The church also has a stated goal to make Moscow, “A Christian town.”

Organized by the student group Collegiate Reformed Fellowship, the 7 p.m. forum in the UI Administration Auditorium will feature a panel comprising Wilson, New Saint Andrews College President Benjamin Merkle, and King’s Cross Church Pastor Toby Sumpter.

Attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions through a provided text line as well as via floor microphones during the event. The organizers state the forum’s intent to address controversies surrounding the church, promoting it as a chance to ask about “things you’ve heard about Christ Church? — A Christian town? Abuse cases? Racism? Misogyny? etc?”

Collegiate Reformed Fellowship, which has been an officially recognized student organization at UI since 1995, is coordinating this question-and-answer session open to all members of the community. The event aims to facilitate dialogue and provide transparency regarding the allegations and concerns that have emerged about Christ Church’s teachings and practices.

Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of FāVS.News, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Associate Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.

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Walter A Hesford
Walter A Hesford
1 year ago

Thanks, Tracy, for drawing attention to this event. I know some who go to wrestle with Wilson and his supporters, but they are so so deft at condescending put-downs that I think I will skip it.

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