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HomeCommentarySpokane’s Religion Wrap-up: Police Chief, jealous God, homeless housing, third "gayest city"

Spokane’s Religion Wrap-up: Police Chief, jealous God, homeless housing, third "gayest city"

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This week we reported that the Chief of Police Frank Straub is interested in creating a faith-based advisory group. The first step, he said, is seeing if enough faith leaders are interested in getting involved, particularly from the black and Hispanic communities. If that’s you, e-mail the Rev. Alan Eschenbacher, who is heading the group, at pastoresch@gmail.com.

If you read the Bible, you’ve heard that God is a jealous God. Moscow author and pastor Douglas Wilson has some thoughts on this. He says it’s a good thing.

Our own Amy Rice wrote a great book review this week about the Bible and marriage. Maybe, she says, the scriptures aren't as “marriage happy” as we think.

By now you likely know about the 51-unit Father Bach Haven facility, which will house chronically homeless men in the area. It was built by Catholic Charities of Spokane. Kudos to The Fig Tree for a great story on this new development.

But this one you may not have heard about yet. Spokane, apparently, has been voted the third gayest city in the U.S. The Advocate reported, “Most of eastern Washington is somewhat conservative, but like many western cities, Spokane is becoming steadily more diverse, boosted by an energetic LGBT populace….” The top city, by the way, was Tacoma.

And, I think we’ll end on that note. Leave your thoughts below!

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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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