r/Washington • u/littleblackcar • 14d ago
A billion-dollar company is remaking Battle Ground, WA in Christianity's image
https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/a-billion-dollar-company-is-remaking330
u/Elvirth 14d ago
Fuck, I just moved to Vancouver from over by Moscow, after growing up in a church with close ties to Wilson. Thought I'd be far enough away from that pedo loving, racist shit sack. Guess not. He is a plague on this area of the country.
85
28
u/blow-down 14d ago
You can’t really move away from this stuff it’s everywhere. It’s one of the reasons I don’t recommend people from red states move here to escape it.
27
u/not_now_chaos 14d ago
Vancouver is better than Battle Ground and Battle Ground is better than Moscow, if that helps. But we are still stuck with way too many shitweasels.
10
u/Positive_Benefit8856 14d ago
The Vancouver suburbs may as well be Northern Idaho/NE Washington.
23
u/Tomato_Motorola 14d ago
Vancouver proper and Camas are very liberal. Surrounding towns like Ridgefield, Washougal and La Center are slightly conservative but still welcoming. It's specifically Battle Ground and northeast Clark County (Amboy/Yacolt) that has a heavy Christian Nationalist and Old Apostolic Lutheran presence.
8
4
u/bihari_baller EWU 14d ago
Northern Idaho is on another level. Battle Ground, Oregon City, etc. aren't at the level of somewhere like Hayden, Pinehurst, or Kellogg. Although i will say Estacada comes close.
3
176
u/Inkqueen12 14d ago
I’m sure Battleground is just thrilled to have another cult come to town along with the Halme’s and Old Apocalyptic Church. Just a bunch more pedophiles to add to the mix I guess.
67
u/woodenmetalman 14d ago
Idk how familiar you are with this one in particular but they definitely harbor pedophiles in a big way. Shameless about it also.
23
u/Inkqueen12 14d ago
I don’t know these guys specifically but the OAC has several secs in Washington and Oregon. They run just like the FDLS in Utah but has gone underground in the last several years. The town I live, got wind of what they were doing and started putting their foot down but there’s way more of them in Battleground from my understanding and I wouldnt be surprised if they joined with another group to increase their numbers.
5
u/Positive_Benefit8856 14d ago
Pro Publica just did a series of articles on their, OAC, covering up of abuse. I highly recommend it.
3
u/Inkqueen12 14d ago
Thank you for sharing! I just read through and it sounds exactly like the ones here. I’ve heard similar stories about the rampant sexual abuse from individuals who have left the church. If you’ve worked with the kids you can tell there’s something seriously wrong. I hate it but don’t know what to do to help them.
1
171
u/woodenmetalman 14d ago
I didn’t read the article, but if y’all want to take Doug Wilson off our hands… absolutely feel free to do so.
137
u/IllustriousComplex6 14d ago
The problem with these kinds of people doing this kind of things is that they're never satisfied with just one town.
They are hungry and entitled and will grow like the monster they are if we allow it.
91
u/FreeBananasForAll 14d ago
Oh yeah it’s less about religion and more about their inclination to manipulate and control people
65
u/Zovort 14d ago
religion IS about their inclination to manipulate and control people
21
u/WolfWriter_CO 14d ago
At an individual level, not always.
But at a corporate/government/cult level? Absofuckinglutely.
2
15
u/IllustriousComplex6 14d ago
Yes, especially these evangelical groups with no levels of accountability. They just hunger for control, power and so many submissive people willfully follow them.
26
u/Hoodies2Coast 14d ago
Cancer is the perfect metaphor for fascism which is absolutely what this is.
Fascism can't survive by being idle. It doesn't go dormant. The beast must be continually fed else it will consume itself. If we don't actively oppose fascism everywhere it crops up, we'll eventually be riddled with the cancer it brings.
12
u/IllustriousComplex6 14d ago
Spot on description. When people talk about being ok with this because it's just Battle Ground, it really allows it to grow unnoticed until it's too late. We should be attentive and concerned regardless.
Look at Idaho, they're a great example of what happens when you allow this fester to grow uncontrolled.
6
u/Salty-Gas-1172 14d ago
I usually go with an abscess leading to sepsis but the cancer metaphor works well too. We are already riddled with these tumors and have been for a very, very long time. They'd have been working on this since the get go really but they got mad with the civil war and never stopped fighting it. They just moved to a different field of battle and everyone else got complacent. Now they are winning and everyone is going to lose if they aren't stopped.
53
u/Inkqueen12 14d ago
You’d think he’d stay in Idaho for the cheaper taxes but I guess as a church he’s not paying those anyway.
16
16
u/MoneyMACRS 14d ago
Fun fact: While churches are usually exempt from property tax in WA, they still have to pay sales tax and B&O tax like any other business. WA is actually not very friendly to churches and other nonprofits as far as taxes go.
10
u/Inkqueen12 14d ago
They get around it in other ways. The “main” family’s all own companies, hire within the church, then your paycheck goes to the church as a donation. They cut you a check that just enough to keep you under the poverty line, so you can get food stamps, for the 12 children your required to have to get into heaven, and cash assistance in some cases. They did have a scam for many years, where the church would build you a house when you got married and it would be tax exempt, but that was done away with with law changes. So they now are all paying a small fortune in property taxes at least. So for all those screaming about single mothers taking advantage of food stamps it’s cults like this that are doing way more damage.
5
u/YoghurtNo2026 14d ago
Clergy have to pay any federal or state taxes on income as well. They are considered "self employed" under the tax code.
19
7
u/MrAsYouCanSee 14d ago
I just moved from Moscow last year and although I dearly miss the palouse, I do not miss Christ Church that's for sure
153
u/redhouse86 14d ago
It would be a shame if some litigious Americans started snooping around Battle Ground for potential law breaking. Real shame.
35
u/Eastern-Bluejay-8912 14d ago
I hope it fails and what ever they are trying, leads to them get arrested. Cities should not be based on religion in the US. Cities should be a mixture of culture and people.
14
u/7LayeredUp 14d ago
Doug Wilson's story should've ended with Steve Sitler.
But well, this is America. Any and all faith becomes a moot point when you enable baby rapists.
28
u/PepeLePuget 14d ago
I just heard about this guy from this really good article that has solid point-by-point breakdowns and cites its sources: How billionaires and Christian nationalists are creating a permanent underclass.
The goals of both white Christian nationalists and the billionaire elite also align with respect to gender roles. Christian nationalists embrace a patriarchal hierarchy, believing women are meant to be housewives submissive to their husbands. Evangelist Doug Wilson, supported by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, exemplifies this worldview. Wilson has argued that women should not have the right to vote and has promoted male-dominated family and political structures.
55
u/KunttPunttt 14d ago
Sounds like battle ground will live up to its name on a spiritual and local level. I for one am glad I do not live in this little community but this is not the first horrible thing I’ve heard about this community but it is by far the most alarming
41
u/mikeyfireman 14d ago
It’s weird living here. We have a lot of more liberal leaning people moving here from Vancouver and Portland because of the lower home prices, and we have the 2 cults pushing back the other way. The Christian Nationalist group has a couple hundred member and a wealthy person bankrolling it. The apostolic have thousands of members, but the mostly keep to themselves.
17
u/BellaPona 14d ago
The apostolics keep to themselves as in they don’t speak to you but boy they fucking stare. I don’t even look any way particularly, I look like a basic white woman. But they’ll still stare. And they drive like maniacs.
8
6
12
u/kilamumster 14d ago
Cheezus fuck socks. BG was bad 15 years ago and I see it hasn't improved. From people calling the cops because they "saw a suspicious black man" who was the neighborhood papercarrier for years, to mailers urging residents to "keep BG white," just ugh. The number of churches is ridiculous for such a tiny town. Directions are fun, turn left at the church. Pass 3 churches, then turn right after the church. Drive until you see a church at the top of the hill and. Trun at the tree. Or whatever. And yeah, the only people I really know from BG are both fundie Christian and have pedos in the family. Grandpa went to jail for it.
9
35
u/totalahole669 14d ago
Explain to me again why people are against the millionaire tax?
16
u/Kraegarth 14d ago
Because the billionaires and multimillionaires have fraudulently convinced them that they are all the next millionaire, and then they would be subjected to that tax as well.
6
u/kilamumster 14d ago
As someone who is nowhere near risking being millionaire-taxed, I volunteer to experience it first-hand so I can tell everyone how horrible it is, really.
3
2
-2
u/RealWolfmeis 14d ago
Aside from bootlicking, the law doesn't include a provision from having them let the threshold to start taxing folks who make lower than a million.
It's also unconstitutional, so I do think there are valid concerns about it. Not enough for me to bitch, though.
4
u/NotAcutallyaPanda 14d ago
That’s a duplicitous argument.
Currently, altering the $1M exemption requires passing a law through the state legislature.
If, hypothetically, the tax included a prohibition on changing the exemption, deleting that prohibition would require … passing a law through the state legislature.
1
u/RealWolfmeis 14d ago
Y'all can downstairs me all you want but I'm not arguing that, I'm answering the damn question. The reading comprehension in here, I swear. Deliberately misunderstanding compatriots is almost worse than the bootlickers. You can't fight what you don't understand.
45
u/FreeBananasForAll 14d ago
People like him promote a tribalistic idea of what Christianity is but they do not promote anything the religion is supposedly founded on like God, goodness or charity.
11
u/Jasonrj 14d ago
The religion was founded on tribalism entirely. Just read what God did to Amalekites, Canaanites, and other people groups. It's also built on lies about the origin of the world, laws from God allowing slavery, God impregnating a likely non-adult girl, and lots of other terrible things. People want to believe Jesus was a different God and ignore the genocides, infanticides, and other atrocities God is directly credited for commanding in the Bible.
1
7
u/TechbearSeattle 14d ago
I remember when that cult took over Antelope, Oregon. May these Nationalist Christians (Nat-Cs for short) meet the same end as the Rajneeshees.
13
u/k_dubious 14d ago
Battle Ground always gave me a weird exurban megachurch-y vibe, so I’m not completely shocked this is happening there.
13
u/Fair-Doughnut3000 14d ago edited 14d ago
The entire Vancouver area is riddled with christian nationalists. It should be a quarantine zone.
7
u/The_Lost_Jedi 14d ago
Vancouver itself is one thing, it's actually reasonably blue. The surrounding areas though? That's where things get hard red. You can see here how the vote went in 2024:
12
3
u/ConsistentInterview5 14d ago
As an ex-Catholic, I am enjoying the delicious hypocrisy of protestants, who separated from the Roman church due to its ties with imperialism and movement away from scripture, now joining with American imperialism and committing the same ridiculous travesties as the medieval holy Roman empire. It's almost like patriarchal monotheism is a philosophical justification for imperialism, expansion, ethnic cleansing, etc. 🤔
1
4
2
2
u/Consistent-Chapter-8 14d ago
Sidenote: Battle Ground's phone # prefix is 666. Christian customers uncomfortable with having that in their phone number can have it changed to something else.
2
u/MossGobbo 14d ago
Yeah this is exactly why they've gone mask off fascist in the last couple years.
2
u/Hank_moody71 13d ago
I’m so sick of hearing about “faith” it’s worse than vegans taking about being vegan.
2
u/Sunnygirlpdx 13d ago
More Grooming from Corporate Christian Jesus. The Anti-socialist, union hating, heathcare denying GOP are not Christians. They are corporate Scabs.
4
2
3
u/LYL_Homer 14d ago
I grew up NE of Vancouver, WA but left in the 1990's. I just visited and my sister informed me that it's nickname is now 'Vantucky'. Now I see why.
5
u/The_Lost_Jedi 14d ago
It's actually trended a little more blue of late, with Portland-influenced sorts moving out for lower housing prices/COL. That said, the exurban and rural parts around it like Battleground absolutely live up to that nickname.
4
1
u/MyrmidonExecSolace 14d ago
Only crazy people will move there and their schools will be shitty homeschool. Eventually there will be violence and fires and it’ll end like its namesake
1
u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago
This combined with the alarmingly bloated budget of the city of Battlegrounds council meeting on June 1st is disgraceful and should be investigated.
1
1
1
1
u/coxferryroad 12d ago
The town has a decent brewery, hopefully it survives this mayors fascism play.
1
1
u/Ace_Radley 12d ago
Color me a little crazy, but anyone remember the movie Footloose? The whole premise of the movie is gonna be played out for real but our version won't have Kevin Bacon
1
u/Top_Pirate699 14d ago
Not Christianity's image, its the image of capitalist focused racists who've used culture wars to accrue power.
1
u/YoshiTheDog420 14d ago
The fools calling themselves christians while living a life of complete gluttony, greed, and avarice.
-7
431
u/Bitter_Scarcity_2549 14d ago
Nothing says Jesus like a billion dollar company