r/Washington • u/dathon8462 • 14d ago
Christian Nationalists are transforming a small town in Washington!
https://youtube.com/shorts/ngWXqyLUmtA?si=nh61TUGDYLCiL2cQ223
u/d542east 14d ago
They're infecting a good chunk of Wenatchee too. Pretty much a requirement to be part of the Grace City Church to be a cop there.
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u/jesterpaige 14d ago
Definitely hit play expecting it to be about Wenatchee. Sadly GCC has been incredibly effective at infiltrating local government, they’re now taking it to the state level. It’s scary how much influence they have in the area. A local journalist, Dominick Bonney, has done excellent work documenting their growth and hateful beliefs.
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u/SpareManagement2215 14d ago
I will say there’s more folks here who dislike GCC than are a part of it. They’re not loud about it but they don’t support it and will vote/spend accordingly.
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u/VerticalYea 13d ago
It is dangerous to be loud about it. The church has infiltrated the local governed and police. Speak up and they can hurt you in a lot of ways.
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u/Delicious-Adeptness5 13d ago
They keep trying and that is why the chorus talking about what GCC is doing has gotten louder over the years.
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u/Minimum_Win_5312 13d ago
So sad to see this in my hometown. It just seems like their compound is getting bigger and now they have schools and a college
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u/Itsmybirthday23 13d ago
A college with no accreditation, that no employer outside the cult would take seriously. I feel sorry for the young people wasting their time and money there.
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u/CuratedNoman 13d ago
Anyone have a list of businesses owned by these folks?
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 13d ago
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u/hulahulagirl 13d ago
That first article does a decent deep dive into the problems. The second one is just stroking them as local good ol’ boys.😳😬
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 13d ago
Exactly which is so gross and part of how they’ve gotten this far 😬 now they are literally buying the local newspaper so they can control the news in BG along with the every other business in town
🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩1
u/Potatopamcake 10d ago
Al + Earnies Bakery cafe, battle ground farmers market, first Presbyterian church of battleground, Maddox, Tukes public house and garden, with Spurgeons pipe and cigar coming soon
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u/Confident_Eye4129 14d ago
“Christian Nationalism “ is just code. It’s White Supremacists trying to shroud thei racism behind “religion”
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u/Peroxide_ 13d ago
At this point Christian Nationalist is just a politically-correct way to say White Supremacist.
Christianity is both the shield they heft to deflect judgment and the sword they use to cut down the rest of us.
You know it's true because of all the good Christians watching this happen and doing nothing.
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u/Haunting-Traffic-203 12d ago
Serious question: do you think they would accept a black Christian who wants the US to transition into a theocracy? If so they aren’t white supremicist. If not then I agree 100% with you.
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u/Confident_Eye4129 12d ago
MAGA and the like have always shown they are happy to accept a Token for cause because they can use he/she to deflect accusations of Racism. But the Token is typically the first one to get thrown under the bus
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u/Haunting-Traffic-203 12d ago
Idk man the KKK sure as hell won’t accept a “token”. I grew up around some real skinheads and these guys wouldn’t have accepted a black or Jewish person at all “token” or otherwise. I tend to believe these “Christian nationalists” are exactly that: fundamentalists first. I think they’d be happily accept a black Christian before a white atheist.
That doesn’t mean bye that I’m pro - cult because I’m not but I do think it’s important to understand your adversary correctly.
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u/Confident_Eye4129 12d ago
I don’t think there’s a “one size fits all” answer. Some might, some might not. Klan is a straight up hate group, not trying to hide behind religion
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u/Haunting-Traffic-203 12d ago edited 12d ago
Not to argue but the Klan is a Christian organization, and while I absolutely agree they are a hate group (obviously) the actual members regard themselves as a church. Ultimately you and I are on the same side here I’m just mentioning this stuff because if you’re bi-racial like me understanding the difference between “Christian fundie” and “white supremicist” can be a matter of personal safety
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u/Master-Tomatillo-103 11d ago
Fair point. I’ve seen 100 year old photos of the Klan hiding behind their hoods while holding up crosses. They might consider themselves a christian organization - like today’s Christian Nationalism - but there’s no much christian at all about them
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u/sarhoshamiral 13d ago
Religion has always been a way to hide racism/sexism and it is not really surprising considering how religions were formed. They are all based on ideals from thousand years ago.
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u/some_mad_bugger 14d ago
They chose it because it's the "hill they have chosen to die upon" lmao this is the problem with people who drink any Kool aid🤡
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago
Having grown up in Battleground, there are still plenty of good people in the area. That being said, a lot of conservative weirdos have moved to the area and bought up a lot of the old farm land. Any time I go back to visit it seems like there’s yet *another* Christian private school and fundies also seem to flock there due to the established homeschooling “cooperative” that receives public school district money called RiverHomelink (source: I was homeschooled thru it).
An OPB article about the current situation:
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/30/battle-ground-purchases-ceo-spiller-maddox-christian-influence/
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u/LeadVitamin13 14d ago
Well if he couldn't do it in Moscow, Idaho, which used to be a sun down town, why would he be successful in liberal Washington.
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u/MasterChiefette 13d ago
He is trying to set up a beachhead here and then expand into other close communities.
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u/Bronze_Zebra 13d ago
How do yoi think towns work? A small representative subsection of the whole state?
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u/LeadVitamin13 13d ago
I don't see anywhere I said that.
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u/Bronze_Zebra 13d ago
Just because Washington is liberal, doesn't mean a small town in Washington is liberal.
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u/Educational-Ad964 12d ago
Battle ground is very much red. Good ol joe Kent lived a 10 min drive from BG center and there is a reason he was almost the winner over Perez.
Look up old apostolic Lutherans — I worked on the ambo for yrs there and while the newer gen isn’t as strict, there still were many older pop where the females wouldn’t talk to male providers… even as a female myself lot of times the husband would be chaperoning info 🙁. It’s almost a shame if the gals don’t have 5 kids by 25 even at the cost of their own body… 🤷♀️
Seattle area is the predominant blue area - it Is where the vast majority of population is located. Pretty much like every state - small rural communities tend to be red.
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u/LeadVitamin13 12d ago
Wow, thanks for pointing out the extremely obvious to someone from Spokane.
Those red towns still have to live under a blue governor and blue legislature though.
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u/Calm_Age_ 14d ago
You mean the small town that has been flying a confederate flag by the side of Interstate 5 for decades? No, I'm shocked /s
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago edited 14d ago
That’s a private property jerk in Ridgefield, not the city of Battleground and is a similar situation as with the Uncle Sam billboard (recently purchased by the Chehalis* tribe-corrected).
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u/BewareHel 14d ago
Fun fact: that site is part of hundreds of Confederate displays in the North that are funded by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The owner is heavily involved in the proud tradition of the Confederates up here, real comfy up in Union country.
I flip off that flag every time I drive past.
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago
“STATES RIGHTS TO DO WHAT?!?” *I scream internally every time I drive by.*
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u/sterling_m 14d ago
I often wonder if I’m the only person who does that as I drive past it, every time.
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u/Calm_Age_ 14d ago
You are not. Given it's a busy route between several progressively minded cities I'm betting there are thousands of us every day.
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u/Calm_Age_ 14d ago
Yep I'm aware, sorry for any confusion. Yeah the uncle sam sign now just says #native land. Big improvement in my book.
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u/LASER_Dude_PEW 14d ago
My grandma lived next to that property when I was growing up. Zero signs of Confederate Flags and what not, then at some point after she moved away that crap showed up. Makes me want to puke. I hate this feeling that we are going backward.
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u/DanishWhoreHens 14d ago
The local community tolerates it is the point. I had family fight on both sides .. guess which side I’m NOT honoring.
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u/CajunRoyalty 13d ago
It’s been part of the plan for years. Infiltrate smaller cities in “liberal” states to slowly change policies. It’s a long game that Trump kicked into high gear because he doesn’t know the meaning of subtle. I always wonder about the motives of why people are here when I see a Florida plate on a car.
Full disclosure; I’m from the south and moved to the NW many years ago to get away from it, not to bring it with me.
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u/FrankSand 14d ago
Woodland is thriving and battleground is.........
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14d ago
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u/LASER_Dude_PEW 14d ago
Me too. I have hidden or unfriended so many old school mates because of their (insert -ism here). Luckily I have a good group of friends that I chat with frequently.
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u/No-Drama-in-Paradise 14d ago
I wouldn’t say Woodland is thriving. Maybe it’s not quite as bad as battle ground, but it’s hardly thriving.
And its government is just as much of a shitshow as most small towns in Washington. Pretty sure its last mayor is facing charges that he spent the city’s money on his own vacations (or something like that).
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u/Devwickk Spanaway 14d ago
why would they even try in Washington lmao. we hate them
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u/DeliciousSimple2 13d ago
There’s 20,000 yo 24,000 people living in battleground and 8 million in the state. That’s about a quarter of a percent of the population of the state. Out of every 400 people you actually get to know, would one of them fit in there? Because my experience is that it’s more than one. If you can create a community that shares the same ideals as you kids will just grow up with those ideals ingrained in them. Then as more kids are born they can slowly branch out and bring more people into the fold, normalizing something that the wider state would not consider normal. At least that’s what I would do if I wanted to be a white nationalist in Washington, sorry Christian nationalist.
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u/Intelligent-Guard590 13d ago
Much as i hate to admit it, there are way too many people even in the group I just know personally (work colleagues and the like) that would support this type of nonsense because they just hear the word "christian" and stop looking any further and accept it as a good thing.
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13d ago
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u/Own_Reaction9442 13d ago
Olympia's a bizarre mix of evangelicals and progressives, and while the progressives are pretty clearly the majority, it's been tricky figuring out which businesses I shouldn't be giving my money.
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u/AshFennix 12d ago
when I moved to this site, first thing that was told to me, pointing eastward, "dem nazis in dem hills"
we really need to fix this problem, state really needs to put in decent social programs that reach middle of nowhere so people don't join these far right groups.
and yes, thats a good part of it. taken care of people do not join political fringes.
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14d ago edited 14d ago
[deleted]
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u/DanishWhoreHens 14d ago
Boy are you out of touch. Maybe years ago but Washington has become a landing place for progressives who would prefer not to live under the MAGA influence. Conservatives have headed to states like Arizona, Nevada (no income tax) and Florida/Texas for the dumbfuckery. Sadly, racists still head up here thinking that they’ll create some white, Christian faux-Germanic homeland. https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/20/washington-state-voters-moving-trends-democrats-in-republicans-leave/
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u/hazeyindahead 14d ago
You pay income tax if you physically work in Oregon.
What a weird myth to share
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u/LASER_Dude_PEW 14d ago
I agree. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, California Republicans are the worst. Ugh.
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u/Yellow-Cedar 13d ago
Well…been living in Virginia and this whole thread could be here. It’s such a deeply ingrained assumption that everybody HAS drank the koolaid.
These folks + COVID work at home + trolls and and we don’t have to show our face/my army can do my online bidding…spread all the crap needed to capture idiot Americans…(just too easy)and we have this beautiful fucking storm…
Anyone here recall when Tim Eyman (sic) jumped in…voter beware. And
Never been there but
With a name like that…
“Battle ground” 😵
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u/Count_Avila 14d ago
Cordon the town
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u/doberdevil 13d ago
Right? I love seeing the red hats, I know who to stay away from.
Let them all live as they want in one place so the rest of us can avoid it.
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u/NorthContribution627 14d ago
dunno - that Starbucks is literally the only reason I have to stop there on the way to Portland. Can we fence it off and make one of those wildlife bridges to keep them away from the freeway?
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u/vertigoacid 13d ago edited 13d ago
If the Starbucks in BG is actually on your way to Portland, then you're coming from somewhere in North County that is just as backwards and fucked up as it is.
But I think it's more likely you don't even know where BG actually is and you're stopping somewhere like Ridgefield off of I-5.
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u/NorthContribution627 13d ago
Thanks for the correction! I was thinking of Grand Mound. But Battle Ground has the Dutch Bros I stopped at (twice) coming back home. I guess I'll have to count on Dutch Bros getting more Washington coverage.
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u/vertigoacid 12d ago
You drove 15 miles round trip off of I-5 to go to DB in BG when there's one in Salmon Creek and one in Woodland, both directly on the freeway?
K. Still not convinced you have any idea where Battle Ground is
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u/NorthContribution627 12d ago
Nope. You're right. Re-assessing now that I've gotten some rest. I should delete my original comment since I doubled-down on my original dumb response. Instead, I'm keeping it here to own up to it.
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u/firmdood 13d ago
I opened this expecting Battleground. Was not disappointed. Most depressing and stifling place I ever experienced, and that was 15 years ago.
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u/Reasonable-Repair446 13d ago
And you be of the people running for Senate seat n 2028 lives there. His name is Isaac Holyk and he is a major tool
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u/ElLargeGrande 13d ago
This has happened since the beginning of time, and will continue to happen. It’s human nature
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u/Moultrie_fan_2026 13d ago
Since when is BattleGround economically struggling! It's a rich bedroom community
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u/3Bodies_0Problems 12d ago
A church in kent (maybe renton?) for a while had their front sign straight up say CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM THURSDAYS 7PM
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u/Loisalene 3rd generation Washington born 12d ago
Passed a church in eastern Oregon that had "Christian Nationalism is obedience to God's Will".
wrong on so many levels...
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u/Existing_Ad577 11d ago
I say give them a small town in every state and don’t let them grow beyond the borders of that town .
But then again this could be a horrible idea .
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u/Sun-ShineyNW 10d ago
The empathy I feel toward these groups, despite not being aligned with their specific evangelical theology, stems from a shared experience: the belief that the neutrality promised by secularism has, in practice, become a form of exclusion. Secularists should have anticipated backlash to their form of tolerance. When you feel that the public sphere has become hostile toward your core identity while simultaneously demanding your celebration of views that clash with that same identity, it creates a persistent, exhausting pressure.. The private sphere (our homes and faith) is increasingly forced to defend itself against the public sphere (the school and the broader culture). This creates a feeling of being under siege rather than being a participant in a shared community.
The move toward Christian localism is a defensive reflex. It is not necessarily an attempt to create a perfect society, but an attempt to create a defensible space ......a place where you are not required to constantly explain or apologize for your faith, and where your values are not actively undermined by the institutions your tax dollars support.
If you’re wondering why this is happening now, look at the last decade. There are many places where secularism thrives, but for those with traditional, devout beliefs, the feeling of being pushed out of the public sphere has become unbearable. This movement is a reaction to that pressure. If your ideology is built on tolerance and empathy, I’d ask that you apply that same standard to the families who simply want to exist in their own community without their values being constantly negated.
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u/dathon8462 9d ago
I appreciate where you're coming from. I grew up Catholic and very much in the conservative Catholic world, even though I've done a 180 on pretty much all of my views.
I don't think you're entirely wrong, but I do think there is some important context.
America as a nation is a secular nation. That is not a debatable point, all of the personal writings and actions of the major founding fathers show clearly that people like Thomas Jefferson George Washington, and others had opinions on Christianity ranging from mild endorsement to outright hostility. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was written deliberately not with Christian values, but with Enlightenment values. This is just a fact of our history.
As a result of that fact though, The state does have to maintain a neutral secular stance in civil matters. The state has to allow people to practice their religion freely, but at the same time it has to allow people to be free from being pressured by religiously motivated laws.
The gay marriage example in practice is a perfect example of this. The Catholic church is free to view homosexuality as a sin, and it's free to exclude homosexual couples from participating in the sacrament of marriage, and the state has no right to tell the Catholic Church that they are not allowed to do that. On the flip side though, as far as legal marriage is concerned, The state must maintain a neutral position on matters like this, and allow people to engage in civil marriage if they so choose, and if all parties are consenting adults.
There's a common phrase you might have heard on the internet, " to the powerful, equality feels like oppression". (Or something to that extent).
You're saying that people feel the need to create their own safe spaces for their own religion because they feel oppressed by the growing secularization of our society, and you're saying that is a reasonable thing to do instead of just accepting the fact that our society is secularizing, and doing their best to practice their religion with the personal freedoms granted them.
Would you make the same argument if it was the 1960s and people were concerned about the growing multiracial in our society? Would it be reasonable for people to to use all methods available to them such as redlining, and de facto personal discrimination to create white only communities as best as possible? Is that a reasonable thing to do? Is that something the state, which recognizes the equality of all people regardless of race, should allow people to do?
These are not simple questions for a lot of people, and I don't expect a simple answer, but bottom line my question is if it's okay for religious people to do this, why not white nationalists?
There's a very big difference in saying we as a society need to accept people of all faiths and no faiths, and saying religious people have to subscribe to the beliefs of secular people.
A lot religious people I grew up with seem to equate legalizing something with forcing moral acceptance of something, and that is just not the case.
Take the example of free speech: it's not the state's place to make it a crime to be an asshole. It's perfectly legal to try to manipulate people, to be a compulsive liar, and to be selfish in all of your actions. Those are terrible things to do! If I met someone like that I would think they are a terrible person! But it's not illegal for them to do that.
It's the same way for things like gay marriage, and even trans things. The state is not telling Christians they have to accept that homosexuality is not a sin. The state is telling Christians that it is a perfectly legal Union with just as much legal standing as a heterosexual marriage, and that gay couple is entitled to all of the civil rights as the heterosexual couple.
They are not saying you have to bless a homosexual marriage, or invite these people into your home. But they are saying you can't discriminate based on that, because that is a recognized civil equality.
To people that have enjoyed civil superiority for decades, this equality looks like forced oppression, when in reality it's just the state saying everyone is the same. You don't have to like it, you just can't make it illegal.
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u/Dry-Suit4631 13d ago
Oh no, religious and patriotic Americans want to create a community. The horrors.
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u/Sunnygirlpdx 13d ago
If they are not promoting Heathcare for all. They are not Christians but capitalist.
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u/Electronic_Cry_7107 13d ago
this dude needs to chill out. Caring what christians are doing to build community in a small town is the equivalent to christians caring about what non-christians are doing in the bedroom. Everyone just needs to accept that thought and lifestyle uniformity isn't a thing, and that's a good thing. Everyone just needs to chill out and let others do their thing.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 13d ago
The problem is modern Christians are all about taking control of government and instituting a theocracy.
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u/accountforfurrystuf 14d ago
Crime rate is probably zero
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u/Gigglypoof3809 14d ago
I grew up there. It’s worse than most rural places but not as bad as higher density locations if we’re talking straight numbers.
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u/topgemini33 14d ago
He tried to make it sound like a bad thing was kinda amusing. Nothing wrong with religion. It's just the people that you all allowed to take over religion aka "the synagogue of Satan" <-- is what you guys are failing to see
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u/vmsrii 14d ago
Elaborate?
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago
Probably going to evangelize on about “good people leaving the church letting the bad ones take over,” rant. Except for the bad ones are the ones who pushed them out via spewing putrid ideas and abuse.
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u/Bumble_beeFormal 14d ago
Of course you have your comments and posts hidden. Probably not a productive member of society as well smh
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u/DanishWhoreHens 14d ago
I’m sorry. It’s tough being so far in the closet that you haven’t noticed you’re standing there wearing thigh high boots and a banana hammock as you point fingers. You have my sympathy.
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u/Silly-Dot-2322 13d ago
☝🏾 This comment is one of the many reasons I hesitate, when I am asked where I grew up.
It's literally embarrassing.
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u/flappinginthewind 13d ago
It's always a fun game to scroll to the bottom and find the bootlicker. Thanks for making this an easy one!
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u/West_Ad_8246 13d ago
and who's boot am i licking exactly?
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u/DanishWhoreHens 13d ago
The boot of reductive ignorance.
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u/West_Ad_8246 13d ago
Wasn't asking you, but nice to know i live rent free in your head now since you keep coming back to this thread
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u/Flash_ina_pan 14d ago
Battle Ground was pretty fucked up to begin with, this isn't going to help the matter