Christian protesters call efforts to censure Woodward religious persecution

About 30 people joined a rally outside of Spokane City Hall Monday to protest efforts by some City Council members to censure Mayor Nadine Woodward for her appearance on stage during a prayer event with controversial pastor and former state legislator Matt Shea. They argued that censure would be tantamount to religious persecution.

“What (censure) does is just pompously declare that they disapprove,” organizer Lyle Dach said. “We all know how that worked back in Nazi Germany days. It starts with censure, it goes into censoring, and then next thing you know it’s full-blown persecution.”

The event was promoted by the Spokane Republican Party in a letter written by Rob Linebarger, the county GOP candidates committee chair and one of the event organizers. However, Linebarger and Dach said the event was not affiliated with any organization.

If Woodward can be punished for appearing at a religious event, Dach and Linebarger argued, believers like them could be next.

“Are you familiar with Bonhoeffer in Nazi Germany?” Linebarger asked, referencing the Lutheran pastor and theologian who was executed for his vocal opposition to Nazi rule. “This is how it started. Am I going to get arrested at some point?”

Dach and Linebarger also criticized the use of the phrase “Christian nationalist” to describe the “Let Us Pray” event on Aug. 20, which was led by self-described Christian nationalist Sean Feucht.

“By definition, a Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ and a nationalist is someone who loves your country, so what’s wrong with that?” Linebarger told fellow protesters. “I’m a proud Christian nationalist.”

In a brief interview, Dach said he was disappointed with Woodward for quickly distancing herself from the event’s organizers, as well as from Shea, who introduced Woodward on stage and prayed with her.

“I think if she’s a believer, she should stand firm for her beliefs at all costs,” Dach said.

City spokesman Brian Coddington, Woodward’s unofficial chief of staff, said Woodward has apologized for appearing alongside Feucht and Shea, but not for participating in prayer or expressing her faith.

“She’s been clear that she doesn’t support the beliefs of a couple of individuals who were at the event, but she attended the event as a prayer vigil for the community,” Coddington said.

Dach and Linebarger argued that censuring the mayor for her attendance was tyrannical and fascist. They and other protesters joined the City Council meeting later that evening and expressed their frustrations with Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson and Councilman Zack Zappone, who sponsored the censure resolution, during open forum.

“It was important to hear from all perspectives of the community and it was appropriate to do so at the forum,” Coddington said.

Linebarger is the founder of Washington Citizens for Liberty and a former Central Valley School Board candidate who strongly opposed mask and vaccine mandates during the pandemic. Linebarger and his legal counsel were sanctioned in August by a Spokane County Superior Court judge for filing a pandemic-era “bad faith” petition to recall three Central Valley school board members over what Linebarger called poor communication from the district.