MOSCOW, Idaho (FāVS News) — Nearly 200 residents of this northern Idaho town gathered Tuesday night (Dec. 17) to discuss combating Christian nationalism, joined by a podcaster who is investigating the growing influence of Christian nationalist leader Doug Wilson in the community.
In the second season of his podcast “Extremely American,” Heath Druzin has been looking into the activities of Wilson’s Christ Church and its role in the extremist movement. Titled “Onward Christian Soldiers,” the season has already topped 1 million downloads.
Druzin explained to the crowd that Wilson, 71, who runs the Community of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a Calvinist church group, and an education empire that includes 500 “classical” Christian schools, is more influential nationally than locally.
But Christ Church, whose relationship with Moscow dates back to the 1970s, has been growing slowly over the decades. Today the church has between 800-900 members in the 25,000-person town. Those members own about 20% of the city’s downtown buildings, according to the podcast.
The church’s growth has caused a divide in the community, especially as Wilson continues to gain national attention, particularly in Christian nationalist circles.
Tuesday’s event was hosted by the United Church of Moscow, the Latah County Human Rights Task Force and the Community Congregational United Church of Christ of Pullman, located across the state border in Washington.
“The intent of tonight’s presentation is to help educate our community about forms of extremism, its ramific …