<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceType"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PlaceName"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="City"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1027" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Joan,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Thanks for the summary. After a Grayfriar student who was member
of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> for many years and loyal defender
of Doug Wilson for a decade says “accurately stated,” I wouldn’t
let those who still want to baulk bother you. As I’m learning the hard
way, there are some folks who are just not gonna listen. Rhetoric,
argument, evidence, story, pleading, tears, or whatever, mean about as much as
a jeer for some: particularly for those who are used to substituting argument
for jeers themselves (but I should note that crabtree is the only non-kirker I
haven’t been able to yet convince, to my knowledge). Of course, Wilsonistas
are interesting on a national front, so ultimately I think it is fine if it all
passes by some locals. If the Kirk is able to keep notching up the
strange combination of an unanchored theonomy, the ad hoc theology of the local
Enemy, imprecatory prayers, the cultish inability for kirkers to think when
their leader is criticized, an elitist school, Wilson’s “I’m
Jesus” epistemology, and a sanctified practice of serrated insult (against
believers, non-believers, ex-members, churches, city counsel members, you name
it) I’d imagine that some interested parties will soon be the FBI and the
CIA. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I’ve heard from a couple different sources that Dr. Atwood is
starting to use the legal threat stuff. If so, I’d like to be the
first <st1:City w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City> local to say (member in good
standing at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>): come and get me.
I can’t find a better reason to go to jail than the joy of confronting
arrogant religious leaders. I think Jesus felt the same way.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Blessings,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Michael Metzler<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Would someone mind walking
down a long, dark tunnel and turning on the generators? There are
dinosaurs out there, but you can take a shotgun with you. Not that it
will be much good against enormous man-eating raptors, but you're brave, aren't
you? Well, aren't you?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Pat Kraut, G. Crabtree, and
Donovan Arnold all begin their defenses of Doug by insisting that he is the
victim of mass religious persecution. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>In order to believe this,
they must assume, without evidence, three<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>things:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>1. That opposition to Doug
Wilson is completely and wholly theologically based. Because his
religious beliefs seem sexist, racist, and homophobic to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>'s "liberals," some amorphous
"we" are out to get him. But "we" are not out to get
the Pope, who speaks sexism and homophobia into power ex cathedra. Funny,
that. Also, the Catholic Church has 300 million members; Doug has between
850 and 1200. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'> Are "we"
starting small before "we" go global sometime in the future? <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>(I don't know. I've
missed several Liberal Conspiracy meetings, but I'll have a word with Sinead
O'Connor and get back to you.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>2. PK, GC, and DA assume
that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> is just another mainstream
church; that it is no different in theology and practice than the
aforementioned Catholics, or the Lutherans, the Methodists, the Mormons, or the
Baptists (Southern, American, Independent, and Free Will). G. Crabtree's
line is, "If you don't like what Doug is preaching, then pack up your
Bibles and leave." Oddly enough, I used to say this myself. I
used to believe it, until I learned better. The first time a shunned and
spiritually-battered Kirker weeps on your sofa, you might dismiss it as an
anomaly. But what about the second, third, fourth or fifth? I see
that as a pattern. And -- unlike PK, GC, and DA -- I've taken the time
and trouble (oh, what a load of<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>trouble) to actually read
Doug's massive assortment of writings. Log onto <a href="www.credenda.org">www.credenda.org</a>,
read all of it, and then get back to me. We'll talk.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>3. PK, GC, and DA either
choose to ignore Doug's well-publicized political agenda or they don't believe
it exists. This, I fear, is willful ignorance. They might pick up a
copy of "My Town" from the Moscow Public Library -- a film Doug
Wilson, Roy Atwood, Ben Merkle, etc., cooperated with wholeheartedly -- and
spend the hour and five minutes watching it. The film as made by WSU
professor Michael Hayes. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>It was not made for profit
but for educational purposes, and it is not a hatchet-job on Wilson and company.
They speak for themselves in the film without critical commentary.
(Donovan's assertion that someone, somewhere is making money off this film is
false, and I suggest he knock it off before I go "Atwood" on him and
threaten him with my "crack legal team." Crack.
Legal. Team. Crack. Legal. Crack. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Mostly crack.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Three assumptions, all
incorrect. There is no Liberal Conspiracy. I tried to get one
together, but the Vegans wouldn't meet me at Mikey's. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Go figure. Someone
must have told them that "Opyr" is Ukrainian for vampire. (It
is, you know.) Here's how things stand, at least on Vision 2020.
Keely Emerine-Mix objects to Doug Wilson's use and abuse of the gospel.
So, too, I believe, does J. Ford. Why? Because they believe in the
gospel; they believe in Jesus Christ. It hurts them to see Doug swinging
their savior about like a battle-axe. Wayne Fox, Nick Gier, and Ralph
Nielsen are not defending the gospel, as such, by objecting to Doug Wilson's
actions and interpretations. Ralph, I know, is an atheist in good
standing. He doesn't defend the gospel as the gospel; he defends ancient
documents from mistranslation, misinterpretation, and sheer bloody-minded
ignorance. People who don't know the difference between a version and a
translation get on Ralph's last nerve, as they do mine.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Second, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
is not a church like any other, at least not on the Palouse. In the wider
world, it's not unique. It has theocratic kinfolk across the United
States -- a sister church in Monroe, Louisiana, run by Doug's good buddy and
co-founder of the racist League of the South, Steve Wilkins. Doug has
plant churches in <st1:City w:st="on">Cary</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">NC</st1:State>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Spokane</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">WA</st1:State></st1:place>,
and other places. That's why he has a seminary, Grayfriars -- to spread
his church far and wide via his very own trained ministry. As Doug is not
himself a trained minister, this strikes many as wild hubris, but you don't
need to be ordained to pastor. I believe that, as I know do Keely and
Rose and Melynda (the latter two, as Quakers, don't believe in "hireling
priests," period).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>What's going on in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Christ</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Church</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
right now? What about Michael Metzler's blog, Poohsthink.com, doesn't G.
Crabtree understand? Where to begin? I expect that R. C. Sproul,
Jr., a big wheel in the Christian Reformed world, will soon be joining Doug's
presbytery. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Sproul has been tossed from
his own presbytery (and de-frocked) for admitting to shunning, spiritual abuse,
using a fake tax i.d., my goodness how the list goes on. (Doug has been
defending R. C. Sproul on his blog, <a href="http://dougwils.com/">http://dougwils.com</a>,
by declaring that self-incrimination is not Biblical, ergo, R. C. is
innocent? Or at least not proven guilty? It's so incredibly goofy,
it's hard to follow. I like to think of it as the "R. C. and a Moon
Pie" defense.) In the meantime, Doug continues his own practice of
shunning, of threats, and of generally unkind and perhaps unGodly
behavior. There's nothing new there; nothing new at all.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Ever been shunned, Pat,
Gary, Donovan? Ever had friends of a decade stop speaking to you on
pastor's orders? Had those friends' wives stop speaking to your wife, or
those friends' kids stop playing with your kids? I understand it's very
painful -- and, if the shunning doesn't work, the dramatic fall-off in your
business often does. Say you run a little home business, and you've been
listed for years in the church directory. You're now de-listed, and the
calls for plumbing or house-painting or carpet-laying or computer repair stop
coming. You've lost your friends, your money, and your covenantal
relationship with your God, all for asking a few inconvenient questions.
Many churches shun. The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example. It's
cruel but effective; it keeps the doubters in line, long after they should have
-- by all reason and <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gary</st1:place></st1:City>'s
lights -- packed up and moved on.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Doug chose to establish his
church in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Moscow</st1:place></st1:City>
because it was "strategic," and that's not my word; it's his.
As he extends his spiritual/business disciplinary techniques out into the
broader community -- as we begin to see organized campaigns of shunning and
threats to employment -- it'll be interesting to see who remains willfully
blind and for how long. As long as Doug and his flunkies are nice to them
personally, it might be forever, eh, Donovan? As long as they keep
offering up those encouraging pats on the back? As long as no one you
know is personally targeted, G. Crabtree? As long as all goes well for
Pat in Pat's World? (Pat's World is like <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Wayne</st1:place></st1:City>'s World, only instead of Garth and Tia
Carerra, there's Dick Cheney with a mullet and George W. Bush in a thong.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Now, I'll sit back and wait
for the Crack Legal Team to come get me. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>That'll be Greg Dickison,
right? I won't even bother to go outside. I believe my border
collie, Fergus, can handle him. Or I might send my Scottish terrier,
Davey; he's only a little dog, but he whacks at the voles like no one's
business. Grrrrr.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>Joan Opyr/Auntie
Establishment<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><a href="www.joanopyr.com">www.joanopyr.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>PS: For those of you who
were speculating about where I am on the Political Compass, I'm sitting on the
bushy beard of Peter Kropotkin. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Courier New"'>I'm to the right of Mahatma Gandhi, but very much to
the left of Emma Goldman and Noam Chomsky. Who knew?</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>