On Friday, over 20 local faith and community leaders wrote an open letter to elected officials in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, in opposition to conservative preacher Sean Feucht’s 50-state tour.
They claim that Feucht has used his relationship with the conservative non-profit organization Turning Point USA to push Christian nationalism and harmful anti-LGBTQ sentiments.
Feucht is a former worship leader and the founder of the Let Us Worship movement. The movement began in response to pandemic bans on indoor worship and now tours across America holding outdoor worship concerts. He is also a self-acclaimed musician and activist who ran as a Republican in California’s third congressional district in 2020, receiving 14% of the votes.
The letter was organized by the Western States Center activist group. It asserts that Feucht uses his religion to justify extremist violence, and asks that officials reject his attempts to push bigotry through his preaching. The letter reads as follows:
“As faith leaders in the cities of Salem, Olympia, and Boise, we are writing to inform you of an anti-LGBTQ+ speaker coming to each of our state capital cities this week and ask you to speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry. Sean Feucht has spent the past year capitalizing on anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments by railing against Pride Month, even embracing the exclusionary label of “Christian nationalist,” and declaring that people with his narrow view of Christian theology should make all laws in the United States. His organizational partner on this 50-state tour, Turning Point USA Faith, recently hosted a pastors’ summit where speakers declared that LGBTQ+-inclusive Christian denominations are ‘going in an evil direction,’ and repeatedly referenced Matthew 18 to suggest that LGBTQ+ people and their allies deserve death. We reject these attempts to cloak bigotry in religious language, and we ask you to do the same.”
“We ask you to speak out, denounce anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, and add your voices to those of us who are calling for support for LGBTQ+ communities at this time.”
Feucht has yet to address the criticism leveled at him in the letter.