Proclaiming the Faith

Just a few days before Christmas, the five-member board of commissioners in Wilkes County, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, passed a Christian heritage proclamation calling upon residents to affirm “Christianity’s important influence in the foundation and life of our County, State, and Nation.” 

The nearly 500-word resolution, which passed unanimously and referenced quotes from America’s founding fathers James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and others, cited the overwhelming number of churches and Christian charities in the United States—and the upcoming holiday—as evidence of Christianity’s importance. It also noted that Christian heritage gave citizens a chance to “acknowledge blessings to contemplate and offer solutions to the numerous challenges’ (sic) society faces” while becoming “rededicated to our nation’s spiritual ancestry.” 

Though many in this rural county of roughly 65,000 people welcomed the proclamation, it was not without its critics. 

Some see it as a threat to the separation of church and state, one that excludes the small minority of non-Christians living in the county. Kathryn Charles, the chair of the Wilkes County Democratic Party, wrote in an email to The Assembly that the proclamation “sends a message to citizens who do not identify as Christian that their contributions are less valued.” (Charles told The Assembly in an interview that she’s not a “church-going Christian,” but that she believes in Jesus’s teachings.) 

Some also fear the proclamation could further fuel a rise in Christian Nationalism, a small but growing movement that’s been tied to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, anti-Black racism, and anti-immigrant views. 

A few critics expressed suspicion that the proclamation is nothing more than board chair Stoney Greene pandering to evangelical voters as he runs to represent District 94 in the state House. 

Greene, who requested county staff draw up the proclamation, faces three others in the March primary, including Blair Eddins, a constitutional conservative who works for the evangelical organization Samaritan’s Purse. (In a video posted on Eddin’s campaign website, the candidate promises to go with God’s word over what the people or his party wanted. “I know God instituted government, but I’m pretty sure Satan instituted politics,” he says.)

Keith Elmore, a county commissioner who voted in favor of the proclamation, agrees it was mostly a political stunt that might garner Greene votes, but also drag the county into a political “shit storm.”

“I felt uncomfortable with it,” said Elmore, whose term is up this year and is not seeking reelection. He said he asked the county’s two attorneys, Tony Triplett and Brooke Felts, if the proclamation could put the county in “legal jeopardy” before the vote, and both confirmed there were no legal issues, which meeting minutes back. Elmore told The Assembly he found their answer surprising and said he didn’t believe Christian heritage was an issue the board should be dealing with, but that he voted for it anyway because he thinks the proclamation is, at its core, harmless.

Within days of its passage, Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters to commissioners urging them to rescind the proclamation on constitutional grounds, The Winston-Salem Journal reported. The proclamation breaches the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the groups said, which bars government actions favoring one religion over another. 

“Wilkes County is ironically violating the country’s true heritage of religious liberty based on a secular government,” foundation staff attorney Christopher Line wrote. “Cherry picking facts, many of them distortions of the truth, does not change the fact that the United States was founded as a secular nation. We are a country where you are free to be a Christian if you choose, not a Christian nation.”

Greene responded just after Christmas in a Facebook post. “I will always stand up for our/my Christian values. This is part of why our Country is in the shape it is now, the squeaky 1% tries to back us in a corner then label us with their fearmongering names,” he wrote. “I will represent the 94th district with the same exact conviction. I AM A PROUD CHRISTIAN!!”

Greene did not respond to a request for comment from The Assembly, but told The Journal-Patriot in December that he represented “the morals and values of the people of Wilkes County, not Wisconsin,” referencing the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

In January, the foundation sent a follow-up letter again asking commissioners to rescind the proclamation; the organization has said it will consider taking legal action against the county if the proclamation is not repealed.

A White Christian County 

Steve Moree passes at least six churches in the five miles he travels between his Wilkes County home to the First Baptist Church of North Wilkesboro where he worships. “You can throw a rock from one church to the next,” said Moree, a Democrat who is also running to represent House District 94.

About 83 percent of people in the county identified as white Christian, according to 2020 polling data from the Public Religion Research Institute. Only nine other counties in the U.S. registered a higher percentage. But across the country, the share of that demographic has declined by about a third since the mid-1990s, shifting from 65 percent to 44 percent of Americans identifying as such.

Moree told The Assembly he is neutral on the proclamation, though he doesn’t see the need for it; others shared similar sentiments. He also doesn’t know whether the proclamation was motivated more by politics than religion. But he certainly understood why people might question Greene’s motives, given the upcoming election. 

Moree, whose father was a Southern Baptist preacher, said scripture is very clear on the Biblical consequences of such hubristic action. “If it was done for political gain, then there will come a day when those that did those kinds of things will be humbled,” he said. 

Charles said that most of the people she knows who oppose the proclamation—a mix of agnostics, atheists, and religious people—are voting for Democrats in 2024.

Moree said he doesn’t understand how the proclamation, which he described as “un-welcoming” to non-Christians, could possibly benefit the county,especially when there is a more pressing concern among Christians—specifically, helping the growing unhoused population. 

“Wilkes County has bigger fish to fry than this proclamation,” Moree said.

David White, a pastor at The Gathering, a nondenominational evangelical church in Moravian Falls, was one of two church leaders who spoke in favor of the resolution at the December 19 meeting. White said that by issuing the proclamation, the commission was raising a standard for children and others in the community, showing that the county honored God. “This proclamation may seem small, but it may be bigger than they think.” 

White told The Assembly he hadn’t read the proclamation before the vote, but figured he knew the gist of it—that the board was going to declare Wilkes a Christian county and that believes in God. “There has to be those voices that will rise up and say, ‘No, we believe in God—we’re going to hold the course,’” he told The Assembly. “We’re just one place that is taking a stand for righteousness.”

Authority Issues

The Wilkes’ proclamation is hardly the first in North Carolina or elsewhere. Former Gov. Jim Hunt, a Democrat, declared a statewide Christian Heritage Week each year between 1994 and ‘96, describing Christianity as a “foundational influence on the inception, formation, structure and culture of our Nation.” 

Hunt’s 1996 proclamation met criticism after the group who called for the proclamation sent packages to every public and private school in the state including the declaration and suggestions for how to celebrate. After community outcry that included support from the state branch of the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, Hunt issued a proclamation creating “Spiritual Heritage Week” for the same period.

But the Wilkes proclamation is rare and even more egregious than most, said Alex Luchenitser, interim legal director and associate vice president at Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Most proclamations call for a day of prayer after a natural disaster, for example, or maybe a similar heritage a week, Luchenitser said. Wilkes County’s is meant for “all year long.”

He worried it could lead to “egregious and serious violations,” like requiring school prayer, the teaching of intelligent design or creationism, and expanding the use of religious objections to override anti-discrimination and public health requirements. These would create “disturbing things that would affect people’s daily lives and harm religious freedom for people who don’t adhere to the Christian nationalist agenda,” he said.

Luchenitser said the organization may pursue a lawsuit if the proclamation isn’t voluntarily revoked. In its letter on December 22, the Americans United gave the county 30 days to respond.

Triplett, the Wilkes County attorney, responded on January 22 that the county was consulting counsel on the matter and would provide another response “as soon as these consultations permit.” The Freedom From Religion Foundation received a similar response, The Winston-Salem Journal reported. County commissioner Elmore told The Assembly the county is in talks with outside counsel, specifically a constitutional attorney. 

“We look forward to receiving a substantive response and will be following up with the county attorney about that,” Luchensiter told The Assembly via email.

Though it’s still uncertain how the proclamation battle will play out in Wilkes, other counties have relented in the face of public outcry and pressure from outside groups. In September, a California county rescinded a similar proclamation calling for the celebration of American Christian History Month. And just this month, Currituck County in eastern North Carolina replaced a lunchtime prayer at its senior center with a moment of silence after receiving a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. 

Elmore told The Assembly on Monday that he hopes the county can resolve the issue before a lawsuit is filed. He’s in favor of pulling the proclamation back and reworking it to be more inclusive of all religions, he said, and hopes he can get two more commissioners on board. 

“We’re fighting something we should not be fighting,” he said, noting how much time county staff, commissioners, and attorneys are devoting to it. “It’s just ridiculous. We have important work to do for the citizens.”

In the meantime, the threat of a lawsuit looms for Wilkes, and those opposed to the proclamation fear it could draw the county into a costly legal battle. 

Jacob Biba is a freelance journalist in Asheville. His work has appeared in The News & Observer, The Intercept, The New Republic, and others.