If Cowlitz County News Wants to Report News, It Should Start With the Facts

 There is a lot to unpack in the latest post from Cowlitz County News about a supposed “Satanic Temple” controversy in Longview. The more I read it, the less it looks like factual reporting and the more it looks like an attempt to manufacture a controversy where one doesn't actually exist. Apparently, facts weren't dramatic enough.

Let's start with what actually happened. Alexandria Kirby, identified in the screenshots as the vice president of the Longview Downtowners Association and owner of Magpie Books, sent an email to the City of Longview asking about the process for providing an invocation at an upcoming City Council meeting. She identified herself as a member of The Satanic Temple and asked whether, if the city allows invocations, the opportunity is available to people of different faiths. That is not an attack on Christianity, an attempt to take over City Hall, or a demand that Christians stop praying. It is someone asking about the rules.

Cowlitz County News then announced that it had “obtained” the email from the City of Longview and used it to frame the situation as though Longview had suddenly discovered a demonic invasion. That raises a completely legitimate question: How did Cowlitz County News obtain that email?

RCW 42.56.235 Matters Here

Washington law is pretty explicit on this point. RCW 42.56.235, titled “Religious affiliation exemption,” states that all records that relate to or contain personally identifying information about an individual's religious beliefs, practices, or affiliation are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act.

The email published by Cowlitz County News identifies the sender as a member of The Satanic Temple. That is, quite literally, information about an individual's religious affiliation. So when Cowlitz County News says it obtained the email from the City of Longview, there is a very reasonable question that needs to be answered: Who provided it?

If someone within the City of Longview provided the email to Cowlitz County News, that raises legitimate questions about how the information was obtained and why it was provided. I am not accusing a specific city employee or elected official of violating the law because I don't know who provided it, and I'm not going to invent facts to fill that gap. What I am saying is that the source of the email deserves an explanation, particularly given the specific exemption contained in RCW 42.56.235.

If the email was obtained another way, then Cowlitz County News should simply explain that. If it came directly from someone within the city, the public has a legitimate interest in knowing that as well. Those are questions, not accusations. Funny how that works.

The Blog Post Cowlitz County News Is Complaining About Does Not Say What They Claim It Says

This is where the Cowlitz County News post really falls apart. The blog post they are referring to is the Documented blog post, “When Religion Becomes a Shield: What Is Happening in Longview?”

Cowlitz County News is portraying that article as though it is attacking Christian city officials simply because they practice Christianity. That is absolutely false.

The article does not say Christian city officials should be prohibited from worshipping. It does not say they should not attend church. It does not say Christians should be banned from government. It does not say elected officials lose their right to practice their religion. The article makes a much narrower and perfectly legitimate point: public officials are allowed to worship however they choose, and the public is allowed to ask questions about their religious, political, and civic connections.

Those two things can exist simultaneously. A person's religious freedom does not come with a lifetime membership in the “Never Ask Me Anything” club.

Being Allowed to Worship Does Not Mean Being Above Scrutiny

This should not be a difficult concept. A city council member can attend church, pray, belong to a religious organization, and openly talk about their faith. Nobody is arguing otherwise.

The moment those same people are acting in a public capacity, however, citizens are allowed to ask questions about potential political relationships, organizational connections, conflicts, policies, and public decision-making. That is called civic engagement. It is not religious persecution.

The Documented article specifically distinguishes between someone's right to practice their faith and the public's right to examine publicly relevant relationships and ask questions. Cowlitz County News took that distinction and apparently decided to throw it into a wood chipper.

The Invocation Issue Is Also Being Misrepresented

The email from Kirby is not evidence that somebody has demanded that Christianity be removed from Longview government. It is a request to participate under the city's existing invocation policy.

Cowlitz County News itself says Longview has a policy that has been in place since 2013 and is intended to be inclusive of different religions. If that is true, then someone asking whether the policy actually applies to them is hardly shocking. In fact, that is precisely how an inclusive policy gets tested. If the answer is yes, then the policy applies. If the answer is no, then the city needs to explain why.

What cannot happen is pretending that the person asking the question is somehow attacking Christianity simply because her religion makes some people uncomfortable. Religious liberty does not mean government protects only the religions that the majority finds familiar.

The Comment Section Makes the Point Even Better

The screenshots accompanying the Cowlitz County News post are filled with people arguing that Christians should have the right to pray while simultaneously objecting to another religion being afforded the same opportunity. There are comments describing Satanists as serving Satan, references to demonic attacks, calls for prayer and fasting, and people insisting that Christianity has some special status within government.

Meanwhile, others point out the obvious. If a government policy allows religious invocations, then the constitutional principle of religious neutrality does not mean “Christianity gets the microphone.” It means government cannot simply pick the religion it likes best.

That is the entire point of religious freedom. You don't get to demand freedom for your own religion while insisting someone else's religion should be excluded.

“Separation of Church and State” Doesn't Have to Be Printed Word-for-Word in the Constitution

Several commenters seem fixated on the fact that the exact words “separation of church and state” do not appear in the First Amendment. Nobody is claiming they do. The constitutional language comes from the First Amendment's Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause. Thomas Jefferson later described the constitutional principle as a “wall of separation” between church and state.

Arguing that the phrase itself isn't printed in the Constitution doesn't erase the constitutional protections against government establishment of religion or interference with its free exercise. That would be like arguing that traffic laws don't apply because the statute doesn't specifically contain the sentence, “Please don't drive like an idiot.” The law is slightly more sophisticated than that.

The Real Issue Is Accuracy

Cowlitz County News is free to disagree with the Documented article. It is free to criticize it, defend Christian officials, argue that religious organizations should have no role in government, or write an entire post about Satanism if that is what it wants to do.

What it is not free to do, if it wants to present itself as a news source, is misrepresent what another publication actually said.

The Documented article did not say Christians shouldn't worship. It did not say Christian city officials should be barred from attending church. It did not say Christianity should be banned from public life. It said people have a right to ask questions about the intersection of religion, politics, and government.

That is not controversial. That is democracy.

So Let's Ask Some Actual Questions

Instead of manufacturing outrage over the existence of a Satanist asking about an invocation, perhaps Cowlitz County News should answer some straightforward questions. How did you obtain the email sent to the City of Longview? Was it provided to you by someone within the city? If so, who provided it? If it wasn't provided by the city, who gave it to you? Why are you portraying the Documented article as an attack on Christian worship when it specifically makes the distinction between a person's right to worship and the public's right to ask questions? Why are legitimate questions about religious and political connections being characterized as an attack on Christianity?

Those are reasonable questions. Nobody is asking Cowlitz County News to stop practicing its religion. Nobody is asking anyone to stop attending church. Nobody is asking Christians to stop praying. People are asking for accurate reporting. There is a massive difference.

Report the Facts

If Cowlitz County News wants to be an advocacy page, then own it. If it wants to be a political commentary page, that's fine too. If it wants to report news, then report factual news.

Don't take an email asking about an invocation and turn it into “Satanists in Longview.” Don't claim a blog post says something it doesn't say. Don't manufacture a religious crisis out of someone asking whether a city policy applies equally to everyone. Don't turn questions about government, politics, and religion into an imaginary war on Christianity.

Most importantly, don't use outrage to distract from questions about how you obtained someone's email in the first place.

RCW 42.56.235 specifically exempts records that relate to or contain personally identifying information about an individual's religious beliefs, practices, or affiliation from disclosure under Washington's Public Records Act.

So if Cowlitz County News obtained this email from the City of Longview, the public has every right to ask how that happened. Those questions deserve answers.

The Documented article deserves to be represented accurately. Christian city officials are allowed to worship however they choose. Satanists are allowed to worship however they choose. Everyone else is allowed to ask questions.

If Cowlitz County News wants to report news, report factual news. Quit making shit up.