Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., has refused to condemn a prominent supporter even after he admitted to writing and spreading an extremist manifesto that called on fellow conservative Christians to “kill all males” of groups who refused to follow biblical law.
The document, titled “Biblical Basis for War,” was authored by controversial Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, a Republican whose endorsement helped McMorris Rodgers keep her seat during her contested primary this year.
Shea’s four-page manifesto, which was leaked to the internet on Tuesday, detailed how he believes Christians should wage a religious war and instructs followers to “kill all males” of populations that don’t submit to his interpretation of biblical law.
Shea wrote that his enemies had to “surrender on terms of justice and righteousness”: banning abortions, same-sex marriage, “idolatry or occultism” and communism and obeying “Biblical law.” If they “do not yield,” the men would be killed, he wrote.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told The Spokesman-Review that he sent Shea’s memo to the FBI, noting its similarities to other ideologies espousing violence that took root in the Pacific Northwest.
âThe document Mr. Shea wrote is not a Sunday school project or an academic study,â Knezovich wrote in an email to the newspaper. âIt is a âhow toâ manual consistent with the ideology and operating philosophy of the Christian Identity/Aryan Nations movement and the Redoubt movement of the 1990s.â
AT&T and the Washington Association of Realtors, which had previously contributed to Shea’s campaign, are asking him for refunds, The Spokesman-Review reported.
But McMorris Rodgers — the chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, making her one of the most power Republicans in Congress — has refused to disavow Shea.
When The Spokane Spokesman-Review contacted her campaign staffers about Shea’s document, they declined to comment. A spokesman for McMorris Rodgers did not respond to the American Ledgerâs call requesting comment Monday.
Earlier this year, McMorris Rodgers found herself facing an unusual primary challenge from the right and, as she searched for allies, actively sought Shea’s endorsement, despite his previously known alignment with elements of the far right.
âI reached out to Matt Shea to talk about some of the others that were in the race,” McMorris Rodgers said in an interview with The Spokesman-Review in August. âAnd in the course of that conversation, he let me know that he was going to be supporting me.â