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852: Doug Wilson

Picture of Dough Wilson at microphone.
Doug Wilson in 2021

Doug Wilson is the leader of a reactionary religious movement and the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He preaches that men dominate and women submit. Rape and child molestation is not reported to authorities. Women who are abused by their husbands are put into “church discipline” and Wilson argues men cannot rape their wives because he can’t trespass in his own garden.

In his book Father Hunger, the pastor writes that a lack of fatherly authority and biblical masculinity (one that does not “simper and lisp”) is the root of various modern failings, including the “poison” of egalitarianism between genders. He has written “the sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party.” Instead, he argues that “a man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants,” while a “woman receives, surrenders, accepts,” and that “true authority and true submission are therefore an erotic necessity.

Vice.com: Inside the Church that Teaches Wives Need to Be Led by a Firm Hand

In one example, a man in his mid-twenties repeatedly raped a 14-year-old girl. When she reported the abuse to police, Wilson intervened saying the rape was part of a courtship. The judge was lenient. He married a college student to a convicted pedophile.

In addition to excusing marital rape, pedophilia, and spousal abuse, Wilson is working to expand his empire, planting more churches with his reactionary doctrine.

Meet the Press Reports with Interview with Doug Wilson
Christian college defends actions amid rumors - Moscow-Pullman Daily News, The (ID) - June 8, 2006 - page 1
June 8, 2006 | Moscow-Pullman Daily News, The (ID) | Omie Drawhorn; Daily News Staff Writer
Accusations that New Saint Andrews College kept knowledge of a sex offender and his activities under wraps
has put college officials on the defensive. Officials claim accusations that the college tried to cover up student
Steven Sitler's activities and delayed in reporting the matter to law enforcement and the public aren't valid.
Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church and a college board member since 1994, called the rumors "crazy". NSA
didn't make a public announcement because officials were trying to protect the victims, he said. "When you
have a situation like this, the court system has a policy of keeping victims' names out of public knowledge to
protect the names and reputations of victims," Wilson said. He said that is why he did not inform the public
when a parishioner brought to his attention that Sitler, 21, had sexually abused their child. He advised the
victim and the family to report the matter to the police immediately, and they did so, Wilson said. "I would
have announced the situation, if it was just Steven and no victims," he said. The college immediately expelled
Sitler upon his confession, Wilson said, and students were told that he had been expelled because of
"criminal activity". The Christ Church congregation was made aware of the situation, he said. Sitler was
convicted of one felony count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child under the age of 16 in July and
sentenced in September, said Latah County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Thompson. He was taken to the North
Idaho Correctional Institution under the retained jurisdiction program before being moved to the Latah
County Jail. He receives treatment twice a week in Clarkston and Pullman. Sitler was sentenced to life in
prison. How that sentence is served is subject to review every year. Second District Court Judge John Stegner
ordered another year in the Latah County Jail in April, and will review the case again in one year's time.
Thompson said if Sitler is released into the community it will be under intensive probation supervision for the
rest of his life. "The combined sentence is appropriate," Thompson said. "It ensures public safety and at the
same time places him into an intensive sex offender program." Thompson and Sitler's attorney, Dean
Wullenwaber of Lewiston, reached a plea agreement in September because of Sitler's willingness to admit to
other sex abuse crimes he had committed - both in Moscow and in Stevens County, Wash. "This was his first
criminal conviction at all, but he disclosed he had offended on more than one occasion," Thompson said.
Wilson, in a letter to Stegner dated August 19, said he hoped Sitler's penalties would be "measured and
limited". "It's not the same as light, but it's not an 'Oh, my God' response," Wilson said. "Steven did not realize
the magnitude of what he was doing. Now I believe he does." Wilson and New Saint Andrews College
President Roy Atwood said they feel they are being targeted. "This whole thing is coming from the same
group of people interested in zoning code violations, tax issues and issues related to perjury," Wilson said.
"My interest is in keeping victims and their families protected." "They are exploiting people's tragedy for a
political purpose. That's beneath anybody's reasonable treatment of other people," Atwood said. "Society is
becoming more tolerant of sexual sins and perversions," Atwood said. "Homosexuality and other forms of
sexual perversion are becoming mainstream." Wilson said he dealt with the issue "in a textbook way". The
congregations of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church, a ministry of Christ Church, make up about
1,000 people, the size of a small town, he said. "In a small town, there are people who do awful things," he
said. "People are trying to turn this into a scandal." Wilson said this was a scandal to the families involved, but
the manner in which the school dealt with it is not part of that scandal. Omie Drawhorn can be reached at
(208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by e-mail at odrawhorn@dnews.com.
© Copyright 2006 The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, TPC Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
Christian college defends actions amid rumors – Moscow-Pullman Daily News, The (ID) – June 8, 2006 – page 1

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