Rep. Matt Shea Promotes Group Training Child Soldiers for Holy War

On Wednesday the Spokesman-Review and the Guardian published an update on Rep. Matt Shea's relationship to right wing extremist groups who are actively preparing for holy war.

Shea is a Republican state representative in Spokane Valley who wants to secede from Washington in order to found a new Christian theocracy called Liberty, and who believes that Muslims and antifa have joined forces in an attempt to establish "counter-states" inside the U.S.

Last year Shea wrote and distributed a document called "the Biblical Basis for War," which instructs Christians to "kill all males" if their opponents (gay people and those who support abortion) do not "yield" following the collapse of the American government, which Shea believes is imminent.

Though Shea tried to distance himself from the implication of that document—namely that he's an elected official fomenting holy war against other American citizens—newly unearthed emails show he was an early booster of a militia called "Team Rugged," which aims to train child soldiers to "fight against physical enemies" based on the guiding principles of pastor John Weaver, a racist who has "recently become a leading proponent of training Christians for armed battle," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/08/15/41096508/rep-matt-shea-promotes-group-training-child-soldiers-for-holy-war