Is this the soul of the national and local Republican Party?
Brian Noble wears at least two hats. He is the Pastor of the Valley Assembly of God Church on E. Broadway just east of Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley. He is also the new chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party, as a result of a Steve Bannon-inspired political coup in January of this year. (A coup you can read about here.)
On May 18, 2023, Chairman Brian Noble interviewed City of Spokane Valley City Council Member Rod Higgins in a Facebook video posted to the SpokaneGOP’s Facebook page. Perhaps a third of the twenty-one minute video was a discussion between Higgins and Noble of the issue of homelessness, particularly as it affects Spokane Valley. Higgins comments centered on the common Republican lines asserting that providing any services to the homeless is “an enablement,” that the homeless need to rely on their “personal responsibility,” and that most homeless people, the supposed “9 out of ten who are mentally ill, drug addicted, or ‘just want to live on the street’” should just “move on” to someplace that calls themselves a “sanctuary city or something like that”. (Watch the video to for the full effect.) As a frequent flier with Cecily Wright’s Northwest Grassroots, a local far right organization that memorably hosted the white supremacist James Allsup, I suppose no one would expect anything less from Higgins.
But then SpokaneGOP Chairman and Pastor Brian Noble felt the need to chime in:
[9:25] Brian Noble: “In fact when you look at it [taking care of the homeless] from a gigantic worldview, you know, the government’s primary job is the safety of its citizens—and it’s the church’s responsibility, the benevolence, of/for those citizens. And so, ahhh, I think when we back up, you know, there comes accountability when you do that through the nonprofits or the churches, right? And I’m not thinking nonprofits that are just nonprofits based only, that are funded, by the government—but a “true” nonprofit.”
That seems perfectly clear. Our homeless neighbors—to Pastor Noble—are apparently not citizens of this country, since their safety, like surviving unhoused in the cold or the heat, avoiding starvation, protecting themselves from depredations by lawless people—for him—that doesn’t come under the rubric of the government’s primary job of ensuring the “safety” of its “citizens”.
For “Pastor” Noble, no government money should be spent taking care of these non-citizens. Any help they receive ought to be supplied by churches or by “true” non-profits, defined as groups that receive no government-provided funds. Hmmm. One might imagine a line of mega-church pastors, including “Pastor” Noble, engaged in homeless outreach spurred on by the Christian spirit, right?
Well, one had best re-think that. Here’s Pastor Noble in his own words a little earlier in the video expounding on his interaction with homeless people:
[6:10] Brian Noble: “I know at Valley Assembly where I pastor I know that every day we’re addressing the issue [of homeless people]. We’re asking people to sleep somewhere else or, you know, as compassionately as we can, we’re giving them water or something to drink or eat and then trying to get them to move along, you know. It’s definitely an issue in the Valley as well.”
[8:00] Brian Noble: “We try to…you know…we try to show compassion but it’s very limited—and to get them to move along. We’re not disrespectful or anything, but we are firm—you’re not gonna be sleeping in our stairwells or whatever!”
Can Brian Noble hear the twisted-ness of his own statements? This, apparently, is the “Christianity” of the far right leadership of the local Spokane County Republican Party, a party that tasks church charity with helping the homeless—but sports a “Pastor” who quickly adds, “But not my church!” Listen for this contorted rhetoric and avoid the candidates who espouse in the lead up to the August 1 Primary Election due date. After all, Brian Noble speaks for the local Republican Party.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. I cannot now retrieve it, but early on in her administration I vividly recall Mayor Woodward, who poses as devout, quoted in a news article expressing surprise and disappointment that more churches hadn’t stepped up to the task of feeding and housing homeless people.