Dear Battle Ground Councilors,
I am writing to address the council’s recent decision regarding the National Day of Prayer proclamation. While the council is certainly entitled to recognize community events, the speed and enthusiasm with which this was approved stand in stark contrast to the past discussions surrounding the June Pride proclamation.
During the debate over Pride Month, several members of this board argued that such a proclamation was "too controversial" and failed to represent the entirety of Battle Ground’s residents. However, by that exact metric, a religious proclamation is equally—if not more—exclusionary. Battle Ground is home to secular individuals, agnostics, atheists, and people of diverse faiths who do not partake in this specific tradition.
To claim that one group is "too divisive" to recognize while fast-tracking another reveals a deep-seated hypocrisy. You cannot use "community unity" as a shield to block groups you personally dislike, only to discard that shield when it suits your own private interests.
If the members of this board intend to lead based on the Christian values they often champion, I would point you toward the very scriptures that warn against such double standards:
Matthew 23:27-28: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
Matthew 7:5: "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Leadership requires a level of intellectual and moral consistency that is currently missing from these proceedings. You were elected to represent all of Battle Ground—not just the residents who look, think, or pray like you do.
If a proclamation for one group is considered "unrepresentative," then the same must apply to all. I look forward to seeing if this council will begin applying its standards fairly, or if "representation" will continue to be a moving goalpost used to justify personal bias.
Battle Ground Tax Payer,
Missy Fant
La Center
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