Forging Pueblo — a Christian political group — organized the “Jericho Walk” with the blessing, in part, of D70 school board members.
By DEVIN FLORES
On Saturday, Dec. 7, members of Christian political group Forging Pueblo held a “Jericho Walk” at D70 schools, organized in part by school board members. This walk, which consisted of group representatives circling the district’s schools seven times (six times silently, and a seventh time “singing in praise”), was intended to serve as a prayer for safety for the students of the district and to encourage “wisdom” for the school board members. Several counter-protestors, concerned by the religious group’s growing influence in school district policies, also turned out to advocate in favor of church-state separation and to raise money for local youth organizations.
Sources differ as to why the walk was held, or how it was organized. Jericho Walks have been performed before, primarily at private religious schools. The idea for this walk seems to have originated with either Forging Pueblo leadership or with Dr. A.J. Wilson, vice-president of the school board. The event was promoted by email to Forging Pueblo members, and on Facebook, including through a post by school board member John Christenson on November 15.
Forging Pueblo members began arriving at Pueblo West High School shortly before 1 p.m., with organization leaders among them. One leader, Pastor Greg Smith of Oasis Christian Church, stated that the primary reason for the walk was to pray for wisdom and safety, and to combat a specific curriculum.
“We’re here to keep out the curriculum that would lead our children the wrong way,” said Smith. “Get back to reading, writing, and arithmetic.”
Smith went on, “It culminated in the curriculum that was being looked at in District 70. D70 had some LGBT influence as I understand it. I’m going by hearsay.”
This curriculum is the TRAILS Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum is a program developed to “provide mental health services to student in schools” and nurture “social and emotional skills like empathy, self-awareness, and respect.” The goal of this curriculum, according to its developers, is to increase emotional understanding in students, combat mental illness in children and teens, and provide in-school resources for at-risk youth.
In a unanimous vote, District 70 adopted this curriculum as an add-on to their normal K-12 curricula this year after receiving a $750,000 donation to make its implementation possible.
However, the curriculum recently came under closer scrutiny by local parents after it was reported that part of the curriculum was a worksheet which asked children their pronouns.
Counter protestors present at the schools on Saturday felt strongly that this curriculum is a benefit to all students, and spoke against the perceived attempt by Forging Pueblo to influence the school board into removing this program.
“[Forging Pueblo] go into the schools, and are trying to get rid of the TRAILS curriculum,” said Marisa Lopez, a member of the Southern Colorado Labor Council, a group which includes the Pueblo Education Association. “We’re here to support all students. This group, Forging Pueblo, has been taking over a lot of leadership that push legislation, especially in schools. When I first heard of this event, I realized one of the board members for D70 is actually running it. So when it comes to separation of church and state, there’s a blurred line there.”
Pastor Greg Smith spoke strongly in support of a repeal of the curriculum and warned of the impact it may have on the moral fabric of society.
“We’re fighting a spiritual conflict,” said Smith. “We need to rally to make sure this curriculum and any curriculum like it would not make its way in and get a foothold. That’s what we’re combatting through prayer. We’re praying that God will protect each of these schools.”
When asked to clarify, Smith continued and spoke on the important of spiritual warfare.
“There’s a spiritual conflict, an unseen battle that’s waging war against every person’s soul,” he explained. “If you really believe in God the Creator, you know the opposite force is in place—meaning the devil.”
“I used to trust my school board,” continued Smith. “I was hands-off. But in 2020 I started learning how far schools had gotten from just teaching the basics, to doing social engineering. It’s going against the moral fabric of our culture. In that secular vacuum, anything else becomes the religion of the day. Without God, you’ll fall to LGBTQ causes and anti-family causes.”
Marisa Lopez argued against this worldview, calling it dangerous to the community and to students.
“They’re choosing how to define evil,” she claimed. “They think anything different from them is evil. If the LGBTQ+ community is evil in their minds… that has no place in schools. That’s their right, but it has no place dictating school curriculum or being involved in legislation. These children have rights as well.”
Quin Friberg, pastor and founding member of Forging Pueblo, denied that the event had anything to do with the curriculum or that it was related to the school board.
“[Dr. Wilson] was part of the idea of the event,” explained Friberg. “The actual organization was done by Forging Pueblo.”
“Forging Pueblo’s only goal is to influence the community positively through Christ,” said Friberg. He continued, chuckling, “Don’t believe everything you read out there, it’s not all terror stories.”
Friberg said to reporters that he expected 100 to 200 walkers to turn up, but reports are that between 40 and 50 walkers in total circled the 27 schools in District 70. The counter protestors held a pledge drive based on the number of walkers which raised more than $1,600 for local youth.programs.
Devin Flores is an independent writer from Pueblo, CO. He specializes in local Colorado culture, history and politics.
Excellent article.