New Saint Andrews College, a religious college in Moscow, is suing the city for religious discrimination. According to the Lewiston Tribune, the college is claiming that the city of Moscow is using parking and zoning restrictions that discriminate against the college and its religious affiliation.
NSA was founded in the 90s by pastor Doug Wilson from Christ Church. The college operates in downtown Moscow in a building on Friendship Square. In 2017, the college sought to expand its operations and purchased another building north of its main campus. In 2019, the city of Moscow determined that colleges were no longer able to expand downtown, with the exception of the two NSA buildings.
In 2024, according to KREM2, NSA began to rent out a third building with the intention of using it for an art gallery and administrative offices. The city of Moscow decided that the administrative offices in the building violated the 2019 decision, but the art gallery did not.
Eventually, alongside the Board of Adjustments, the city of Moscow determined the college could have their offices, as long as they were operated by a third party, according to an interview conducted by KREM2.
According to NSA, this discrimination dates back to 2005, when the college was given a permit for its south campus, but was required to provide downtown parking spaces by the city of Moscow. With this, NSA pointed out that University of Idaho institutions in downtown Moscow are not required to do the same. NSA stated that it is being held to a higher standard than UI, a secular college, which is the source of their religious discrimination.
According to the Lewiston Tribune, NSA said that Moscow was violating the “Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act, and the First Amendment.” The college also claimed that because multiple UI employees were on the city council at the time of the decision, it was unfair.
NSA also stated that because former councilwoman Julia Parker attended a Sons of Patriarchy podcast live recording in 2025, she was biased against NSA. According to the Lewiston Tribune, the Sons of Patriarchy has been a long-time critic of Christ Church and NSA, specifically their support of Christian nationalism.
NSA is attempting to get damages from the city of Moscow as well as an injunction against the city. When asking for information about the suit, the city of Moscow told the Lewiston Tribune that they did not know about any lawsuit from NSA. The NSA filed the complaint with the Idaho United States District Court without informing the city of Moscow.
Kevan Mitchell can be reached at [email protected]