Elections have consequences–and in Indiana, those consequences are potentially frightening.
Thanks to gerrymandering and the refusal of rural voters to cast a ballot for anyone who doesn’t have an R by their name, the state is currently “governed” (note quotation marks) by a slate of pathetic wanna-bes and Christian Nationalists. We have a governor who is clearly more interested in the title (and in staying in Trump/MAGA’s good graces) than in policy; an Attorney General who evidently skipped his law school class on ethics, and who has turned the office into a performative culture war outpost; a Secretary of State who was elected despite obvious incompetence and corruption and has continued to exhibit both.
And then, of course, there is our Lieutenant Governor, Micah Beckwith, who consistently displays his ignorance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights while working to turn Indiana into a Christian theocracy.
At a closed-door meeting in April, Micah Beckwith and members of what the Indiana lieutenant governor called his Anti-Woke Advisory Committee laid out an aggressive strategy to expand conservative influence in public schools and push back against what the group identified as “woke policy creep.”
The committee detailed plans to launch conservative student clubs, reshape teacher training programs, and identify school districts where diversity and pro-LGBTQ+ policies are in place, according to meeting notes obtained by The Indiana Citizen and verified as authentic by a person familiar with the committee. Many of the discussion topics were aimed at ramping up political pressure on school boards.
Attendees at the meeting included the Executive Director and Education Director of the far-ritht Indiana Family Institute, Former Attorney General Curtis Hill ( you will recall his law license was suspended over groping allegations), Jay Hart, a Morgan County conservative who unsuccessfully challenged state Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray in a 2024 Republican primary, State Senator Craig Haggard, a Republican from Mooresville, and several other Christian Nationalist activists.
The committee was formed by Beckwith, who self-identifies as a Christian nationalist, and the Statehouse File reports that the meeting focused on “specific steps to launch conservative clubs in schools and target teachers, education colleges, and programs they see as promoting pro-LGBTQ+ content or “leftist ideology.”
Beckwith’s animus toward the gay community and his efforts to marginalize the members of that community are longstanding, and the committee spent considerable time focusing on potential anti-gay measures. Participants noted that some teachers continue to display LGBTQ+ flags and classroom décor to signal inclusion, which they described as a way to “push agendas.”
I guess it’s only an “agenda” when it isn’t consistent with your effort to “Christianize” the state, an effort that somehow isn’t an “agenda.”
The committee extended its focus beyond classrooms to nonprofit organizations, recommending audits of groups with state-issued specialty license plates to ensure they were in compliance with what they called “anti-DEI executive orders.” The Indianapolis Youth Group, which provides services and support to LGBTQ+ youth, was specifically named for review.
The linked report also documents Beckwith’s relationships with figures of several national far-right groups.
During the meeting, members proposed a quarterly “Woke Radar Report” to track what they consider “problem districts” and suggested mechanisms that would give Beckwith a platform to pressure local school boards. According to the article, the institution of such a report “would function both as a watchdog tool and a political instrument, spotlighting schools where progressive policies are growing.”
The article has much more–all pretty terrifying, and absolutely none of it consistent with the job description of the office of Lieutenant Governor. That office is charged with heading up the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs. (I believe it also heads up efforts to increase tourism.) Nowhere does that portfolio include the Christianizing of the schools.
Of course, the Lieutenant Governor also becomes Governor if the sitting governor dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to serve. I’m no fan of empty suit Mike Braun, but I certainly hope he’s healthy…
These sorry excuses for state “leadership” sure don’t make me proud to be a Hoosier….
Beckwith must think Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John made up stories about Yeshua, to make him look better than he was. Because they have him calling on his followers to love and accept everyone. In fact they made Yeshua woke.
Thank you for another informative and thought provoking letter! Your writings are important during these frightening threats to our democracy.
I had an opportunity to attend one of Beckwith’s addresses in the Muncie area, and I wished I had participated to see him in person. Not because I find his ideas interesting, but you know what Shakespeare said, “the lady doth protest too much.”
It’s a real thing called “reaction formation,” and it happens a lot in conservative and religious circles. It’s called hypocrisy. It’s a behavior of taking their internal battle with themselves into the public realm and expressing it outwardly.
This hypocrisy with Micah is well-known since he is heavily anti-abortion. Yet, both of his kids with his wife have been through IVF, which the protocol itself produces unused embryos, which anti-abortion advocates argue is murdering a life.
Hypocrisy seems to be at the core of Micah’s beliefs. He can’t reconcile the rhetoric with his own personal actions. It’s the same as Indiana State Senator Mike Bohacek, who blew a BAC of .283 and was given a sweetheart plea deal. He also serves on both the “health and corrections committees.”
For those even slightly familiar with alcohol’s impact on the brain and body, the average person would pass out long before they reached a .283 BAC. Anybody who can still function with that high of a BAC has an extremely high tolerance. I wonder how many times the Senator voted on laws and policies while intoxicated? You can’t tell me that other senators didn’t know about Bohacek’s drinking. He should have been forced to resign by his colleagues.
Lots of hypocrisy in Indianapolis thanks to gerrymandering, ignorant voters, and corrupt colleagues.
Just another version of the KKK.
The extreme right war against woke is the most challenging policy structure for me to understand, especially when mixed with Christian Nationalism.
When my parents forced me to attend Sunday School in the Dutch Reformed Church in America (a Puritan denomination), we were taught some general principles of good. One was formal Christianity, which I suspected, starting very young, to be a money-making operation; another was morality (do unto others…), and lastly was woke (respect for others), which I assumed was the basis of morality (or vice versa). Oh, and, “Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus, …)
But it was all good background to see through present-day Christian Nationalism as a brilliant scam.
I like some symbols, such as numbers and math symbols, and most art, but commercial symbols (like brands) seem much less worthy of appreciation to me.
I continue to strive to be as woke as possible within human limitations and remain fully supportive of our Constitution, which is the definition of the highest form of governance yet devised by humans.
Why is there no outcry among Christians, condemning the “Do as I say…not what I do” nature of their fellows? Could it be that they secretly agree with the “CHRISTIAN USA” agenda of the Nationalists? The hypocrisy here is very obvious.
“Beckwith’s animus toward the gay community and his efforts to marginalize the members of that community are longstanding.” You know what that means, right? 🤔🤭
It’s okay, Micah. Feel free to come out of the closet.
American Christianity has been in a panic since the postwar Church attendance boom fizzled out in the 60’s. Mainline denominational Christianity was seen as irrelevant, and Evangelicalism, once regarded as hyper-religious, judgmental and extremist, stepped into the void left by the Mainline, because it offered “sincerity.” Then came Bill Hybels and the megachurch Willow Branch movement, offering entertainment instead of worship, programming in place of service, and Prosperity gospel affluence in place of austerity and self-sacrifice. The public responded, evangelical congregations grew, and the field was ripe for far-right propagandists like Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority to spread their bigotry. Mainline denominational leaders, envious of the Evangelicals’ growth, began pushing pastors to adopt Evangelical megachurch strategies. Theology and social justice ethics no longer mattered; the new order became butts in the pew and bucks in the plate. Aping the popular Costner film, “Field Of Dreams,” church leaders told their pastors, “If You Build It, They Will Come.” Large church complexes with fellowship halls, rec centers, retreat facilities, and multimedia sanctuaries were built all over the country, requiring more growth to sustain them. More growth led to greater embrace of extremist views to keep people interested. And the madness continues to the present day. Beckwith and his far-right lunacy is the logical outcome.
Sheila-Thanks for picking up the story Sydney Byerly broke for The Indiana Citizen that was republished by our partners at The Statehouse File. I’ve been surprised by how little attention it has gotten statewide. Nothing seems to shock Hoosiers these days.
Bill Moreau, do you have a link to that article?
Christian Nationalists like Beckwith and the KKK are one and the same, hoisting a bible in the air to try to justify their evil deeds. The reality is that Micha Beckwith and his followers are the total antithesis of Christianity. Their agenda is to try to assure that the whole country is as ignorant and mistrusting of education and science as they are.
You mentioned a link to the writing/report you quoted, which I couldn’t find. Can you share that link with us?
In 60+ years of noticing ‘morality police’ politicians who grab attention time after time on issues of sexuality, I find they almost always protest too much to cover their own indiscretions. If they are thinking about sex as much as they do, the problem proclivities are their own.
Pam–it is in the post, but here it is again:https://www.thestatehousefile.com/politics/beckwith-and-allies-planned-strategies-to-push-conservative-ideology-in-schools-in-april-meeting/article_a78b518d-4063-4cbd-8ac9-d52121db9412.html?utm_source=thestatehousefile.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter%2Foptimize%2Fdaily-headlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1756331606&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more
Why can’t people of strong faith learn to do just the good things for people that help rather than trying to shove their religion up someone’s backside?
You want to help? Go feed the hungry. House the homeless. Teach a child how to read. Plant a tree. The list is pretty much endless and doesn’t even require you to be religious in any shape or form.
Pray! You could pray…
I get so annoyed by these people who have nothing but bad ideas meant to hurt or belittle someone else.
I’m reminded of an old meme (didn’t use that term then) from the ’60s, slightly edited for our times.
Two thousand years ago there were the people who were called radicals and Christians – and they were thrown to the lions
Now there are people who are called radicals and Woke – and they are thrown to the “Christians” (i.e. “Christian” Nationalists – no one who reads about loving thy neighbor and other sayings of Jesus is allowed in this later group)
I keep saying that the White Christian Nationalist is just the new name for the KKK.
Sheila, thank you for your articles. My local newspaper is owned by Gannett and not worth the paper that you use to wrap a fish in. You keep me informed and makes me realize that my thoughts are shared by other reasonable humans.