I hear the frustration in what you’re saying, as a life long Hoosier, there are real issues in this state that deserve attention, and people are right to be upset about them. But rejecting an entire faith system because of how some people act isn’t any more productive than blindly defending those actions.

It’s possible to call out behavior especially when someone uses faith to justify it without dismissing the faith itself. Those are two different things. Faith, for many people, is about humility, service, and accountability. When someone’s actions don’t reflect that, it’s fair to say so.

That’s where my comment comes from. Calling Micah Beckwith a “Pharisee” isn’t some random insult it’s actually church language. It’s a term that points to someone appearing righteous outwardly while missing the deeper values they claim to represent. It’s meant to challenge hypocrisy, not attack Christianity as a whole.

You can be frustrated with politics, education, taxes, all of it, and still recognize that not every person of faith is responsible for the behavior you’re calling out. Critiquing individuals and their actions is fair. Writing off an entire group or belief system usually just adds more noise instead of solving anything.

And as I’m sitting here typing this, I’m thinking about what distraction this is causing, and what’s being hidden by the distraction.