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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRepublican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith went toe-to-toe with constituents at a Zionsville town hall Tuesday night—defending his stance on bringing religion into his public post and concerns about “chemtrails.”
About 100 Hoosiers attended the event, though some left as the event stretched to two hours. The night featured numerous interruptions from both Beckwith and those in the audience. Loud boos were repeatedly lobbed.
“If you shoot little snide remarks at me, I might just shoot them right back,” Beckwith said during one exchange.
After the event, Beckwith said he considered it a success.
“I’m not trying to win somebody over to my side of the argument. I’m just trying to say, hey, let’s dialogue. And I’m going to tell you what I believe, why I believe it,” he told reporters. “And, you know, I believe people are adults. They can make up their own minds after they hear what I say, and then you can let other people, you know, let their voices be heard as well.”
One attendee, Scott Johnson, read several laws and constitutional provisions about religion in government, noting that the U.S. Constitution contains no references to the Bible or Christianity.
“I don’t understand how you can swear an oath to the Constitution and then violate it,” he said. “Your word should mean something, sir.”
Another woman told Beckwith, who is a pastor, that Hoosiers are his constituents and not his congregants.
His response was to point out God is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence four times. The crowd audibly groaned when Beckwith said the separation of church and state is a myth and that “we are a Judeo-Christian nation.”
One woman, who declined to provide her name, was concerned about the preservation of farmland in Boone County and other areas.
“I too believe in free enterprise, in the capital market, but I also believe that we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our land,” she said, specifically mentioning the Indiana Economic Development Corporation buying up land for the contentious LEAP district.
Beckwith said he wants Gov. Mike Braun to clean house at the IEDC.
“I don’t know if you can save the IEDC at this point because people don’t trust it. People have seen the abuse that has gone on,” he said, adding that the LEAP project was “slammed down the throats of the people of Boone County.”
Another speaker pointed to Beckwith’s recent peddling of a conspiracy theory that aircraft are nefariously spreading dangerous substances in the condensation trails—so-called “chemtrails”—they leave in the sky. A second man said this is an issue that concerns him.
“You mentioned chemtrails and that’s got my attention,” Alex Sutherland said. “You look up at the sky today, it doesn’t feel like May. It didn’t at the Indy 500. I know they are spraying stuff out of those high-altitude jet planes.”
Beckwith praised Florida and Tennessee for passing legislation targeting weather modification. And he noted a bill filed in Indiana to levy huge fines on anyone putting chemicals in the air to impact weather.
“I think it’s worth looking into,” he said, adding, “If we find out it’s laughable then great.”
During the exchange, Beckwith called the crowd “leftist socialists.” One woman yelled back, “We’re Americans, not socialists.”
Property taxes also earned discussion after a man gave examples of inconsistent assessed values in communities.
“We dropped the ball on this,” Beckwith said about the recently passed property tax reform package.
He supports limiting property tax payments based on the purchase price of a home but acknowledged the problems can’t be fixed overnight.
“It’s going to take us longer than just a few months to untangle this mess,” Beckwith said.
About 30 protesters gathered outside before the town hall began. Many were carrying signs. One said “Lt. Gov. Beckwith. This is our state, not your church.” Another said he was “0/5 of a person” — referencing comments he made on the Three-Fifths Compromise.
“Micah Beckwith is harmful to children,” Amy Garman, of Indivisible Central Indiana, told the crowd. She said Republicans have banned books and outed transgender kids “under the guise of parental rights.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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And how many of the “sexually explicit” books did you personally read to determine they should be banapproach.
BTW IN my opinion, throwing labels around as you did in your post is hardly a good example of a Christan approach. This post is coming from a “dyed in the wool” country conservative.
Unlike you, I didn’t just look at the pictures!
Such media coverage for a real face to face town hall meeting about nothing but opposing party complaints. If only our 7th District Congressman Andre Carson would meet face to face with his constituents! Carson requires zoom meetings, and only with invited ‘friendly’ attendees, with presubmitted and pre-approved questions. Big difference in representation by our elected folks. At least Beckwith faces his critics, even with his foot in his mouth. Carson needs the DNC narrative on his prompter.
If there were people happy with the job Beckwith was doing, I’m pretty sure they were allowed to show up and comment. I just suspect those people are far and few between.
I recall Thomas Jefferson was involved in the drafting of the Constitution. He was a Deist. He acknowledged God created the earth, but believed God was not involved thereafter. Most of the drafters were Protestants, some were Catholics, though Catholics would not have been allowed to hold office in Virginia at the time (had to be Protestant to vote…). So while the drafters were men who believed in God, they were very careful, with the First Amendment (an amendment made so as to capture the votes of the colonies to approve the Constitution), to ensure the United States separatation of Church and State were imbedded in the founding documents. The separation is not a myth (at least from the passage of the 14th Amendment until the most recent iteration of the US Supreme Court). That separation enabled the country to be formed, and to grow and succeed. And when the 14th Amendment was passed and slowly began to applied to the States and lesser governmental entities, the wall was more firmly established. This is a nation overwhelmingly inhabited by persons who follow Judeo-Christian beliefs, but it is not a Judeo-Christian nation in the mold of Israel being a Jewish nation, or Vatican being Roman Catholic, or Arab states being Islamist.
He is a conspiracy gobbling embarrassment. I’m glad he was uncomfortable. Peddling conspiracies and making up stories about the Constitution doesn’t fare well when you’re talking to an audience that actually has functioning adult brains.
+1
What conspiracies and what stories did he make up regarding the Constitution??? Try reading the 1st Amendment and point out the “separation of church and state”, will you?
John must have extra chemtrails over his house today
Good on Beckwith for having the fortitude to go meet with constituents. Many politicians – see comments elsewhere in this thread – are more inclined to hole up and avoid the people.
Nate, please post the link to your headline and story you ran after Saint Andre’s town hall……
Beckworth is a religious whack job.
That said, it’s important to note the positioning and narrative from the “journalists”
A few years ago when parents were attending school board meetings and stating they wanted their kids to actually attend school, not be forced to wear 3 masks, and not be taught there are 7 genders, they were painted as domestic terrorists. Here the protesters are positioned as hero’s
Special shout out to the “journalists” for including Amy Garman from a made up group, who states republicans are “outing trans kids”. I have no idea what that means and neither does she. She also rolls out one of my favorite democrat troupes of books that can be delivered to your front door in 24 hours, but are not available at the local elementary school library are “Banned!!”
Nate, you need to hire Amy immediately. She perfectly represents the culture and values at the IBJ
Keep religion out of government, Beckwith. We don’t live in Gilead.