Indiana faith leaders and elected officials gathered at the Statehouse this week to denounce what they describe as dangerous, hate-fueled rhetoric from the state’s lieutenant governor and to urge Governor Mike Braun to publicly reaffirm that Indiana protects religious freedom for all communities.
State Senator Fady Qaddoura who represents District 30, opened the event by stating that the goal was to reaffirm the constitutional rights of every faith community in Indiana and to insist that no elected or appointed official use their office to discriminate.
Qaddoura called on the governor to make it clear that he serves all Hoosiers, not just some. He urged Braun to issue an executive order directing the Indiana Civil Rights Commission to provide training across the state on the legal rights of religious communities to worship without fear. He also demanded assurances that publicly funded offices, including the lieutenant governor’s faith-based initiatives office, are not discriminating against communities targeted by the lieutenant governor’s rhetoric.
“These are not requests for favorable treatment of one community over another,” Qaddoura said. “These are the basic constitutional rights that the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and every elected official in the State House pledged to uphold and defend.”
Malia, speaking on behalf of the Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network, echoed those demands. She urged the lieutenant governor, identified in the transcript as Micah Beckwith, to reconsider his public comments and recognize the real-world consequences of his words.
“Our words can truly have impact,” she said. “They have real life-and-death consequences for minority religious communities.”
Qaddoura said that as the lieutenant governor’s rhetoric continued, mosques around Indiana were forced to hire additional security for prayers and have faced a steady stream of threats and harassment, including hostile phone calls and social media attacks. He compared the current climate to earlier eras of American history, including a time when the Ku Klux Klan targeted Catholics in Indiana and questioned their loyalty.
Several reporters asked whether the event was a direct response to the lieutenant governor’s remarks. Qaddoura replied that while the comments brought renewed attention, the issue of religiously motivated hate and coalition-building across faiths in Indiana predates this controversy.
Speakers emphasized that the response is bipartisan. Qaddoura noted that Republicans and Democrats were present, including conservative State Treasurer Daniel Elliott, Senator Yoder, Senator Greg Walker, Senator Deery, and others.
Elliott, a Republican and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said religious liberty is a core conservative and American value. He warned that once it becomes acceptable to target one faith, others will follow.
“If we start saying it’s okay to start hating the Muslim or the Jew or the Hindu or any other faith, then pretty soon we start to say, ‘You’re not the right flavor of Christianity, and it’s okay to hate you too,’” Elliott said.
Elliott said he had shared some concerns with the governor but declined to speak for him. He stressed that the lieutenant governor’s rhetoric does not represent Republicans or Hoosiers as a whole.
Organizers are circulating a QR code linked to a statewide petition calling on Braun to make a clear, public statement rejecting hate and reaffirming constitutional protections for all faith communities.
“What was said publicly demands a public response,” Qaddoura said. “We will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced, and we will bring a coalition of good Hoosiers across Indiana to demand that every community’s constitutional rights are protected.”
