By Evan Dutmer
August 5, 2026
“There is no compulsion in religion.” (Quran 2:256)
Last month, in response to Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith’s calling Islam a “demonic death cult”, I reflected on Desiderius Erasmus’s call for enlightened, virtuous leadership in his Renaissance treatise, Education of a Christian Prince. After broad interfaith outcry within Indiana and across the country, Mr. Beckwith has defended his claims on a podcast, saying Islam is a “more dangerous ideology than even Nazism”. He also claimed that Islam, the world’s second largest religion with around 2 billion adherents, is not a religion but a “military and political ideology”. (Meanwhile, on June 30, Mr. Beckwith, a self-described Christian Nationalist, posted an AI-generated image describing the “Muscular Christianity” movement and celebrating its role in fostering devotion to “Christ and country”.)
In my column last month, I discussed ancient philosophers (especially Cicero and the Stoics) and Renaissance thinkers like Erasmus who warn against hatred in leadership and tell of the corrosive effects it has on an entire populace. Indiana, I argued, would do well to avoid the very mistakes about which these philosophers cautioned their own leaders. Provoking contempt and hatred, inciting anger, and exacerbating sectarianism are the very things to avoid and can be the preludes to tyranny, violence, and the breakdown of civil order. Erasmus argues that leaders should be exemplars of compassion and tolerance, even toward other religions and belief systems, drawing on the Parable of the Tares in Matthew 13:24-43.
This more tolerant outlook isn’t just found in Erasmus and ancient Greek and Roman philosophy (and among the US Founders, of course). It’s present in the Islamic tradition as well, going back to the famous Constitution of Medina (622 CE) which established interfaith relations in the early days of Muhammad’s rule of the city.
This more nuanced understanding of the Islamic tradition escapes Mr. Beckwith and some of his supporters. In response to my first piece last month, some have written to me or commented online with statements mirroring Mr. Beckwith’s remarks. Some have provided dubious references to the Quran, the holy text of Islam; many of these references are either erroneous (likely lifted from the Internet) or excerpted from any meaningful context. Others have claimed that in making my case for a different vision for leadership from Erasmus and Greek and Roman authors, I unwittingly demonstrated my ignorance of Islam.
Rather, this sort of misinformation is countered by a wealth of insights on humanistic leadership within the Islamic tradition. Medieval Islamic philosophers such as Alfarabi, Avicenna, and Averroes read and appreciated Greek and Roman philosophy. They in turn influenced figures such as Albertus Magnus (St. Albert the Great), St. Thomas Aquinas, and Maimonides, the most influential medieval Jewish philosopher. Alfarabi’s learning was held in such high esteem that he was known as the “second Teacher” after Aristotle. In the early tenth century, he wrote that states which are governed by virtuous individuals may produce virtue and happiness in their citizens. He even says that states of different religions may be virtuous. Yusuf Khass Hajib, a medieval Central Asian poet and philosopher, writes in The Qualifications of a Prince that a leader must be wise, modest, intelligent, generous, and slow to anger. Yusuf describes quiet temper and “calm dignity” as leaders’ most prized possessions. Men of “short stature”, on the other hand, are mean and short-tempered.
Miskawayh, a medieval Persian Islamic philosopher, writing in the first discourse of his Refinement of Character, describes the need for community, friendship, and love in crafting and cultivating virtuous character. He writes that human beings ought to be friendly toward one another, show sincere affection even toward strangers, and always aim to get along with everyone in a large, complicated city. Miskawayh says we as human beings complement one another and can only become our best, most virtuous selves in communities with those who are different from us. In this belief, Miskawayh combines both Aristotle’s view that human beings are civic creatures by nature (Politics 1.2) and the spirit of Quran 4:36: “Worship God; join nothing with Him. Be good to your parents, to relatives, to orphans, to the needy, to neighbors near and far, to travelers in need, and to your slaves. God does not like arrogant, boastful people.”
I prefaced this piece with a famous verse, Quran 2:256, which is often interpreted as meaning that no person is ever to be forced into any religion. It is thereby one of the oldest declarations of freedom of conscience, a commonly recognized universal human right of the modern world and the underlying principle of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
In sum, I offer again these reflections for a very different kind of leadership for Indiana, one rooted in the most enduring foundations of ethical leadership: virtuous character, love for people, and hope for the future. I do not mean to suggest that fundamentalism and hatred have not tainted major world religions in their history—as can certainly be said of Christianity as well as of Islam. But I do ask for common humanity as the way forward. True leadership—and interfaith dialogue—begin with the open hand of peace and understanding, not the closed fist of hatred and fanaticism.
Evan Dutmer is Senior Instructor in Ethics in the Department of Leadership Education at Culver Academies, a boarding school in Culver, Indiana. He is the author of Cicero’s New Leadership: A Proto-Transformational Leadership Theory (Edward Elgar, 2026) and over twenty academic journal articles and chapters. He received his PhD in Ancient Philosophy at Northwestern University. The views expressed here are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Culver Academies or any other organizations with which he is affiliated. Also, the views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
