Don Knebel
June 12, 2026
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith recently said that we should give people “permission to hate again” so they, like he, can hate Islam. He then wished Muslims, the practitioners of Islam, “the best,” but only if they become Christians.
With all respect, Beckwith, who is also a Christian pastor, may have overlooked or ignored some of the most important teachings of Jesus.
For example, many people are familiar with Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan, but know little, if anything, about the Samaritans. The Samaritans, who lived in an area between Galilee and Jerusalem, rejected many of the religious beliefs of the Jews, including their belief in resurrection.
They also rejected most of the Hebrew Scriptures.
The Bible tells us that “Jews do not associate with Samaritans.” Actually, they despised each other because of their different beliefs. According to the Gospel of Luke, when Jesus was traveling through Samaria from his home in Galilee for the last time, the Samaritans refused him a room “because he was headed for Jerusalem.” In response, his disciples asked Jesus if they should “call down fire from heaven to destroy them.” Jesus instantly “rebuked them.”
In the very next chapter, Jesus made a Samaritan the hero of his parable because of the mercy the Samaritan had shown to the Jewish traveler robbed and left for dead on the Jericho Road.
Of course, Luke says nothing about Jesus requiring the Samaritan to convert to Judaism before being a neighbor worthy of the love and respect we have for ourselves. In fact, his message is just the opposite – the villains of the stories were the Jews who had ignored one with their own beliefs.
Pastor Beckwith calls Islam a “demonic death cult.” It is at least odd to describe as a “cult” a religion that counts as adherents about 25% of the earth’s people.
It is also not clear how much, if anything, Pastor Beckwith knows about the teachings of Islam.
So, it may come as a surprise to him, and perhaps to others, that the Quran, which Muslims believe is the literal word of God, expressly incorporates all the biblical teachings of Jesus and the Jewish prophets.
The Quran also expressly teaches that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and is the Messiah. The most significant difference between the teachings of the Quran and the beliefs of most Christians today is whether Jesus was the divine son of God. Muslims reject the idea that Jesus was the son of God, which they interpret literally, with the Quran saying: “Wonderful Originator of the heavens and earth! How could He have a son when He has no consort?”
But whatever the teachings of the Quran and the beliefs of Muslims, it is surely improper for a state government official, Christian pastor or not, to expressly stoke hate against the beliefs of about 100,000 of his fellow Hoosiers. We have way too much hate in our society today as it is.
Our country is being torn apart by politicians who are, all too often, seeking power by dividing us based on how we look, who we love and what we believe. It seems to me that we would be much better off if all of us, and especially those of us who are Christians, took more seriously the teachings of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Don Knebel is a ruling elder of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis and founding board chair of Center for Interfaith Cooperation. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
