Indiana’s Attempt at Redistricting is a Moral Failure
- Faith in Place
- Oct 28
- 3 min read
Author: Zach Garcia, Indiana Outreach Director
I grew up in an evangelical church in Indiana in the 90s. Most Sundays I heard fire and brimstone from the pulpit: lessons about right and wrong, justice and sin, heaven and hell. Despite the intensity, those sermons drilled into me a profound sense of fairness and acting on what is true and just. Morality doesn't shift with the winds; it endures. You don’t twist the truth for convenience. You don’t exploit the poor for your own gain.
And yet, in 2025, we find our leaders doing the very opposite. Under pressure from the Trump White House, Indiana Republicans are preparing to redraw congressional maps mid-decade, and state legislators are listening—not to their constituents, but to a political agenda driven by a single man. A Change Research poll, commissioned by the nonpartisan organization Count US IN, shows what Hoosiers believe: 74% of Indiana voters say gerrymandering should be illegal, and 81% believe redistricting should prioritize fairness over political gain. That includes 68% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats. Fairness is not partisan; it is human.
Looking at the maps, it’s clear that Northwest Indiana, District 1, is the primary target. Republicans know it’s the one blue holdout in a sea of red, and they want to carve it up. This isn’t about reflecting voters’ voices. It’s about silencing them.
To justify the unfairness, legislators are peddling the line that Indiana voters have elected Republican majorities, so politicians should now be permitted to choose their voters. But Hoosiers are telling us the opposite. Instead of fairness, our legislators are yielding to bad faith.
I remember a sermon about Jesus flipping tables in the temple courts, enraged at exploitation masquerading as holiness. That moment taught me that even God could rage when something sacred was violated. Our democracy is sacred, a tribunal of equity, a house where every voice counts. But our leaders are turning into what Jesus called, “a den of robbers,” where the goods for sale are not doves and goats, but congressional districts carved for political profit.
Here’s what flipping tables looks like in 2025. It means voting, showing up at hearings, filling legislators’ inboxes and voicemails with relentless pressure. It means holding accountable ALL legislators, blue, red, and in between, who dare to participate in this charade. Already, 45% of Indiana voters say they’d be less likely to support their representative if they voted for redistricting. That’s the power we must use and harness.
Fairness isn’t a progressive idea. It isn’t a conservative idea. It is the most basic moral expectation we can have of one another. Fair systems create trust, strengthen our society and ensure that dissenting voices are heard and not silenced. When multiple perspectives are included, policy on everything from protecting our environment to growing our economy becomes stronger, more balanced and more durable. And yet, the Trump administration and its allies in Indiana would have us believe that because Indiana leans Republican now, the majority should redraw maps whenever it suits them. That’s not just cynical. It’s heresy against democracy itself.
I grew up believing that sin was willful rebellion against what you know is right. Indiana’s legislators know what’s right. Their own constituents, whose will they are hired to represent, are telling them what’s right. But they are preparing to do what is wrong anyway. That’s not politics. That’s a deliberate and intentional sin.
Hoosiers deserve better. We deserve leaders who believe fairness is sacred. We deserve maps that reflect our communities, not carve them apart. We deserve legislators who put the people before the president.
So, let’s flip the tables. Not in violence but in vigilance. Not with chaos but with commitment. Let’s vote, call, march, write and refuse to let this desecration pass as just another round of politics.
The fire and brimstone I heard growing up taught me that there is right and wrong. The only question left is whether legislators will do what we all know is right.
Send a letter to your legislators telling them to reject redistricting in Indiana!
Zach Garcia is the Indiana Outreach Director for Faith in Place, a conservation leader, certified arborist, a forester, and spiritual ecologist. He advocates for fairness, democracy, and environmental justice.
