Indiana Lieutenant Governor Delivers Lovely Hate Speech

Another A+ Religious Fundamentalist Rant

By: Austin Abbring

July 9, 2026

Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith

Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith is a real peach. A peach that has fallen from its tree late in the summertime, has been lying on the ground for several days, and is bruised, rotten, and yellow jackets buzz around it. In other words, he is an a**hole. In an appearance on a Christian media platform called Flashpoint, he delivered such a vitriolic rant against Muslims and the religion of Islam that even Governor Mike Braun distanced himself from the comments. Let me repeat that: a die-hard MAGA, “America first” governor would not dare equate himself with an anti-Muslim meltdown of this magnitude.

Throughout his appearance on the program, Beckwith was pushing for people to step up and “eradicate hate” and described Islam as a “radical ideology” and one of those things people should hate. The main quote that has many advocacy groups concerned (rightfully so) is: “We need to hate certain things. If radical jihadi mindset starts coming into our state (Indiana). I’m gonna hate it. And I’m gonna hate it with everything that I am. And I’m gonna call on others to hate it because I hate Islam. It’s a demonic death cult. I love Muslims because they make great Christians when Jesus gets a hold of them, but I hate Islam.”

There is a lot to unpack there. Let us start with some population metrics. Indiana is home to roughly 7 million residents, approximately 42,000 of whom are Muslim. For those keeping score at home, that is less than 1% of the state's population. Should Hoosiers, or hell, just Christians alone in Indiana (which makes up around 65% of the adult population), go to war with this “mass invading force”, it would be the fastest war in human history. I imagine the Kalshi odds for over/under on this war’s conclusion would be a matter of days. Speaking of an invading force hellbent on destroying Christian faith in Indiana and across the country, the Muslim population is statistically far less likely to commit crimes (violent and nonviolent) than natural-born U.S. citizens. 

Then, of course, there is the typical oversimplification of an entire population as well as the stereotypical Islamophobic tropes thrown out there by Beckwith: “they’re all jihadists”, “they are all radicals”, “they hate the West, Christians, America, et cetera. This is the typical Christian fundamentalist Republican narrative that has been pushed ad nauseam for decades. It is old, it is boring, it is tiresome, it is loathsome, it is empirically false, it is racist, it has no place in a modern society. Now I know there are millions of decent and intelligent Christians out there. I am not going to paint you all with a broad brush stroke. I am just ragging on the religious fundamentalist movement in this country that has hijacked the Christian religion. It is extremely unfortunate. Hard-working, empathetic, and faithful people are being lumped in with repulsive individuals like Beckwith, which is completely unfair. The loudest people always do the most damage. This type of rhetoric is precisely why hate crimes and discrimination against Muslim people are on the rise once again in the country. In fact, last year we saw the highest jump in anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents since tracking of this began in 1996. More so than immediate post-9/11 America.  

Do not fret; despite the massive backlash from Governor Braun, community civil rights groups, and watchdogs, Beckwith refused to apologize. Instead, he doubled down and complained about “Sharia Law”. Again, a couple of things I would like to point out. The “law” in Sharia Law is redundant. It is just “Sharia”. This simply displays Beckwith’s lack of understanding of Islam. He does not even remotely comprehend the thing he hates. Sharia is the moral framework and religious law of Islam. It is the code for how Muslim people worship, live their lives, express their faith, and exist. That is it. For those wondering what the terrifying core tenets of Islam are, they are as follows in a simplified list: Belief in one god, belief in the holy books, belief in angels, belief in judgment day, belief in prophets, and belief in predestination. Absolutely terrifying, I know. The sheer amount of violence that would incur from…oh wait, it is not radically different in origin and practice than Christianity. 

Also, really do not fret this time, as there is not a single state, city, town, village, or municipality in the continental United States that is currently under Sharia or in direct threat of being governed in such a manner. For a Republican Party that claims to love the Constitution, they seem to forget the First Amendment exists quite frequently. Sharia will never happen in the United States, as the Establishment Clause would prevent it, or any religious law, or any religion period, from superseding religious freedom in the country. Unless, of course, you live in Texas, where the Christian Bible is now part of the official reading curriculum and the Ten Commandments are on display in classrooms. Again, not trying to single out Christians, just pointing out the hypocrisy and the fundamentalist movement. Perhaps instead of expending so much energy hating and fighting a nonexistent “enemy,” Beckwith and the Indiana state government could focus on flipping the rankings of: 50th for environmentalism, 37th for public health, and 49th for quality of life. I will give you a hint: it is not the Islamic faith causing those low state indicators; it is the leadership, or lack thereof.