News

Lt. Gov. Beckwith: "I hate Islam."

WFYI Public Media | By Benjamin Thorp

Published May 29, 2026 at 12:43 PM EDT

Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith at a Turning Point USA event December 5th, 2025. Beckwith garnered national attention for comments made about Islam in recent weeks.

A national Muslim advocacy organization responded to Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith's statement "I hate Islam, it's a demonic death cult."

Beckwith has since doubled down on those comments, posting on social media that he wishes all Muslims would become Christians.

Beckwith's initial comments were made last week on the streaming Christian show FlashPoint, saying that it was important to give people "permission to hate again."

In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, released a statement urging Beckwith to visit a Mosque and meet with members of the Indiana Muslim community.

Robert McCaw is the Government Affairs Director with CAIR. He said Beckwith's comments are dangerous and come on the heels of a recent attack on a California Mosque.

"Lieutenant Governor Beckwith is using the station of his office to make it clear to residents in Indiana and across the country that he's okay with people hating on Muslims, disparaging Islam, and that opens up the possibility of violence against our communities," McCaw said.

Indiana Sen. Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette) also took to social media to express his opposition to Beckwith's comments.

"The United States has traditionally been—and must always remain—the most welcoming nation in the world for the free exercise of religion," Deery wrote. "Rhetoric like this from the second-highest official in Indiana's executive branch makes the first impossible and threatens America's standing in the second."

When reached for comment, Beckwith's office said the Lt. Gov. would "never apologize for saying the United States of America is now and always should be one nation under God."

"I love and support all groups of people who come to our country legally and assimilate to our culture," the statement read. "Sharia Law does the exact opposite of that and promotes the destruction of our country, our Constitution, and our way of life."

The statements aren't the first time Beckwith has seen backlash for comments posted online. Last year, the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus pushed back after Beckwith called the three-fifths compromise, which did not allow slave-holding states to count enslaved people as whole persons for purposes of representation in the U.S. Congress, a "great move."

Those comments prompted Gov. Mike Braun to say he disagreed with Beckwith.

CAIR's McCaw said that Beckwith's comments about Islam are part of an increase in anti-Muslim comments ahead of the November primary.

"We're not asking for a simple apology from Lieutenant Governor Beckwith," McCaw said. "We want him to engage with his Muslim constituents, visit a mosque in Indiana, and make it clear that hateful rhetoric targeting Muslims, Islam, or any other minority in that state is just politically infeasible and beneath his office."