By Sydney Byerly
The Indiana Citizen
July 10, 2026
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, in his latest remarks condemning Islam, claimed that the religion is “actually worse” than Nazism, called for the state to take steps to ban the Islamic call to prayer and said mosques’ funding should be investigated.
He also claimed that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Christianity “takes precedence over all other faiths” — an assertion that a constitutional law professor told The Indiana Citizen is false, and that a national Muslim civil rights organization says misrepresents both the Constitution and the court’s opinion.
Beckwith’s comments came in a nearly hourlong interview on Blaze Media host Daniel Horowitz’s “Conservative Review” podcast on June 26. That interview had gone largely unnoticed until Friday, when the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Chicago chapter issued a statement condemning Beckwith’s comments about Islam and religious liberty.
“Lieutenant Governor Beckwith is once again exploiting his public office to spread anti-Muslim fearmongering and constitutional misinformation,” CAIR-Chicago Communications Director Hafsa Haider said in a statement.
During the interview, Beckwith claimed the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District established that America’s “Christian heritage” means “Christianity takes precedence over all other faiths.”
The opinion, which involved Washington state high school football coach Joseph Kennedy’s postgame prayers, does not explicitly state that the United States is a “Christian nation” or that Christianity has legal precedence over other religions. The court ruled that the coach’s personal religious exercise was protected under the First Amendment.
“Listen, we are a Christian nation. The Supreme Court in the Coach Kennedy case ruled that,” Beckwith said. “They said, ‘Hey, the heritage of America is a Christian heritage and so that’s why Christianity takes precedence over all other faiths.’ Everyone can worship how they want, but you don’t get to implement Islam in our public spaces. You can’t put the Quran up on school walls, but you can put the Ten Commandments up on school walls. Why? Because of our Judeo-Christian principles. That’s our heritage.”
Steve Sanders, a professor of constitutional law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, said Beckwith is “simply wrong” in his description of the Supreme Court’s decision.
“He’s misread the decision. That’s all there is to it,” Sanders said.
“The logic of the decision privileges religious observance. It does not privilege Christian religious observance over Muslim religious observance or Jewish or anything else. Nothing in this decision says, ‘Well, of course, we come to this decision because he was a Christian. We would have decided differently if he wasn’t a Christian.’ Nothing in the decision says that.”
In the June 26 interview, Beckwith also compared Islam to Nazism, arguing it was “actually worse” because, he said, followers are promised paradise for acts of violence.
“And so this is actually a more dangerous ideology than even Nazism is,” Beckwith said. “And we’ve got to be okay with saying that. And again, it’s not to say that you hate the Muslims. No, you love the Muslims. You call them to truth. You call them to the light. But you hate the ideology that is so destructive, so dangerous. And it is a clear and present threat to Indiana, to all other 50 states, to our constitutional republic, and we need to be willing to call it out and stand up against it.”
He asserted that Islam is “not a religion” but “a military and political ideology.” He also advocated government restrictions on Islamic practices, called for the state to investigate foreign funding of mosques and argued that constitutional protections favor Christianity over other faiths.
Throughout the interview, Beckwith repeatedly claimed Islam is not entitled to the same constitutional protections as other religions because, he said, it is fundamentally a political ideology rather than a religion. He described Islam as “a wolf coming into our culture” that is “completely opposed to the American way of life,” and said municipalities should not permit public calls to prayer and urged the state government to investigate foreign funding of mosques.
“We’re not going to let you put these words of death and destruction throughout the city streets,” Beckwith said of the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer.
Beckwith also described the United States as “a Christian nation” and argued local governments should not permit public calls to prayer because of what he characterized as the nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage.
Haider of CAIR-Chicago pushed back on Beckwith’s remarks.
“The adhan is a peaceful call to prayer recited by Muslims around the world for more than fourteen centuries,” Haider said. “To portray it as a call to ‘death and destruction’ is not only offensive — it is a malicious falsehood that demonizes an entire faith and the millions of Americans who practice it.”
Haider also rejected Beckwith’s interpretation of constitutional law.
“The Constitution guarantees religious liberty for every American, not government preference for one faith over another,” she said. “No Supreme Court decision has declared the United States a ‘Christian nation’ or held that Christianity takes legal precedence over any other religion.”
The organization urged elected officials to reject religious bigotry and defend the constitutional rights of Americans of all faiths.
CAIR’s condemnation comes as Muslim civil rights organizations continue to warn about rising anti-Muslim bias nationwide. In its most recent civil rights report, CAIR documented 8,683 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination and bias in 2025, the highest annual total the organization has reported since it began publishing the report in 1996.
The interview marked Beckwith’s most extensive public comments about Islam since May, when he called Islam “a demonic death cult” and said Americans needed “permission to hate again” during an appearance on the Christian conservative political program, FlashPoint. Those remarks drew condemnation from Muslim organizations, interfaith leaders and Jewish groups across Indiana.
The June 26 interview also revisited Beckwith’s public dispute with Indiana Treasurer Daniel Elliott, a Republican who criticized the lieutenant governor’s earlier comments.
At a Faith Over Fear gathering on June 11, the state treasurer told reporters he had shared his concerns with Gov. Mike Braun and argued Beckwith’s views are not held by the broader Republican Party.
“That doesn’t reflect Republicans, that doesn’t reflect the statewide team, and it doesn’t reflect who we are as Hoosiers,” Elliott said.
Beckwith accused Elliott of being “ignorant” about Islam and said the treasurer’s defense of religious liberty reflected what he called “suicidal empathy.” He argued Elliott’s approach would ultimately allow Sharia law to gain a foothold in Indiana and warned the state could lose its freedoms if leaders failed to take what he described as a harder line against Islam.
Elliott did not respond to a request for comment. However, his aides said the treasurer stands by his previous remarks.
During the interview, Beckwith said he has discussed concerns about Islam with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and suggested the state should use its legislative authority to limit Islam.
Gov. Mike Braun has not publicly responded to any of Beckwith’s comments about Islam and Muslims. At a June bill signing, the governor said Beckwith “probably regrets” his comments, but Braun has not made any remarks about his own perception of Islam or whether he shares the lieutenant governor’s views.
In the interview, Beckwith said he believes Braun agrees with his statements.
“I think the governor and I see eye to eye on this,” Beckwith said. “He probably doesn’t necessarily use the same type of language I use. I’m a little bit more of a lightning rod than he is, but I think he recognizes it.”
The Indiana Citizen requested comment Friday from Beckwith, Braun and Rokita regarding Beckwith’s latest remarks. None had responded by publication time.
Sydney Byerly is a political reporter who grew up in New Albany, Indiana. Before joining The Citizen, Sydney reported news for TheStatehouseFile.com and most recently managed and edited The Corydon Democrat & Clarion News in southern Indiana. She earned her bachelor’s in journalism at Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism (‘Sco Griz!).
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
