A note from the publisher of The Indiana Citizen:
One year ago–on Inauguration Day, January 13, 2025–we asked one of Indiana’s leading public intellectuals, Ball State Economics Professor Michael Hicks, to analyze and anticipate the impact of having a Christian nationalist one heartbeat away from the governorship, in the person of Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. Prof. Hicks’ trenchant assessment follows. I urge you to click on the links he has supplied. Remember that 2026 marks the first time in Indiana history we will have partisan school board elections, a priority for Lt. Gov. Beckwith in furtherance of the Christian nationalists’ agenda.
This column was originally published on the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research Weekly Commentary blog.
By Michael J. Hicks
January 11, 2026
A year ago, I wrote about the rise and risks of Christian nationalism in Indiana government. It’s time to once again define the problem and take stock of where we find ourselves.
Christian nationalism is the belief that the U.S. is an explicitly Protestant Christian nation ruled by Christian doctrine carried out by a government filled by Christians. One must know nothing about either Christianity or our Constitution to believe this sort of nonsense.
Yet, the movement is alive and well in Indiana.
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith continues to identify as a Christian nationalist — the most senior elected official in the country to do so. Gov. Mike Braun is not a Christian nationalist, but he is stuck with Beckwith — a man he wouldn’t otherwise permit to make coffee in the governor’s office.
That association is costly. The Christian nationalist presence is dragging down the Braun administration, with polls reflecting a shockingly low 24% approval rating. It is fair to say that whatever political momentum Braun may have enjoyed is hobbled by his running mate.
Still, compared to Beckwith, Braun’s approval ratings appear Lincolnesque. Beckwith is viewed favorably by just 9% of Hoosiers, placing him in a statistical tie with public favorability of the Black Plague. Quite a testament to his character and political acumen.
The failure of mid-decade redistricting in Indiana shed light on a growing fissure between the Christian nationalist movement, its post-democracy allies and traditional American conservatives. That fissure is nowhere more apparent than in Indiana, where traditional conservatives are emerging as the clear winners.
Over the past two months, the nation’s largest Christian nationalist-oriented think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has largely collapsed. This is part of a long decline in integrity at Heritage, which I warned about in 2013 and again in 2024. The immediate cause is Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson following his interview with prominent antisemite Nick Fuentes. What followed was a rapid flight of board members, donors and researchers.
Heritage has been happy to call out antisemitism from the progressive left, but somehow managed to ignore it on the right. The reason is simple: Antisemitism is a hallmark of Christian nationalism. Heritage doesn’t want to anger anyone who might support it, no matter how loathsome their views.
The good news in this cascade of awfulness is that the real brains at Heritage have mostly departed for other locations. The most influential ones have landed at a new think tank, Advancing American Freedom, which was founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence’s think tank is dedicated to conserving the founding of the U.S., far removed from the anti-American nonsense of the Christian nationalist movement. It is led by a group of principled men and women who are unafraid to denounce antisemitism.
Pence’s AAF has captured all the important legal analysts from Heritage, including the entire staff of the Meese Institute for the Rule of Law. The staff at Heritage has been so diminished that its two economists don’t have enough publications between them to make it through pre-tenure review at Martin University. Students everywhere should breathe a sigh of relief.
The reverse brain drain to a think tank with Hoosier connections is a blessing indeed.
The coming year will be important for extremism in Indiana. The vapidity of Christian nationalism has worn thin with elected leaders. The public is even less pleased.
It is too early to make confident predictions about the Christian nationalist movement and its dealings in Indiana. The coming year brings many challenges to Beckwith and his followers. We all await the findings of a grand jury investigating ghost employment and misconduct allegations in Beckwith’s office, as well as an ongoing scandal at Beckwith’s Life Church following the arrest of the lead pastor’s son on child sex crime charges.
We’ve been here before. Beckwith isn’t the first Christian nationalist in Indiana whose political agenda has been threatened by scandal. Ultimately, the final test will happen among citizens, and their good opinion.
In that domain at least, the influence of Christian nationalism appears to be in trouble.
Michael J. Hicks is professor of economics and the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University. He previously served on the faculty of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management and at research centers at Marshall University and the University of Tennessee. His research interest is in state and local public finance and the effect of public policy on the location, composition, and size of economic activity.
The views expressed here are solely those of the author, and do not represent those of funders, associations, any entity of Ball State University, or its governing body. Also, the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
