{"id":761642,"date":"2026-07-14T03:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761642\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T03:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T03:47:08","slug":"krull-commentary-beckwith-the-bible-and-a-broken-oath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761642\/","title":{"rendered":"Krull Commentary: Beckwith, the Bible and a broken oath"},"content":{"rendered":"

This column was originally published<\/a> by TheStatehouseFile.com.<\/p>\n

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
July 13, 2026<\/p>\n

About 18 months ago, Micah Beckwith put his left hand on the Bible, his right hand in the air and took the following oath:<\/p>\n

\u201cI, Micah Beckwith, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Indiana and that I will fairly and impartially discharge the duties of the office of lieutenant governor of the state of Indiana to the best of my skill and ability, so help me God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beckwith did not mean it.<\/p>\n

With his hand on the Bible, he made a promise he had no intention of keeping.<\/p>\n

A self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist, he\u2019s done everything he can to elevate his odd interpretation of Christianity over all other faith traditions. Now, he\u2019s even calling for a major religious faith\u2014Islam\u2014to be banned.<\/p>\n

In doing so, Beckwith has made it clear that he never had any intention of fulfilling the duties of his office or honoring the oath he took.<\/p>\n

Please read the words in that oath carefully.<\/p>\n

Note that those words require the person assuming office to swear\u2014\u201cso help me God\u201d\u2014to support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Indiana.<\/p>\n

Both constitutions protect the free exercise of religion and prohibit government from interfering or curtailing expressions of religious faith\u2014such as prayer.<\/p>\n

In the U.S. Constitution, this guarantee of religious liberty is in the First Amendment, which begins by proclaiming that \u201cCongress shall make no law\u201d regarding rights of worship. By Congress, the drafters of the amendment meant government in general.<\/p>\n

Questions of faith were to be left to institutions of worship and individuals\u2014and not to public officials, such as our lieutenant governor, who are desperate for another public attention fix.<\/p>\n

In the Indiana Constitution, the promise to protect the free expression of religious faith can be found in Article 1. Sections 2 through 6 of that article make clear that government and headline-hungry demagogues such as our lieutenant governor have no business trying to tell people how to worship or elevating one set of religious beliefs above another.<\/p>\n

Section 3 speaks directly to Beckwith\u2019s bigoted call for the suppression of the Muslim faith. It reads: \u201cNo law shall, in any case whatever, control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

In neither the U.S. nor the Indiana Constitution is there an asterisk that says these guarantees of religious liberty apply only to faith traditions Indiana\u2019s lieutenant governor\u2014whoever he or she may be at any given time\u2014likes or with which he or she agrees.<\/p>\n

They apply to all people of all faiths and beliefs.<\/p>\n

Christians.<\/p>\n

Jews.<\/p>\n

Hindus.<\/p>\n

Agnostics.<\/p>\n

Atheists.<\/p>\n

And, yes, Muslims.<\/p>\n

That Micah Beckwith pledged\u2014again, with his hand on the Bible\u2014that he would support both the U.S. and Indiana constitutions and then has defied them is a serious matter.<\/p>\n

Because constitutions are essential to the preservation of liberty.<\/p>\n

A constitution isn\u2019t just a high-toned document. It is a contract, a binding agreement laying out the terms under which free people agree to be governed.<\/p>\n

Those who violate those terms do more than engage in political shenanigans.<\/p>\n

They wage war on the idea of liberty itself. They break faith with the people whose rights they have sworn to uphold and protect.<\/p>\n

Micah Beckwith does not understand this because Micah Beckwith is not a serious person. He is a con artist with a slick bit of patter, a scammer who figured out long ago how to use religion to sell his hustle.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s calling for a renewal of the crusades that bloodied the 11th\u00a0to the 13th\u00a0centuries because his forays in political maneuvering have left him with a public approval rating rivaled only by a return of the pandemic. Unlikely to win favor with the voters if he finds himself on a ballot again, he\u2019s hustling to find a perch in the sphere of Know-Nothing-and-Hate-Everyone-Who\u2019s-Not-Just-Like-Me podcasting.<\/p>\n

If he weren\u2019t lieutenant governor, he\u2019d be within his rights to do so.<\/p>\n

The same constitutions that guarantee a person\u2019s religious liberty also preserve the right for an individual to be a bigot in one\u2019s personal beliefs.<\/p>\n

But Micah Beckwith isn\u2019t just an individual.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s Indiana\u2019s lieutenant governor.<\/p>\n

He took an oath saying he would support all Hoosiers\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n

Including those of Muslims.<\/p>\n

He even placed his hand on the Bible when he swore that oath.<\/p>\n

John Krull is director of Franklin College\u2019s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of\u00a0TheStatehouseFile.com<\/a>, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College. Also, the views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.<\/p>\n

\n \ud83d\udce9 Sign up to have the top stories from around Indiana sent to your inbox every week.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This column was originally published by TheStatehouseFile.com. By John KrullTheStatehouseFile.comJuly 13, 2026 About 18 months ago, Micah Beckwith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-761642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}