About 18 months ago, Micah Beckwith put his left hand on the Bible, his right hand in the air and took the following oath:
“I, 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.”
Beckwith did not mean it.
With his hand on the Bible, he made a promise he had no intention of keeping.
A self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist, he’s done everything he can to elevate his odd interpretation of Christianity over all other faith traditions. Now, he’s even calling for a major religious faith — Islam — to be banned.
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.
Please read the words in that oath carefully.
Note that those words require the person assuming office to swear — “so help me God” — to support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of Indiana.
Both constitutions protect the free exercise of religion and prohibit government from interfering or curtailing expressions of religious faith — such as prayer.
In the U.S. Constitution, this guarantee of religious liberty is in the First Amendment, which begins by proclaiming that “Congress shall make no law” regarding rights of worship. By Congress, the drafters of the amendment meant government in general.
Questions of faith were to be left to institutions of worship and individuals — and not to public officials, such as our lieutenant governor, who are desperate for another public attention fix.
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.
Section 3 speaks directly to Beckwith’s bigoted call for the suppression of the Muslim faith. It reads: “No law shall, in any case whatever, control the free exercise and enjoyment of religious opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.”
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’s lieutenant governor — whoever he or she may be at any given time — likes or with which he or she agrees.
They apply to all people of all faiths and beliefs.
Christians.
Jews.
Hindus.
Agnostics.
Atheists.
And, yes, Muslims.
That Micah Beckwith pledged — again, with his hand on the Bible — that he would support both the U.S. and Indiana constitutions and then has defied them is a serious matter.
Because constitutions are essential to the preservation of liberty.
A constitution isn’t just a high-toned document. It is a contract, a binding agreement laying out the terms under which free people agree to be governed.
Those who violate those terms do more than engage in political shenanigans.
They wage war on the idea of liberty itself. They break faith with the people whose rights they have sworn to uphold and protect.
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.
He’s calling for a renewal of the crusades that bloodied the 11th to the 13th centuries 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’s hustling to find a perch in the sphere of Know-Nothing-and-Hate-Everyone-Who’s-Not-Just-Like-Me podcasting.
If he weren’t lieutenant governor, he’d be within his rights to do so.
The same constitutions that guarantee a person’s religious liberty also preserve the right for an individual to be a bigot in one’s personal beliefs.
But Micah Beckwith isn’t just an individual.
He’s Indiana’s lieutenant governor.
He took an oath saying he would support all Hoosiers’ rights.
Including those of Muslims.
He even placed his hand on the Bible when he swore that oath.