Indiana lieutenant governor claims to be giving people 'permission to hate' Islam: report

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican, proclaimed during an interview with the right-wing Christian FlashPoint show that people need "permission to hate" Islam.

"We're giving people permission to hate again," said Beckwith, a radical Christian Nationalist whose rant was captured in a report by Right Wing Watch. "And I know that sounds harsh at first, but we've seen this movement to eradicate hate in our culture, that is the worst thing we could do. You know, the Bible talks about how God hates certain things, and when we say we want to eradicate hate, think about this, we're actually saying we want to eradicate a characteristic of God."

"Hate is not the opposite of love," Beckwith continued. "Indifference is the opposite of love. And so when I talk about this and I say, guys, we need to, in Indiana, we need to hate certain things — if radical Jihadi mindset starts coming into our state, I'm gonna hate it, and I'm gonna hate it with everything that I am, and I'm gonna call on others to hate it."

"I hate Islam; it's a demonic death cult," he added. "Now, I love Muslims, because they make great Christians when Jesus gets a hold of them, but I hate Islam."

Beckwith has found himself a lightning rod for controversy since taking office.

He has praised the Three-Fifths Compromise, cracked tasteless jokes about autism and Down Syndrome, and last year his office came under investigation for "ghost jobs" and the distribution of deepfaked sexual images.