by Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, Esq.

You almost have to admire the sheer gall of Indiana’s self-appointed saints. They sin like mortals, repent like televangelists, and campaign like nothing ever happened.

Case in point: Richard Roy Bagsby, Republican candidate for State Senate District 22. Bagsby calls himself a businessman, minister, and man of faith — running to “restore Hoosier values.” What he doesn’t lead with is that, according to Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 (Cause No. 79D01-0804-FA-000010), he was arrested and convicted in 2008 on cocaine-related charges, resisting law enforcement, and maintaining a common nuisance.

To his credit, Bagsby did his time, walked his miles, and earned an expungement in 2018 under Indiana Code 35-38-9-7. Under the law, that means the conviction is treated as though it never happened. Fine. Forgiveness is good. But what’s less good is when the newly sanctified act like they were born on the moral high ground instead of clawing their way up from the basement.

Bagsby’s campaign website reads like a revival flyer — all about faith, freedom, and family. What it skips over is the felony, which feels like a pretty important chapter in any redemption story. Apparently, “restoring values” comes with selective disclosure.

And speaking of selective morality, let’s talk about the man who embodies it: Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith.

Beckwith’s turned moral grandstanding into a political business model. He’s the guy who can’t decide if he’s Indiana’s second-in-command or its state chaplain. He’s built a brand crusading against “groomers,” drag queens, and anything that makes his congregation clutch their pearls. His podcast, Jesus, Sex & Politics, once declared that child molesters should be castrated and have their parts “separated from their bodies.” Charming.

But now Beckwith’s holy war has run face-first into its own hypocrisy. (Read: “Beckwith’s Groomer Crusade Collides with a Real Grooming Case”)

Because it turns out one of the pastors in his political orbit has a son now charged with child exploitation and possession of child pornography. (“Pastor’s Son Arrested on Child Sex Abuse Charges Plans to Hire Lawyer Tied to Deepfake Controversy”) Beckwith himself isn’t charged with anything — but you’d think a man so obsessed with “moral rot” would have a few words when it starts seeping out from under his own pews.

Instead, silence. Apparently, the righteous outrage has an off switch when the sinner’s in your own camp.

So, in one corner we’ve got Bagsby the Redeemed, whose record was wiped clean by the courts. In the other, Beckwith the Righteous, whose record is clean but whose conscience seems conveniently flexible. Both claim divine guidance, both preach moral clarity, and both make a mockery of the word “values.”

And somewhere in the middle sits Ron Alting, the longtime senator Beckwith’s crowd now wants to replace — not because he’s corrupt or incompetent, but because he occasionally exercises independent thought. In today’s GOP, that’s the real sin.

Let’s be honest: this isn’t about faith, forgiveness, or even politics anymore. It’s about control. About who gets to define morality and who gets to hide behind it.

Indiana law may forgive. God may forgive. But Hoosiers deserve better than Bible-thumping opportunists who weaponize religion Monday through Saturday and cash in on it come Sunday.

Because if the Beckwith–Bagsby brand of “Christian conservatism” is what moral leadership looks like, then the devil’s running the comms shop.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is a licensed attorney in Indiana and Illinois and is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics.