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Democrat Presidential Candidate Buttigieg: Christian Scriptures Inform And Direct Progressive Politics
April 19, 2019
In a recent video (see below), Democrat Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, IN and candidate for President of the United States, said that he believes Christian values “lead us in a very progressive direction.” The video was part of an interview with the left-wing online media site Now This News.
The following is a transcription of Buttigieg’s remarks:
“I don’t think religion belongs to one political party. And when I go to church, the scripture I hear has to do with protecting the poor, and spending time with the prisoner, and healing the sick, and caring for the stranger, which, to me, is another word for immigrant. It has a very clear set of moral and policy implications, none of which are things I would associate with the right wing. Christianity, to me, is about humility. It’s about love. And if we want to put those values into political practice, at least by my lights, they lead us in a very progressive direction.”
It is not clear if Buttigieg intends to follow up his comments with any clarification about how one might reconcile his idea of Christian humility with his opinion that Americans on the “right wing” do not care for their neighbors, or his pronouncement on what Christian values “lead” to. It is also unclear if the South Bend native, who attended Harvard and Oxford universities and announced in 2015 that he is gay, will, should he become President, base the nation’s policies on Christian scripture.
Buttigieg recently made headlines when he criticized Vice President Mike Pence, also a devout Christian and Indiana native, for the Vice President’s alleged views about homosexuality, according to the Guardian and other news outlets.
The Guardian reports:
‘“If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade,” Buttigieg said by way of a preview at a recent LGBT event, where even atheists were impressed. “And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: that if you’ve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator.”’
Click on video below to hear Buttigieg’s remarks.