South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg lambasted Republicans touting their close ties to Christian leaders at the same time that they are separating families at the border and putting children into detention centers.
“Now, our party doesn’t talk about that as much largely for a good reason which was, we are committed to the separation of church and state and stand for people for any religion and people of no religion,” Buttigieg said. “But we should call out hypocrisy.”
He added: “And for a party that associates with Christianity to say it is OK to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religion language again.”
Buttigieg, an Episcopalian, often talks about the benefits of faith on the campaign trail and his rise to prominence was based, in part, in his ability to talk about faith with Democrats and use it to slam Republicans.
“Frankly, it couldn’t be more radically different than what I see certainly in this White House, where there is a lot of chest-thumping and self-aggrandizing, not to mention abusive behavior, but also political agenda that seems to always be revolving around that idea that somehow it’s too easy for poor people in this country,” Buttigieg said in April. “It’s just so different from what I get when I read Scripture.”
“I get that one of the things about Scripture is different people see different things in it,” he added. “But, at the very least we should be able to establish that God does not have a political party.”