Preachy Pete Doubles-Down On Campaigning Using Faith — ‘God Does Not Belong To A Political Party’
Preachy Pete Buttigieg wants to engage a new type of Democrat voter — the Religious Left.
The Mayor of South Bend, Indiana has been very open about his faith during his campaign for President. He wears it on his sleeve and it is just as much a part of his identity as his sexual orientation. He’s loud, he’s proud, and he’s a “person of faith.”
More than most of his rivals for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Buttigieg has put religion at the center of his presidential campaign, seeing it as an opportunity to speak to a broad swath of the electorate, both inside and outside the Democratic Party. The themes of political healing and reconciliation that are at the core of his message, he says, are guided by Scripture, which taught him: “How you voted doesn’t make you a good person or a bad person.”
He has suggested that his party could benefit from a “religious left” movement to counter the influence of the religious right, and has criticized Democrats for having “an allergy” to discussing faith.
Buttigieg wants to leverage the moral teachings from faith traditions — specifically the Judeo-Christian worldview — as motivators to vote for Democrats.
He sees this as “unifying.”
“For all the ways in which faith and religion can divide people, it also has this unifying power,” he said in an interview backstage before a rally in West Des Moines recently. “Because you have a thing you share with somebody whose station in life or generational or racial or professional experience is so different from your own.”
Campaigning, he added, is about finding “some way of connecting at a human level with as many people as you can — especially with people who may not be obviously like you.”
He’s also desperately trying to court the black vote which is often tied to a religiously-couched social justice movement.
He has repeatedly said, “God does not belong to a political party” and he did it again at the Nevada Black Legislative Caucus.
Pete Buttigieg: "God does not belong to a political party." pic.twitter.com/b7b36VF2Yb
— The Hill (@thehill) February 17, 2020
Someone should tell the policies of the Democratic Party.
Yes, Preachy Pete believes that the party that booed God at its 2012 National Convention is the right fit for deeply religious voters.
Good luck with that.
The problem with this approach is that the way that Preachy Pete views his faith isn’t the way that many Christians view their faith. His faith is a very liberal interpretation of scripture where the “benevolent hand” of government is the outward expression of faith in action rather than the church itself as the method for showing God’s mercy and grace to the world. To many conservative Christians, this is flipping on its head the “render unto Caesar” teaching of Jesus and shifts the responsibility of caring for the widows, orphans, the imprisoned, and the poor, onto the large, faceless entity of government rather than closer, caring, and supportive “hands and feet of God on earth” — the Church.
And then there are the political positions.
Buttigieg has basically stated that if you don’t view Christianity the same way that he does, then you’re not a great Christian. Meanwhile, many Christians are struggling to reconcile Buttigieg’s marriage to a man with the teachings of both the Old Testament and the Epistles of Paul. This isn’t the bigotry or homophobia that many have claimed, but a real grappling of the meaning of ancient, sacred texts and our current cultural norms.
Abortion is another issue where Pete veers away from many mainline people of faith. Buttigieg, who thinks that the government should be the active hand of God in other aspects of life, doesn’t believe that there should be a law to protect the unborn at any stage of development — that’s a decision solely between a woman and her doctor.
Preachy Pete was on The View recently and was queried by Meghan McCain about his abortion extremism.
He was disingenuous about that. The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute study in 2013 shows that the majority of late-term abortions aren’t heartbreaking decisions made because a wanted baby is suddenly diagnosed with something catastrophic — it’s because the baby isn’t wanted. The “fetal anomaly” argument is a talking point to cite the extremes to push the abortion narrative forward. The study is pretty clear: “…data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment.”
So, on some big social issues, Preachy Pete is 0 for 2 with many mainline people of faith.
And, predictably, Preachy Pete jumps all-in around Christmas and called Jesus a poor refugee.
Today I join millions around the world in celebrating the arrival of divinity on earth, who came into this world not in riches but in poverty, not as a citizen but as a refugee.
No matter where or how we celebrate, merry Christmas.
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 25, 2019
Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire handled this nicely (and correctly).
And no He wasn’t a refugee in Egypt either. Egypt was a Roman territory at the time. The Holy Family was fleeing the persecution of the client king of Judea, not the Roman Emperor.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) December 26, 2019
So, if you’re not for open borders and granting refugee status to anyone who asks, then you’re not a good Christian according to Buttigieg.
Let’s be clear, Pete Buttigieg is a Big Government leftist who wants to selectively use religion as a cudgel to guilt people to vote the “correct” way.
He’s got the stamp of approval from the race-hustling, tax-evading grifter with an MSNBC show, Al Sharpton.
“We made a mistake when we gave up the Bible and the flag,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist, referring to the perception — encouraged by Republicans — that they are the true home for voters motivated by faith and patriotism. As a veteran who went to Afghanistan with the Navy Reserves and an Episcopalian who attends church nearly every Sunday, “Pete has both of those,” Mr. Sharpton said.
Source: New York Times
That’s quite an endorsement.
From my perspective, it’s a damning one.
