Pete Buttigieg opened up about his faith Monday night, expressing confidence that he will be able to unite many different groups of people because “God does not have a political party.”
During a CNN town hall in New Hampshire Monday, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor was asked how he planned to unite conservatives, moderates and liberal Christians.
“It can be challenging to be a person of faith who’s also part of the LGBTQ community and yet, to me, the core of faith is regard for one another,” Buttigieg said. “And part of God’s love is experienced, according to my faith tradition, is in the way that we support one another and, in particular, support the least among us.”
That is where his faith is radically different than the faith-centric messages that come from the current White House, he said.
Buttigieg said his faith counsels him to be humble and look after people who need defending.
“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,” he said. “It’s just so different from what I get when I read Scripture.”
Buttigieg said Scripture allows for different interpretations but there’s one thing that people of faith from across the political spectrum can agree on.
“I get that one of the things about Scripture is different people see different things in it,” he said. “But, at the very least we should be able to establish that God does not have a political party.”