With every passing day, it seems we see yet another piece about South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg's progressive Christianity. His faith is going to shake the race. He's going to challenge the GOP monopoly on "God talk." Here, for example, is the opening paragraph of an NBC News analysis posted yesterday afternoon:
Religious conservatives who have long been a reliable voting bloc for Republicans are grappling with a new challenge in Pete Buttigieg: how to respond to a Democratic presidential candidate who is leaning into the discussion about faith and its role in political life.
I'll agree that there are religious conservatives who are "grappling" with a challenge from Buttigieg, but that challenge is theological and cultural, not political. Buttigieg's religious arguments have triggered important online debates about the differences between mainline and Evangelical Christianity, about when religious teachings should influence public policy, and about how to interpret the history of the gay-marriage debate.
