What Would Jesus Do? Buttigieg Has No Idea

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is one of the many candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. But that's not his only long-shot bid. He also wants to claim Christianity for contemporary progressive politics.

"Christian faith is going to point you in a progressive direction," he told USA Today.

Even in our largely secular press, the coverage of the Buttigieg campaign has been rapturous. A few conservatives have contested the mayor's version of religious politics by denying that he is truly Christian, citing his support for same-sex marriage (he is in one) and legal third-trimester abortion. Some of those critics have gone so far as to dismiss the Episcopal church, of which the mayor is a member, as no longer Christian.
 
Buttigieg's fans have, naturally, responded to that line of argument with outrage, having apparently missed that the mayor is fine with questioning other people's faith. "It is hard to look at this president's actions and believe that they're the actions of somebody who believes in God," he said in that USA Today interview.