About six months out from the first Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses, the hot commodity in the race is Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete is young, exciting, gay, thoughtful and seemingly the front-runner for the nomination, whatever that means in May the year before the election year. He is also, notably, very open about his Christian faith and his home in the Episcopal Church. His theology, much like his politics, is vaguely center-left, full of a lot of catchphrases and platitudes, and appears not overly substantive.
Mayor Pete, who is drawing extra attention for his appearance on Fox News on Sunday, has certainly been getting plenty of media attention about his faith, all of itmainly focused on him being the "religious left" candidate, in contrast with the long-dominant "Christian right." Buttigieg's unapologetic harnessing of Christian rhetoric in defense of liberal political principles has caused a sensation (although, as Washington Post columnist Elizabeth Bruenig has pointed out, this isn't exactly as new as some seem to say).
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