Mayor Pete Buttigieg at Pete Buttigieg the Democratic Debates in Miami, June 27, 2019MSNBC/YoutubeMIAMI, FL - Mayor Pete Buttigieg during the first 2020 Democratic debate on Thursday accused Republicans of religious "hypocrisy" over the party's immigration practices under President Donald Trump.
"For a party that associates itself with Christianity to say it is okay to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religious language," Buttigieg said.
"We should call out hypocrisy when we see it," he added.Buttigieg was seemingly criticizing the Trump administration's controversial family separation policy in relation to the Republican party's tendency to invoke Christianity in defense of certain political positions.
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"We should call out hypocrisy when we see it." South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg says the GOP cannot credibly use religious language following the separation of parents and children at the border. #DemDebate2 pic.twitter.com/IhXbreIfdd
This came as the Trump administration faces widespread criticism over conditions in detention facilities for migrants - particularly those that confine children.
Buttigieg has often discussed his Christian faith along the campaign trail and in March suggested that the country needs to see a "religious left" emerge.
"Living your faith might also have to do with paying more attention to those most in need and not celebrating those who already have the most wealth and the most power," Buttigieg said.And in May Buttigieg said God belonged to a political party" he "can't imagine" it would be the GOP.