CNN loves "progressive" Christians like openly gay Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his insistence that he's a "devout Christian," while Vice President Mike Pence is all wrong. On CNN Friday, Brooke Baldwin brought on two guests to repeat all the "progressive" talking points. Sadly, one of them was a Catholic priest, CNN commentator Fr. Edward Beck.
Wouldn't viewers expect a Catholic priest to explain why traditional Christians who follow the Scriptures believe that homosexual behavior is sinful? Instead, Father Beck, fresh from a Buttigieg interview, just repeated all of Mayor Pete's talking points like a press secretary.
Brooke Baldwin played clips of Mayor Pete chiding Pence: "If you have got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with. Your quarrel sir, is with my creator." And his talk with Ellen DeGeneres: "I'm not critical of his faith. I'm critical of bad policies. I don't have a problem with religion. I'm religious too. I have a problem with religion being used as a justification to harm people, and especially in the LGBTQ community."
That quote just collapses on itself: "I'm not attacking his faith, and it harms people." Baldwin simply asked Fr. Beck to explain Buttigieg's heretical beliefs:
REV. EDWARD BECK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he said, it's Gospel-based, and it's really socially driven for him. I mean, for him, Matthew 25 is the heart of the Gospel, that teaching of Jesus that said, did you care for the poor? Did you visit the imprisoned? Did you care for those in need? And he thinks that Governor Pence -- remember, they had a history.
He was mayor of South Bend, Pete. And the mayor -- and the governor of Indiana tried to put through this religious freedom restoration act, which Mayor Pete saw as a license to discriminate against gay people. And so he went after it, and that's where this battle began. So he thinks that Mike Pence's view of religion is about sexual ethics. And Mayor Pete says, my view of religion is, care for the poor, do what Jesus did.
In other words, Buttigieg is closer to Jesus. Couldn't an objective observer at least suggest that if Pence is failing on Matthew 25 (liberals say because you have to back generous government spending on the poor), then Buttigieg is failing not just on the sexual issues, but on the sin of abortion? Some would argue both sides are too selective, but there's no objectivity on CNN. Baldwin just asked for more liberal talking points:
BALDWIN: But to that point, there are still a lot of congregations and churches who have not made a place for the gay community, members of the gay community. And, Father Beck, I mean, isn't one of the reasons Mayor Pete is talking about his faith in such an open way is because he's gay? I mean, is he aiming to challenge the assumptions that some people may be making?
BECK: Most definitely, because he sees himself as a devout practicing Christian, and he's in a very inclusive community that he belongs to, St. James [Episcopal] Cathedral in South Bend, and he is welcome there. That's where he married his husband. So I think what gets to him is when religion is used as a weapon to discriminate or to somehow put down someone else. If it's used for ill effect to somebody else, he says, that's not religion, that's not Christianity. He says, look at what Jesus did.
Jesus didn't talk about homosexuality. Jesus didn't talk about gay marriage. Why are some people on the right, according to Mayor Pete, so obsessed with those issues, and not talking about what Jesus really talked about, the criterion for salvation, again, drink for the thirsty, food for the hungry, clothing for the naked, visit the imprisoned? This is where the Gospel lives for Mayor Pete. And he wants to have a conversation. He wants to rescue, he says, religion from the religious right and say, those of us who are progressives, he says, we should be using faith, because it's on our side.
To see what a Catholic priest says when he's explaining the Catholic position instead of the liberal position, click here.
