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Pete Buttigieg is the most qualified person in America to be President.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard, an Oxford University Rhodes Scholar, served two tours in Afghanistan, and possesses an uncanny ability to use his brilliance in formulating practical solutions to serious problems.
I don’t believe there is anyone who could help us get passed the incompetent, mediocre, corrupt, and un-American presidency of Donald Trump better or faster than Pete.
But that is not all a Buttigieg presidency would do.
It would quite possibly save American Christianity from itself. Let me explain.
Christianity in America is now plagued by an extreme, rogue evangelicalism that is causing it to lose credibility among the American population, especially the young.
Theologically, evangelicalism is vacuous, resting on mythical claims of biblical literalism, infallibility, and inerrancy created and believed by flawed, fallible human beings who refuse to admit the error of their ways.
Politically, evangelicalism is a toxin in American life that promoted culture wars instead of seeking to find common ground.
More specifically, nothing makes evangelicals become apoplectic more than the prospect of a gay man occupying the White House.
Should Pete Buttigieg become the Democratic nominee for President, they would launch as ugly a personal attack on him as we have ever seen in this country.
They would claim to be speaking for God in condemning him and promising divine judgment on the nation should he be elected.
They would highlight the only six verses of scripture (Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Genesis 19, Judges 19) that say anything about homosexuality as if that is all the Bible talks about.
They would tell the story of divine judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as if it was about homosexuality when the prophet Ezekiel says it was because of their ignoring of the poor and the needy (16:49-50).
They would ignore Jewish Midrash that says God judged the cities because they flooded the roads leading to the city to keep out strangers, a direct violation of Torah law.
And, of course, they would completely ignore the fact that Jesus said absolutely nothing about homosexuality (nor anything about abortion for that matter). Not a word.
On top of that, their campaign against Pete would ignore scientific advances that have now established the fact that genetics plays a role in human sexuality and sexual orientation, something biblical writers obviously knew nothing about.
The simple truth about today’s American evangelicalism that its message is actually morally unChristian, and worse, years ago it sold its soul for a seat at Donald Trump’s table of political power
If Pete Buttigieg were to be elected President, it would represent a total rejection of Christian evangelicalism in America, thereby raising hope for its precipitous decline and even complete demise.
That would then open the door to mainstream Christianity having a more positive image in American life because of its more holistic, healthy, and positive message.
This is what both the nation in general and Christianity in particular need, being free from the influence of American evangelicalism whose message is anathema to what is good and decent and life-changing in genuine Christian teaching.
But the question is, can it happen? At this point no one knows, but I am saying Pete has two things in his favor.
The first is the abject failure of the Trump presidency. Four years of the kind of petty, corrupt, incompetent, and dangerous political leadership the country will have endured, a Buttigieg presidency will be viewed as far more attractive and possible than we could have imagined only a few years ago.
The second is the campaign against him by evangelicals that will be so morally offensive that it will grow Pete’s support rather than hurting it, and in the process bring an end to evangelicals being taken seriously by most Americans.
The added bonus everyone who hears speak knows is that he is the most persuasive voice for his becoming President there is. His brilliance, his practical solutions, and his strong moral character are impressive indeed.
In sum, then, I am suggesting that Pete Buttigieg is not only the most capable American political leader alive today, were he to be elected President it would be such a decisive defeat for today’s evangelicalism that its effect would be to save American Christianity from a faction that is wittingly or unwittingly corrupting it.
I believe that would be good for our country and the role of religion in it.
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