Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Marianne Williamson brought their own brands of spirituality to the second Democratic debate in Miami on Thursday night, giving God an unusual nod in such a forum outside of the phrase "God bless...." (Joe Biden checked that box.) Buttigieg, an Episcopalian, brought up religion in the context of President Trump's policy of separating children from relatives at the southern border.
"The Republican Party likes to cloak itself in the language of religion," Buttigieg said. Democrats don't talk about religion very much, because "we are committed to the separation of church and state, and we stand for people of any religion and people of no religion. But we should call out hypocrisy when we see it. And for a party that associates itself with Christianity to say that 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 again."
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