Buttigieg says Bible 'inconsistent,' but does approve of abortion

Pete Buttigieg (CBS video screenshot)

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, one of the many Democrats trying to secure his party's presidential nomination for 2020, says Christians must figure out for themselves what's right and wrong.

It's because, he said, the Bible isn't consistent.

"There's so many things in Scripture that are inconsistent internally, and you've got to decide what sense to make of it. Jesus speaks so often in hyperbole and parable, in mysterious code, that in my experience, there's simply no way that a literal understanding of Scripture can fit into the Bible that I find in my hands," he said.

His comments came in an interview with Rolling Stone.

The statement, the Washington Examiner reported, came in response to accusations he was "picking and choosing" what the Bible teaches.

Buttigieg's Bible would have to be considered on the extreme left, as he explains he is a homosexual Christian who married his male partner.

"Well, I think for a lot of us — certainly for me — any encounter with Scripture includes some process of sorting out what connects you with God versus what simply tells you about the morals of the times when it was written," he said.

The Bible, he contended, justifies abortion up to the point of birth because "there’s so many parts of the Bible that associate the beginning of life with breath."

Buttigieg's views are popular among Democrats, but a brother-in-law, Pastor Rhyan Glexman, has urged him to "repent."

"God places a very high value on all human life," Chasten Buttigieg's brother told the Washington Examiner in September. "Everyone is created fearfully and wonderfully in the image of God with intrinsic value. That doesn't start at the first breath; it starts when we enter our mother's womb."

Glezman said Buttigieg "is a person who's making up their own rules and regulations and, basically, if we don't celebrate and endorse their interpretation of Scripture, our religion is fallible. And that's just not true."

In the Rolling Stone interview with Alex Morris, Buttigieg said it's "fair game" to appeal to others' "religious convictions."

He said "doubt" is "very rich in the Christian tradition."

"Now, I actually think that if you look at an issue like choice, there’s so many parts of the Bible that associate the beginning of life with breath that there’s plenty of scriptural basis to reach different conclusions about that. But only if you believe that the government must legislate these metaphysical questions does the debate about choice have to be about the government deciding where life begins."

Asked about President Trump's influence on people who may be interested in Christianity, he said Trump "does run the risk of generationally harming the credibility of Christianity in our country, because if people who are avowedly Christian can get themselves into bed with a president like this, it raises the question of what ethical content at all Christianity even has."

He charged: "I think there’s an extent to which he’s always winking when he pretends to have any religious conviction whatsoever, and the only question is who’s in on the joke. But it’s certainly an issue when you think about the Mike Pences and Falwells of the world."

Buttigieg said prominent leaders who support Trump are going to see their "legitimacy" "collapse."

He continued: "To me, so much of Christian tradition centers itself around what we are supposed to do in this world, that it matters what kind of world we’re creating. I just think it’s a cop-out to suppose that we should allow there to be suffering in the name of that kind of eschatology."