Pete Buttigieg hires the first faith outreach director of the 2020 campaign

[left-of-center2012]

Seventy-seven percent of Americans identify as members of a religious tradition, and most of the rest call themselves spiritual or say they believe in God. When politicians talk about “reaching out to people of faith,” they might be talking about almost everybody.

But the Rev. Shawna Foster thinks a lot of people are being left out. It will be Foster’s new job to bring Pete Buttigieg’s message to all of those people, as his faith outreach director.

“The conversation about religion and politics has been dominated by one particular type of religion. … It can be so much more,” she said. “I want to make sure the campaign is really reaching out to faiths that typically haven’t had much say in politics — Native American spirituality, Sikh spirituality, Bahais.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who like Buttigieg frequently quotes Scripture and talks about his own moral commitments while he’s on the campaign trail, is in the process of hiring a faith outreach director as well and has already brought on a minister in South Carolina to work specifically on connecting with churches in that state.

Buttigieg and Booker are following in the path of former president Barack Obama in focusing on faith outreach. Obama employed staff members and volunteers on both his campaigns and in the White House to focus on faith partnerships, including roles geared specifically toward communities such as Catholics and Jews.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/08/09/pete-buttigieg-hires-first-faith-outreach-director-campaign/?noredirect=on

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It's a good step.

Of course, there will always be those who think that his religion will dominate his political views and actions.

I don't remember the exact words, but when JFK was running for president, he said that, no, the Catholic Church would not be dictating policy to him. Something like that. The same goes for Pete Buggigieg.

He wants to ensure that all Americans feel that they are part of the community, no matter what faith they hold.