“If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” urges an old journalistic adage.
What about a prominent liberal pastor saying something? Should the news media check that out, too?
More on those questions in a moment. But first, I’ll back up and offer a little background: Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Ind., mayor who has emerged as a surprisingly strong contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, went to church Sunday in North Carolina.
As The Associated Press helpfully pointed out, Buttigieg even brought his own Bible to worship.
Along with AP, the Washington Post and the Raleigh News & Observer — and probably other news organizations that I missed — offered interesting takes on the white gay mayor’s visit to a church pastored by a prominent left-wing black activist. Give credit to the Post for noting that (1) Buttigieg is an Episcopalian, and (2) the church he visited is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ — both theologically progressive denominations.
The stories get into poverty and other crucial issues, but I’m going to focus on a specific point raised in all three articles: the connection, if any, between Buttigieg’s sexual orientation and his low support among black voters in the Bible Belt.
Let’s start with AP’s reference to that issue:
Buttigieg discussed topics from health care to climate change during the forum that followed the church’s Sunday service, to which a campaign spokesman confirmed that the mayor brought his own Bible. Even before the candidate began speaking, however, Barber sought to defuse a question that has proven thorny for Buttigieg in his struggle to break through with black voters: whether being gay plays any role in his troubles with a constituency that can trend more socially conservative.
Barber swatted away what he called the “false narrative” of division between African American and LGBTQ voters, and after the service reiterated that any portrayal of tension between the two communities is “not factual.”
The Post put it this way:
The 56-year-old pastor pointedly declined to ask Buttigieg about his sexuality, saying he would no more put the question to an airline pilot. “But I did ask him, ‘Could he fly the plane?’ ” Barber remarked, as applause rang out in the pews.
Barber was hardly silent on the theme, however. He opened the service by denying that anti-gay hostility was pervasive in the black community. “Stop putting that on black folk,” Barber preached. “There’s some phobia among all folks.”
He called the notion of a rift between gay people and blacks a “false narrative that was created by the National Organization for Marriage to separate people who, when they come together, have always pushed America forward, especially when it comes to addressing issues like poverty and health care.”
Buttigieg, addressing reporters after he left the sanctuary, said, “I don’t think I could say it any better than that.”
And from the Raleigh newspaper:
While some pundits have suggested Buttigieg’s low support is because of his inexperience on the federal level, others have claimed that his identity as a gay man makes it hard for black churchgoers to back him.
Barber directly addressed that claim twice on Sunday as another attempt to divide people who demand change.
“That’s a false narrative created by the the National Organization for Marriage to separate people who when they come together are always pushing America forward,” he said.
OK, readers now know where Barber stands on that question. But just because he claims Buttigieg’s sexual orientation is not an issue with black voters, does that make it so?
Is there any hard data on the question? Has anybody polled black voters — including Democrats with socially conservative theology — on the issue?
Did reporters attempt to interview any black pastors from more conservative churches in the South — as opposed to the progressive one where Buttigieg showed up Sunday?
Maybe Barber is right, and that really isn’t an issue with black voters. Then again, maybe his perspective isn’t the only one.
Regular GetReligion readers will recall that tmatt raised this point in an earlier post on Buttigieg:
In other words, Mayor Pete visits the Bible Belt to see if his mainstream Episcopal Church vibe — brainy white married gay male — will fly in a region in which black Christians are a political force. This is a culturally conservative corner of the Democratic Party tent that tends to get little or no attention from journalists in deep-blue zip codes (that Acela-zone thing).
Yep.
In other words, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”