Mayor Pete Buttigieg Says He’s Not Attacking VP Pence’s Faith, But He’s Not For ‘Religion Being Used’ to Harm People

Presidential candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show his recent criticisms of Vice President Mike Pence have not been because of his faith, rather the policies he has pushed for during his time in government.

“All right, so I want to get your reaction. Because Mike Pence has said that you, you, have been critical of his faith and critical of him, and you should know better, and that you’re just criticizing him to get elected. So what would you say to that,” host Ellen Degeneres asked.

“Yeah, I’m not critical of his faith. I’m critical of bad policies. I don’t have a problem with religion. I’m religious too. I have a problem with religion being used as a justification to harm people, and especially in the LGBTQ community,” Buttigieg replied.

“So many people, even today, feel like they don’t belong. You can get fired in so many parts of this country just for who you are and that’s got to change. And if the VP — I’m not interested in feuding with the Vice President,” he continued. “But if he wanted to clear this up, he could come out today and say he’s changed his mind, that it shouldn’t be legal to discriminate against anybody in this country for who they are. That’s all.”

Second Lady Karen Pence also defended her husband during her interview with Brian Kilmeade on Tuesday.

“I think in our country we need to understand you shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that at a young age that this is okay mo matter what faith people have, we don’t attack them for their faith,” she said. “I think it’s helping Pete to get some notoriety by saying that about the Vice President.”

Watch above, via The Ellen Degeneres Show.