At the recent CNN town hall on climate disruption, the big-screen backdrop behind the hosts and the candidates did not read “Climate Change,” it read “Climate Crisis.” And at least three of those who spoke — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg — characterized this crisis as a moral crisis. Buttigieg, however, went a step further and turned the moral crisis into a religious crisis.

“Let’s talk in language,” he began, “that is understood across the heartland, about faith. You know, if you believe that God is watching as poison is being belched into the air of creation, and people are being harmed by it, countries put at risk in low-lying areas, what do you suppose God thinks of that?” His answer: God would call it “a sin.”

“You don’t have to be religious,” he added, “to see the moral dimension of this because, frankly, every religion and nonreligious moral tradition tells us that we have some responsibility to stewardship, some responsibility for taking care of what’s around us, not to mention taking care of our neighbor.”

Buttigieg has already been mentioned in Washington as a possible vice-presidential choice, in which case — as America’s first gay presidential candidate — he would face his fellow evangelical Christian Indianan, Mike Pence, in what might prove a historic debate, a debate that could force to the surface a neglected religious dimension to the climate crisis. Will Buttigieg strike the same note at the upcoming, more wide-open debate on Thursday in the very “heartland” he speaks of — in Texas, a state alive both with evangelical Christianity and with climate crisis denial?

Americans dream of the larger-than-life political leader who can inspire us to rise above ourselves and do what we must do to save our planet and ourselves. But before that inspiring leader can appear, inspiration must first reach the voters who will elect such a leader. And how can that happen?

Is it too much to hope, as Buttigieg seems to, that American religious leaders — Christian priests and ministers, Jewish rabbis, Muslim imams, Hindu pundits, and others — may speak to their people of the moral obligation implicit in the fact that in the United States each year 194,000 lives are claimed by inhalation of air pollutants from fossil fuels, not to speak of all the deaths resulting from weather extremes triggered by climate disruption? Might they not suggest that it is morally wrong to ask Americans to pay with their lives for our collective addiction to fossil fuels? What does it profit a nation to save the trillion dollars per year that a full conversion to renewables might cost but to lose the nation’s soul — and all those innocent lives — in the process? Week in and week out, can our religious leade

Pete Buttigieg: 'Nominate me and you get to see the president stand next to an American war veteran and explain why he chose to pretend to be disabled when it was his chance to serve'

Pete Buttigieg: 'Nominate me and you get to see the president stand next to an American war veteran and explain why he chose to pretend to be disabled when it was his chance to serve'rs ask that kind of question?

Voters do not like to be preached at. But there is a place for preaching — a crucial place— and who can step into that breach if not the clergy of the country? Evolution has conditioned us to respond to danger mainly when it is near in time and place and threatens our loved ones or ourselves, but religion itself is a product of evolution and has survived partly because it delivers a crucial corrective to just such potentially fatal myopia. Nothing could be less scientific than to ignore its relevance at a crisis moment like the present, and there are visionary scientists such as V Ram Ramanathan, Frieman Presidential Chair in Climate Sustainability at the University of California, San Diego, who recognize as much.

Ramanathan has led the way as a consultant to the Vatican in the preparation of Pope Francis’s climate encyclical Laudato Si’ and in the far-reaching UC project Bending the Curve: Climate Solutions. And thanks to leadership like his, there are more religious leaders all the time who have embraced the climate facts as science knows them, definitely including evangelical Christian leaders like those who produced the eloquent manifesto “Christians and Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.”

But the prophetic message, if it can be delivered soon enough and forcefully enough to awaken the country, will not be delivered by the few clergy who make headlines. Instead, it will be delivered by the thousands who do not, and for them a few kindling political lines in the self-sacrificial vein of John F Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” may yet make the crucial difference.

The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Show all 25 1 /25 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Bernie Sanders The Vermont senator has launched a second bid for president after losing out to Hilary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries. He is running on a similar platform of democratic socialist reform Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Joe Biden The former vice president recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well and has since maintained a front runner status in national polling EPA The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts senator is a progressive Democrat, and a major supporter of regulating Wall Street Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar is a Minnesota senator who earned praise for her contribution to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Michael Bloomberg Michael Bloomberg, a late addition to the 2020 race, announced his candidacy after months of speculation in November. He has launched a massive ad-buying campaign and issued an apology for the controversial "stop and frisk" programme that adversely impacted minority communities in New York City when he was mayor Getty Images The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but has faced tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Pete Buttigieg The centrist Indiana mayor and war veteran would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Deval Patrick The former Massachusetts governor launched a late 2020 candidacy and received very little reception. With just a few short months until the first voters flock to the polls, the former governor is running as a centrist and believes he can unite the party's various voting blocs AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Beto O'Rourke The former Texas congressman formally launched his bid for the presidency in March. He ran on a progressive platform, stating that the US is driven by "gross differences in opportunity and outcome" AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kamala Harris The former California attorney general was introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions’ testimony. She has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Bill De Blasio The New York mayor announced his bid on 16 May 2019. He emerged in 2013 as a leading voice in the left wing of his party but struggled to build a national profile and has suffered a number of political setbacks in his time as mayor AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Steve Bullock The Montana governor announced his bid on 14 May. He stated "We need to defeat Donald Trump in 2020 and defeat the corrupt system that lets campaign money drown out the people's voice, so we can finally make good on the promise of a fair shot for everyone." He also highlighted the fact that he won the governor's seat in a red [Republican] state Reuters The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has focused on restoring kindness and civility in American politics throughout his campaign, though he has failed to secure the same level of support and fundraising as several other senators running for the White House in 2020 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam said he intended to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord Vice News The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that “healthcare should be a right, not a privilege” Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017 AP The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Andrew Yang The entrepreneur announced his presidential candidacy by pledging that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18 Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a “special meaning” for the Latino community in the US Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual adviser has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Eric Swalwell One of the younger candidates, Swalwell has served on multiple committees in the House of Representatives. He intended to make gun control central to his campaign but dropped out after his team said it was clear there was no path to victory Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Seth Moulton A Massachusetts congressman, Moulton is a former US soldier who is best known for trying to stop Nancy Pelosi from becoming speaker of the house. He dropped out of the race after not polling well in key states Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Jay Inslee Inslee has been governor of Washington since 2013. His bid was centred around climate change AFP/Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: John Hickenlooper The former governor of Colorado aimed to sell himself as an effective leader who was open to compromise, but failed to make a splash on the national stage Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tim Ryan Ohio representative Tim Ryan ran on a campaign that hinged on his working class roots, though his messaging did not appear to resonate with voters Getty The Democrat challengers to Trump in 2020 DROPPED OUT: Tom Steyer Democratic presidential hopeful billionaire and philanthropist Tom Steyer is a longtime Democratic donor AFP/Getty

Like the small-time political donors whose collective power is producing a political earthquake, the Democratic candidates’ potential power is immense, and this may be their moment of truth. When the climate catastrophe that threatens us all is finally recognized as presenting the greatest moral challenge that humankind has ever faced, then the cry of conscience from below may reach the top at last, and the world’s now paralyzed political leadership may arise and walk. Let us pray.