Pete Buttigieg uses border to slam Republicans' Christian 'hypocrisy'

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Pete Buttigieg slammed Republicans on the issue of religion during the second night of the first Democratic presidential debate Thursday in Miami.

The South Bend, Ind. Mayor, who declared Democrats as the party of "separation of church and state," took a shot at the religious right discussing the separation of families at the border.

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“The Republican Party likes to cloak itself in the language of religion,” Buttigieg began. “We should call hypocrisy, and for a party that associates with Christianity to say it is OK to suggest that God would smile on the division of families at the hands of federal agents, that God would condone putting children in cages has lost all claim to ever use religion language again.”

The rising Democratic presidential candidate received a roaring applause as he expressed his support for decriminalizing border crossings.

The Episcopalian has been outspoken about his faith, more so than the majority of the candidates as the Democratic Party seeks to galvanize the religious left.

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Buttigieg has previously attacked President Trump for "hypocrisy" when it comes to Christianity and, while he was once cordial with Vice President Mike Pence, he has used his sexuality to take a swipe at the former Indiana governor.

"If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade," Buttigieg recently said at an LGBT event. "And that's the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand: that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."

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But Pence said the two had a "great working relationship" and "he knows better. He knows me."

Buttigieg has taken time off the campaign trail recently to handle a local crisis of the death involving an unarmed black man by a police officer with his body camera off. And the Democratic candidate has had to face many angry constituents and their exchanges have gone viral.