Shawna Foster

Buttigieg Names Unitarian Universalist Shawna Foster as Faith Outreach Coordinator

on August 13, 2019

U.S. Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg became the first contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination to name a faith outreach coordinator this month. Buttigieg, an Episcopalian, has shared regularly about his own religious faith. Prior to the second round of televised Democratic primary debates, Buttigieg visited St. John’s Episcopal Church, a prominent traditionalist parish in Detroit.

The mayor of South Bend, Indiana tapped the Rev. Shawna Foster, a Unitarian Universalist Minister, to spearhead outreach efforts among religious groups. Foster also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign, which stresses government solutions to alleviate poverty.

Shawna Foster
The Rev. Shawna Foster (Photo: Glenwood Springs PostIndependent)

Foster was until recently pastor of Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist, a small congregation in Carbondale, Colorado. The congregation describes itself as “on the forefront of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer inclusion for more than 40 years, we are people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.”

In February, Foster shared her dismay on Facebook about the United Methodist Church’s General Conference enacting a Traditional Plan upholding clergy discipline on sexual morality:

Foster’s church announced itself as a sanctuary congregation in 2017, hosting a 42-year-old Mexican national who illegally entered the country in 1998.

Julie Zauzmer of the Washington Post has more in an August 9 article about the need for religious outreach in early primary campaigns:

“It’s an area that Hillary Clinton was criticized for underutilizing in her unsuccessful 2016 campaign for president, in the view of some religious leaders in the Democratic Party. In the 2020 campaign, many Democrats have spoken openly of their own faith and their desire to strategically connect with religious communities.

Foster, who started work for Buttigieg’s campaign this week, has a broad imperative to talk to all religious groups. She said she thinks mainline Protestants (those who are not evangelical and tend to be more liberal, both religiously and politically) have been overlooked by political campaigns and are probably sympathetic to the religious views of Buttigieg, an Episcopalian.”

I’d take issue with the assertion that Mainline Protestants have been overlooked. Their officials are regularly involved in political advocacy (especially on the left-leaning side of the political spectrum). Mainline Protestant pastors like The Rev. William Barber were at the forefront of advocacy drives such as North Carolina’s Moral Mondays campaign (Barber, an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastor, spoke at the 2016 Democratic Convention).

There may have been either an assumption by some Democratic candidates that Mainline Protestants were already firmly in their camp, or conversely that their denominational officials were not able to mobilize their church members effectively. Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study showed that Mainline Protestants (those in the pews, at least) aren’t firmly in any party’s corner, despite a general perception that their clergy are more likely to be left-leaning.

Buttigieg has struggled to attract support among African-American churchgoers, an important demographic in the early South Carolina primary. Mainline Protestants are disproportionately white, with most of the seven historic churches reporting less than 10 percent of their membership as non-white). It is unclear how Foster, a white former Episcopalian, might bridge that gap in places where the party is not as progressive on social issues.

The Religious Landscape Study reported that members of the United Methodist Church, a historically Mainline Protestant denomination, are 19 points more likely than the average American to lean toward or identify with the Republican Party, while Unitarian Universalists are 70 points more likely than the average American to learn toward or identify with the Democratic party. The study showed that Episcopalians are about 10 percent more likely than the average American to learn toward or identify with Democrats.

More from the Post’s Zauzmer:

“Foster … has a lot in common with Buttigieg: Both are millennials, LGBT people and military veterans. “If we want to split hairs, he’s Episcopalian, and I’m Unitarian Universalist,” she says with a laugh.”

  1. Comment by Eternity Matters on August 13, 2019 at 9:16 am

    As if you needed more evidence that the gay “Christian” was a phony.  The Pervert Lobby can’t help themselves.  If they wanted to be better fakes they’d be orthodox on all other matters, but by God’s grace they are almost always full-blown “Christian” Leftists, denying the essentials and more at every turn. Anyone following them is getting what they want and deserve.

  2. Comment by Steve on August 13, 2019 at 10:52 am

    If you’re going to continue to use variants of the offensive term “pervert” I’m going to continue to write off your comments. You are not helping your cause.

  3. Comment by Palamas on August 13, 2019 at 10:36 am

    “If we want to split hairs, he’s Episcopalian, and I’m Unitarian Universalist,” she says with a laugh.”

    That is splitting hairs, for sure. The only real difference between Episcopalians and Unitarians these days is fancier duds on the Episcopal clergy.

  4. Comment by senecagriggs on August 13, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    https://www.google.com/search?q=episcopal+bishop+photo&tbm=isch&tbs=rimg:Cb7CBBMMJsvIImCqG265oEqSAYbP-ztMouqV7rsVI8bkAfxYUD0AHcRKMV8tDz2Thz7IYagJ1ReVsGqpVYC3PKbYz4KdIm1UPpuNXLy5fO21gwFQLiMKFDj5ZnxKHZf3aIf1zNEFQyxBxsQqEgmqG265oEqSARGwsPpVyLv75SoSCYbP-ztMouqVEU7HHfVV9lzCKhIJ7rsVI8bkAfwRqEwWOeNsqsMqEglYUD0AHcRKMRH9HBtgwVligioSCV8tDz2Thz7IER1EAvcMU_1zzKhIJYagJ1ReVsGoRhB_125SvrDswqEgmpVYC3PKbYzxFiINCYGgobLioSCYKdIm1UPpuNEVO3BovONmZiKhIJXLy5fO21gwERkKdhOSa6uE8qEglQLiMKFDj5ZhEQUY8btgMjkyoSCXxKHZf3aIf1ESzuT1LClrpJKhIJzNEFQyxBxsQRo7_11FHhKwAE&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi34-LcnIDkAhUDJzQIHWsSAEIQrnZ6BAgBEBc&biw=1322&bih=613&dpr=1
    _______

    You simply can’t outdress an Episcopalian Bishop

  5. Comment by David on August 13, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    There used to be an African UMC bishop that wore a white outfit with the shoulder cape similar to the Pope. There are some peacocks around.

  6. Comment by MikeS on August 13, 2019 at 4:25 pm

    Don’t you find it amusing that the liberal churches are so gung-ho on mass 3rd-world immigration, whose people are from relatively conservative and patriarchal cultures who would tend not to accept female ministers, much less gay ones? Liberal churches seem to be almost completely white. Not many Unitarians in El Salvador, I’d wager. When the US becomes predominantly 3rd world in its demographics, the liberal churches will be extinct for lack of constituency. You’d think they would focus on trying to get more immigrants from Sweden or Germany etc.

  7. Comment by John Smith on August 21, 2019 at 6:30 am

    One they get here they will listen to their wise benefactors, learn the proper ways, provide low cost menial work and vote correctly. Isn’t that how its supposed to work?

    And this is getting way too snarky but the bottom line is liberals truly believe in the perfectibility of man, that they know what it should look like and they have the ability to achieve it. Actions follow beliefs.

  8. Comment by John Smith on August 19, 2019 at 6:18 am

    When was the last time you heard a UMC elder or bishop that could be construed as there being a possibility that some people are in danger of being condemned for eternity (except maybe the intolerant conservatives)?

    Universalism runs rampant in the UMC and we don’t want to discuss the UMC approved seminaries view on the deity of Jesus.

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