Sanders & Warren: their presidential bids in personal, faith-based terms

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren framed their Democratic presidential bids in personal, faith-based terms Saturday before black millennial Christians in Georgia who could help determine which candidate becomes the leading progressive alternative to Joe Biden, the AP reports.

Sanders, the Vermont senator whose struggles with black voters helped cost him the 2016 nomination, told the Young Leaders Conference that his family history shapes his approach to President Trump's rhetoric and the rise of white nationalism in the United States. "I'm Jewish. My family came from Poland. My father's whole family was wiped out by Hitler and his white nationalism," Sanders said at the forum led by the Black Church PAC, a political action committee formed by prominent black pastors.

"We will go to war against white nationalism and racism in every aspect of our lives," Sanders said, promising to use the "bully pulpit" to unite instead of divide.

Warren, a Massachusetts senator and United Methodist, quoted her favorite biblical passage, which features Jesus instructing his followers to provide for others, including the "least of these my brethren." She said "that's about two things. Every single one of us has the Lord within us. .... Secondly, the Lord does not call on us to sit back. The Lord does not just call on us to have a good heart. The Lord calls on us to act."

Sanders and Warren are looking for ways to narrow the gap with Biden, who remains atop primary polls partly because of his standing with older black voters. Polls suggest that younger black voters, however, are far more divided in their support among the many Democratic candidates.

https://www.newser.com/story/279284/warren-sanders-make-their-pitch-to-black-christians.html