I’ll be the first to say it, religion is essentially king cake. 
Everyone has their favorite flavor of king cake, and there is an unending variety to choose from. Despite this variety, there are obvious, identifiable trademarks of the dessert that give it its identity. But the fact of the matter remains that in religion and cake, there are essential ingredients that one cannot do without.
In king cake, the milk and butter are baked in. Without these, the final product would be unrecognizable. As for religion, one must act on key teachings of their church or risk being unrecognizable as a member of that religion. This is where the leading 2020 presidential candidates come in.
While one cannot judge the heart of another person, evidence can be analyzed. Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Donald Trump all tout religion as an essential component of their character. Personally, I truly hope they all do hold faith in high esteem. However, the presidential candidates will all boldly claim their faith one minute, and then immediately make political decisions that undermine major frameworks of their denominations.   
Starting with Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator has only recently started to claim that he is a proud Jewish American, after years of vaguely mentioning his religion, referencing it as “somebody with my background.” Sanders’ Jewish pride came only after his recent boycott of an American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, which he deemed as racist, despite the ethnic and ideological diversity AIPAC is known for. While Sanders may be a full-fledged ethnic Jewish man, any claim of Sanders piously practicing the Jewish faith and supporting Jewish values is unsupported by modern evidence.
Some of the most prominent figureheads who advocate for Sanders have made openly anti-Semitic comments in the past, yet Bernie happily accepts their endorsements. These figureheads include Linda Sarsour who believes Israel is a state, “that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.” Rashida Tlaib is also on Bernie’s anti-Jewish cheer squad, and has actually committed blood libel against the Jewish people, along with Ilhan Omar, who pushed racial slurs against the Jewish people, saying that the Jews have “…hypnotized the world,” and that Republicans were funded by Jewish money.
Next is Pete Buttigieg, who likes to pull out his Christian card in debates and interviews whenever he possibly can. Starting with the elephant in the room, Pete Buttigieg is a man engaged in a same-sex marriage. While that is not a smear on his character, same-sex marriage does violate many Christian denominations’ teachings. Moreover, Buttigieg is a proponent of abortion and does not believe that there should be a cutoff date for abortion. Most mainstream Christian denominations actively oppose abortion, citing the scripture as evidence that life and death are the authority of God. Therefore, Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, while putting up a façade of piety, actively campaigns against most Christian teachings, thus demonstrating that Buttigieg’s religion is only skin-deep.
Finally, there is Donald Trump, who has stated before that he is a Presbyterian. Trump’s actions tend to be contrarian to the ideals Christians try to uphold. Trump has had several wives, had an affair with an adult film actress and is famous for his less than friendly business personality. Trump is no better than Sanders or Buttigieg at demonstrating a deep-held Christian faith. Rather, Trump’s redemption is that his administration has made it possible for mainstream Judeo-Christian values to take over the current political sphere, such as the expansion of popularity for and attention to the March for Life event and the pro-life messages detailed in the 2020 State of the Union.
Once again, I will say that nobody can judge someone’s heart. However, one can study religious teachings and a person’s actions, and then compare the two.  It’s acceptable for political candidates to deviate from religion teachings, but then those candidates need to stop campaigning on their adherence to religion, stop lecturing the public on religion (attention Buttigieg) and stop pandering to members of churches for votes.
I am just as guilty of sinning as anyone, and I can be empathetic to a political candidate who may have fallen from grace from time to time. But as a Catholic, I do not have patience for false prophets. Thankfully, this is an issue that can be immediately changed by the voters. While the U.S. does not need to have pastors and deacons fill the chambers of Congress and state legislatures, the American public can demand more from their leaders than shallow religious pandering for votes.
Brett Landry is a 21-year-old political communication senior from Bayou Petit Caillou.