Pete Buttigieg criticized Vice President Mike Pence and Christian politicians who support controversial Trump policies as hypocritical, but stopped short of calling them “sinful,” as Joe Biden did.

“I’ll be careful to use that word to kind of point out a speck in my brother’s eye,” the South Bend mayor told Religion News Service when asked whether politicians who supported family separation at the border were guilty of “sinful” actions. “What I would say is that it’s clear that some naked sins are being at best condoned by people who then summon religious arguments. That rings more and more hollow. It’s not just that we might have a different interpretation of faith, it’s that these arguments no longer stack up even on their own merits, right?”