Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that young people are repelled from the Christian faith because they find it overtly judgemental. The 2016 presidential nominee made the comments in a discussion with prominent minister, Rev William Barber II, on her podcast, 'You and Me Both With Hillary Clinton'.

“How do you see now what the Church should be doing?" Clinton asked Rev Barber. "Because a lot of people are leaving the Church. A lot of young people are leaving the Church, in part because the way they understand what Christianity has become ... so judgmental, so alienating that they think to themselves, 'well, I don't need that.'" 

Barber responded by suggesting that young people are "very open to faith that is about transformation, about love, about justice, about equality, about the essence, the essence of what it means to be people of faith". 

The pair discussed issues related to racism and social justice, with Clinton declaring that declaring 'black lives matter' is a "theological statement" and that "Jesus and justice are the same thing".

"To say that Jesus and justice are the same thing seems to me to be so obvious," she stated. "I mean, how can you be a Bible reading person, a church attending person, and not understand how profoundly true that simple phrase really is." 

The former First Lady added that America must “take a hard look at itself and try to figure out how it can be a real partner in this moment of moral awakening".

Clinton went to ask Barber how he is attempting to "open up people's minds and hearts to understand what Christianity should mean and what should be expected of us who claim to be followers of Jesus".

He responded: “One of my professors said, ‘To be a Christian, to be born again... and to claim the Holy Spirit, is to have a quarrel with the world's systems of injustice.' And if whatever you claim you have doesn't produce a quarrel with injustice, then your claim of it being the Spirit with the big S is suspect."