James Talarico suggests opponents of abortion, gender ideology are ‘Christofascists’
(LifeSiteNews) – Far-left “Christian” Texas Democrat Senate nominee James Talarico was substantially shaped by his upbringing in an extreme pro-LGBT “church” that blended faith and woke activism, the candidate admitted in a recently unearthed clip.
On August 9, the Republican National Committee (RNC) highlighted a June 2023 interview Talarico did with Texas Impact in which he declared, “my faith is why I’m in politics,” citing the influence of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and its pastor, Rev. Jim Rigby, from which he took away the “idea that Christianity is just another word for causing trouble.”
“Our church was really active in LGBTQ rights in the ’90s,” he continued. “We caught some attention by letting an atheist join our church in the 2000s; and then in the 2010s, again stirred some controversy by housing an undocumented family, a mother and son, who were close to being deported by ICE. That was the tradition that I was brought up in. It’s what led me to teach public school students on the west side of San Antonio, led me to run an education nonprofit and then led me to run for office.”
https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/2086507522777604466
In the interview, Talarico went on to suggest that Texas conservatives’ efforts to put the Ten Commandments in schools, ban abortion, and restrict underage gender transitions “stem from this Christofascism movement, which essentially, like I said, is just using faith to exercise raw political social and economic power. I think it’s dangerous to all of us, but particularly to those who are marginalized and oppressed in our state.”
The Christian Post offers more background on Rigby and his church, including the 2005 controversy in which it welcomed Robert Jensen to join despite openly rejecting belief in God and Jesus Christ’s divinity and admitting he was joining as “more a political than a theological act”; and Rigby’s history of protesting his church’s rejection of same-sex “marriage” since the 1990s.
Democrats initially framed Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and current Texas state representative, as a mainstream figure and rising political talent capable of appealing across partisan lines due in part to his ostensible faith background that was swiftly quashed not only by his strident left-wing stances on abortion, sexuality, and more but by claiming Christianity endorses them.
He has falsely claimed that the Bible “doesn’t mention abortion or gay marriage” and attempted to use the Bible to defend abortion while asserting the “closest thing we have to the kingdom of heaven is a multiracial, multicultural democracy where power is truly shared among all people.” In 2022, he urged former President Joe Biden to establish abortion centers on federal property across the country to counter what he called an “anti-choice” threat to “our most basic rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” On multiple occasions, Talarico has referred to women as “neighbors with a uterus,” apparently to avoid “gendering.”
He has also faced intense criticism for blasphemous comments in 2021 about God and transgenderism. He has attempted to explain that he “was being intentionally provocative with that statement” while acknowledging there were “some statements that I’ve made that I certainly regret,” and complaining that Republican opponent Ken Paxton was allegedly “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”
Talarico claims to oppose gender “transition” procedures on minors, but in 2023 he opposed legislation before the Texas Legislature to ban them and declared he was “disturbed that this body is not willing to let doctors make these decisions” that he falsely claimed would increase teen suicides, suggesting that he is just temporarily adopting a more mainstream position on the issue for political expediency.
Paxton, the current Texas attorney general, defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for the GOP nomination to the seat, overcoming fears of his electability and accusations of corruption and infidelity thanks to a combination of his proactive record as AG, discontent with Cornyn’s more moderate record, and a late-breaking endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Some GOP analysts continue to fear trading Cornyn for Paxton gives Democrats an opportunity to pick up a critical Senate seat in the red state or at least force the party to spend more to hold onto it than it otherwise would have, potentially at the expense of other races. Others maintain that Talarico’s radicalism squanders whatever hopes Democrats might have had.
Comments