We’re Not Doing Talarico Christianity

No such thing

Well, the midterms happened. Thankfully, I was on the road all week and didn’t have time to write or podcast here on it, because there’s really only so much that can be said about the politics of it all.

But from a religious perspective, this election cycle raised a discussion that we need to have before it goes any farther.

This year’s election wasn’t just the typical red-blue divide. The major shift? Religion entered the discussion in ways it previously had not—and not just with regard to Islam’s increasing rise to power.

For the first time, we’re seeing a strong leftward attempt to bring the Bible into politics.

This has been seen most prominently in the campaign of James Talarico, the newest senator from the state of Texas. A seminary grad and Sunday school teacher, Talarico is being heralded far and wide as a new kind of Christian in politics.

A 2023 article at Politico announced him as “deeply religious and a Democrat.” Earlier this year, New Yorker said Talarico planned to win by “appealing to higher values.” New York Times columnist/sellout extraordinaire David French called Talarico a “Christian X-Ray” who represents Christian decency in ways rightward politicians don’t.

Never mind the fact that we’re talking about a man who wants to see kids transed or aborted, a man who calls God non-binary, a man who could instantly name his favorite drag queen when asked. He represents decency to those who see him as an emerging Christian voice.

One example, via X:

James Talarico, a Democrat, is quoting Scripture in his victory speech, and the crowd is cheering.
Democrats don’t hate religion. We hate watching people weaponize it.
Faith isn't the problem. Using God as a weapon against your neighbors is.

x.com/chiefjosheola

Another post I picked up in the discourse had this to say:

Someone told me to “vote according to Biblical values!”

So I voted for welcoming immigrants, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, bringing healthcare to the sick, forgiving debts, caring for our planet, laying down our swords, and loving all our neighbors.

This oppressed/oppressor, Critical Theory, be nice to everybody who rejects Christ, eat with sinners to celebrate their sin version of Christianity has been around for a long time, but it now has a champion on the national stage.

We need to make it clear right now: we’re not doing Talarico Christianity.

Not only are we not doing it, we’re not compromising or making room for it, either. There isn’t some middle ground to be found with a deadly, blasphemous ideology. We can’t try to appease this sheep-clothed wolf doctrine in our churches by finding middle ground.

This is not an à la carte menu where you can choose the parts of it you like and leave behind the abortion and LGBT stuff. It’s a complete package. It all rests on an ideological foundation that can’t be segmented.

This is why it’s so important to preach the whole counsel and not back down from things that might be controversial. The Bible says welcome the sojourner among you (Leviticus 19:33-34); it does not say you are required to accept and feed tens of millions of them by stealing from your neighbors. The Bible says to care for the poor (Leviticus 23:22), but it does not tell governments to do it by force. Talarico Christianity only sounds Biblical to people who haven’t been taught to study in context.

We must reject this perversion of the faith, and we must continue to pursue a robust, Biblical understanding of politics and how Christ rules the nations in our day.

Before I close, this discussion raises two more principles that need to be mentioned:

There is no such thing as neutrality

For years, this quote has been thrown at politically-minded Christians: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Who knew that the flag in question was going to be that hideous LGBT pride one?

We’ve had 6+ years of people decrying “Christian nationalism” and those of us who believe the government should promote Biblical values. All of a sudden, when a leftist starts quoting Bible verses in his campaign, those critics are nowhere to be found.

What happened?

Maybe they don’t have a problem with bringing religion into politics. Maybe they just have a problem with Biblically conservative people doing so.

All their think pieces on separating church and state, all their podcasts and YouTube videos on Jesus’ kingdom not being of this world? If they won’t condemn Talarico just as fiercely, you can toss out everything they have to say. They were just trying to win, that’s all. Don’t take them at face value.

“Well, you just want your values to be pushed by the government too.” Correct. We’re done with the days of being duped into thinking pluralism could work.

There is no such thing as a religiously neutral government. One ideology or another is going to win. And the ideology we want to win is the one that declares Christ as Lord over all.

Politics don’t divide us, ideas do

When I use the word “win,” as I just did above, people get uncomfortable. Winning implies that there are sides. Winning says there is an us and a them. It’s this kind of thinking that proves that politics are divisive, they might say.

When people say we should avoid politics because they cause division, this is what they misunderstand: the division already exists. Politics just expose it.

The disagreement with Talarico is spiritual at its core. He got an apostate Biblical education, misuses Scripture every time he speaks, and blasphemes the Most High God. And he aims to enforce his heretical views at the point of the sword. The man is an enemy of the truth.

In other words, with Talarico Christianity gaining a foothold, these folks who think themselves nicer than God are now going to be able to impose their worldview, and they’ll do it while demonizing us Christians who haven’t given in to the spirit of the age. In Talarico Christianity, the enemy to be crushed will be conservative Christian families and churches.

Reject Nicer-Than-Godism

You are to love your enemies, yes (Matthew 5:44). But that does not mean you cannot acknowledge they are your enemies. Nor does it mean you can’t oppose them or call them wicked or want to see them shut down hard, or else basically everybody in the Bible got this wrong, Jesus included (Matthew 23:32-36, for example).

The division is there. The only thing we have to determine is whether we will acknowledge it and act accordingly, or bury our heads in the sand and pretend everybody is roughly on the same page.

Just say no

Politics are ugly, and engaging with them as a Christian can be challenging. But that’s why we have to strive all the more to have discernment and support the people and policies who are most likely to allow or even promote Biblical values.

James Talarico is not one of those people. He is just the latest in a millennia-long line of syncretists, people who worship the idols of the day while pretending it is service to God. We’re not doing Talarico Christianity.

---

Notes

• I’m doing more and more on YouTube, so be sure to subscribe to my channel!

• Not a big video watcher? Audio from all the articles here and videos there go out on the Church Reset podcast (Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app)

• As always you can support my work by going here