After I read the write-up my RedState colleague Nick Arama did on James Talarico recently asserting that the political positions he's taken were supposedly biblically rooted, I have to admit that my mouth dropped open in a state of shock.
I mean, politics and religion have been intersecting across America and especially here in the South since long before I was born, so it's something you get used to over time as just a fact of life around these parts, kind of like Brunswick stew, BBQ, and sweet tea being served at family reunions.
But though it wasn't a surprise to see the Texas Democrat Senate nominee, who has attended a woke church since he was two years old, make statements like "when Jesus healed the sick, he didn’t ask for a deductible. So when I fight for universal healthcare, I'm doing it on biblical grounds," the outright brazenness of it threw me for a loop.
For those who missed it, watch:
When Jesus healed the sick, he didn’t ask for a deductible.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) September 27, 2026
When he fed the hungry, he didn’t price gouge for a profit.
When the Hebrew prophets saw corruption, they spoke truth to power.
When I take on this corrupt system, I’m doing it on biblical grounds. pic.twitter.com/cpxUXeYE5W
I mean, he's been making wacky "biblically based" assertions for years now, and at one point he seemed to be trying to run away from them. But it looks like now he is not only leaning into them, but he is triple-dog-daring anyone to disagree with him.
Then there was Kansas Democrat Senate nominee Adam Hamilton, a mega-church pastor who has been spoon-feeding some form of "progressive Christianity" to congregants for 36 years as the senior pastor at the Church of the Resurrection. He's taught them, for instance, that they need to be "repentant" for their supposed contributions to climate change as meat-loving Kansans who love to drive.
“Now, you got to do everything you can to reduce your own usage of fossil fuels, but maybe changing your diet so that the things that you eat require less production that creates methane and carbon dioxide and everything else,” Hamilton proclaimed during one sermon.
He's also been instrumental in pulling the United Methodist Church (UMC) to the left on LGBTQ issues, like allowing gay men and lesbians to become members of the clergy and allowing other churches to marry LGBTQ couples.
Though I am a believer who is strong in my Christian faith, I am by no means a biblical expert. And yet I understand the basics, and what Hamilton is preaching in his sermons and what Talarico is telling his fellow congregants - and Texas voters - amounts to false prophecy, in my view. It's so dangerous, and yet it looks like this is emerging as "the way forward" for Democrats who hope to win over more Christians in the South.
We saw it, for instance, with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), who is also a reverend, before and after he started serving in the U.S. Senate. In one of the more notable examples, former NFL coach Tony Dungy called him out after he boasted about being pro-abortion:
As a pro-choice pastor, I’ve always believed that a patient's room is way too small for a woman, her doctor, and the United States government.
— Reverend Raphael Warnock (@ReverendWarnock) May 3, 2022
I'll always fight to protect a woman's right to choose. And that will never change.
It all comes down to what you believe about the organism growing inside the mother. Is it a life or not? If it is just growing tissue then your “choice” makes sense. If it’s a life then it’s obviously not OK to choose to end it. What does your Bible tell you it is? Psalm 139:16 https://t.co/E7dCk6NMmL
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) May 3, 2022
The biblical verse reads, "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
It wasn't the first time Dungy had crossed swords with Warnock on the issue of abortion. In December 2020, in the midst of Warnock’s campaign against then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Dungy also confronted Warnock on X about his Christian faith after first learning Warnock declared himself to be a "pro-choice pastor":
Rev Warner may be a pastor. My question would be “Is he a Christian?” That is, does he follow the teachings of Jesus and does he believe that the Bible is the absolute word of God? https://t.co/cabHEGB2XX
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) December 9, 2020
Warnock, to date, has never explained why he would support an inhumane practice that disproportionately impacts the black community, even though Georgia voters deserve to know. He's also failed to explain exactly where in the Bible it greenlights the termination of unborn life. He can't do it any more than Hamilton can for what he's spewed about climate change, and any more than Talarico can regarding justification for his belief in universal healthcare.
They can't because it's not there.
I see prominent public figures like Talarico, Hamilton, and Warnock purposely promoting this distorted version of Christianity, and it's hard not to despair over the future of the spiritual soul of our nation. But then I think about how this is probably God's way of getting more traditional, biblically grounded Christians to speak up and speak out, which is what I'm doing here in my own small way.
