James Talarico, the current iteration of Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg, can’t seem to stop himself from spouting surprising stuff on the campaign trail. Much—but not all—of the surprising stuff is about his unorthodox religious beliefs. For someone who frets a lot about “Christian nationalism,” he sure seems to want to use his power and position to codify politically his religious beliefs.
For cave and under-rock dwellers, Talarico is the Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas and recent polls put him two points ahead of Republican Ken Paxton, to which many say YIKES.
Talarico, the heretical seminarian, said this to imply that conservative views on transcultism, homosexuality, marriage, or illegal immigration are anti-Christian:
[A]s Christians we’re supposed to follow Jesus’s two commandments: to love God and love neighbor. And there was no exception to that second commandment—love thy neighbor regardless of race, or gender, or sexual orientation, or immigration status, or religious affiliation.
The first task in applying Christian principles is to understand them. When God commands his followers to love their neighbors, what does “love” mean? As Christians, what does loving ourselves and our neighbors entail?
It can’t possibly mean that Christians are to refrain from judging between right and wrong or to refrain from expressing moral truths, since Scripture not only teaches right from wrong but also commands Christians to “expose the unfruitful works of darkness.” It’s impossible to expose the unfruitful works of darkness unless Christians know what darkness is.
And loving neighbors can’t mean that Christians are called to affirm all the feelings, beliefs, and actions of others because the Bible teaches that the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and that “there is no one who does good, not even one.”
So, what does Christian love require? It requires that Christians do unto others as they as Christians would like others to do unto them. And what should Christians desire to be done to them? Christians qua Christians should desire for themselves only that which comports with Scripture.
If Scripture condemns lying, a Christian who lies should want his brother in Christ to confront him with his sin.
If Scripture condemns fornication, Christians who engage in it should desire that fellow believers would demonstrate biblical love by holding them accountable for their sin.
If Scripture condemns homosexual acts, Christians who experience homoerotic attraction should desire that others would hold them to a biblical standard for sexuality.
On the campaign trail, Talarico uses his peculiar interpretation of Matthew 25 to proclaim that “health care is a human right”:
[H]ealth care is a human right; it is not a privilege. If you read our scriptures, if you read the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing? … It’s not preaching. It’s not teaching. It is healing, healing the sick. And in Matthew 25, scripture says that’s how we will be judged and how we will be saved: by healing the sick, by feeding the hungry, by welcoming the stranger, by visiting the prisoner.
First, most scholars say that the primary activity of Jesus during his three years of public ministry was preaching, that is, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.
Second, Matthew 25 is Jesus’ teaching to the church. How exactly does Talarico leap from the biblical teaching to the church—that is, Christians—should heal the sick, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and visit prisoners to the proclamation that healthcare is a human right to which the government must provide access and subsidize?
Doesn’t Talarico’s grounding of his political position about government-subsidized healthcare on his interpretation of Scripture constitute a violation of the separation of church and state—as leftists construe it?
Talarico claims he is “constantly battling Christian nationalism,” which he defines as “the worship of power, all kinds of power, economic, political, and social, in the name of Christ.” But isn’t he seeking to use his power to force economic, political, and social changes in the name of Christ? Isn’t he seeking to force “we the people” to pay medical professionals whom Talarico seeks to force to provide their services to all comers based on his religious beliefs?
The Bible tells Christians they ought to heal the sick. It doesn’t say what government should do. It doesn’t say that accessing medical care is a human right. It doesn’t say that Christian and non-Christian medical professionals have an obligation to provide their professional services to anyone.
Since Scripture says Christians should visit prisoners, do prisoners have a human right to be visited by someone? Does Talarico believe Matthew 25 burdens the government with the requirement to subsidize prison visits?
We are a compassionate country. We believe in feeding those who cannot feed themselves. We don’t believe it is right to let people starve to death. Same goes for health emergencies. But accessing all the ever-expanding healthcare treatments made available by innovation is not a human right. Demanding that every person has a right to access any medical care available is a recipe for a shortage of medical personnel, and a reduction in both services and innovation, all of which will increase human suffering.
Talarico sanctimoniously claims to be a defender of, well, everyone:
I always speak up on behalf of my Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, agnostic, atheist neighbors because I as a Christian, we as Christians, are called to love them as ourselves. And forcing my religion down their throats is not love.
How does, for example, hanging the Ten Commandments—a legal code with historical significance—on a classroom wall constitute forcing religion down someone’s throat while compelling people to use their money to pay for others’ healthcare based on Talarico’s interpretation of Matthew 25 does not?
Seems remarkably like Talarico is forcing his religion down the throats of every Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, agnostic, and atheist neighbor who does not believe the government has an obligation to provide “free” healthcare. Talarico asserts that “the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause in our First Amendment clearly create a separation between church and state,” even as he uses his interpretation of Matthew 25 as the basis for universal healthcare.
Perhaps as surprising as Talarico’s assertions about imposing his religiously motivated healthcare policies on Americans is what he says about education. In an interview with Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Talarico described a Texas law regarding school curricula as “insidious”:
[T]he last [bill] is maybe the most insidious. It was a new state curriculum that that would teach Christian Bible stories as historical fact, as the only truth, to our youngest students. And I mean kindergarten, first graders—these are kids who aren’t able to think for themselves yet. They haven’t formed their own worldviews. And to push propaganda, to push indoctrination on those youngest students is deeply immoral.
Ironically, this comes from a leftist whose own party has insisted on teaching absurd, anti-science ideas derived from gender theory as facts to our youngest students, to kindergartners and first-graders. Leftists have insisted on teaching transcultic superstitions and quasi-religious beliefs about “sexual orientation” as objective, inarguable truths to kids who aren’t able to think for themselves yet, who haven’t yet formed their own worldviews. And conservatives have been vilified for opposing this propaganda and indoctrination, rightly describing it as deeply immoral.
Jesus is just all right with Talarico when it comes to government edicts he fancies. When it comes to using government power to enforce leftist economic, political, and social goals, Jesus is more than all right. He’s downright useful.
If Talarico were a Christian, I guess he would be a Christian Nationalist. But Talarico is a heretic, a wolf in sheep’s clothing who should be nowhere near government power.