For years, Americans have been warned that mixing Christianity and politics poses a grave threat to democracy. The term “Christian nationalism” is invoked as shorthand for constitutional collapse and authoritarianism.
Unless, of course, the Christian is a Democrat.
Be informed, not misled.
In an MS Now (formerly MSNBC) op-ed, Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons practically swooned that “James Talarico is living up to the hype – by staying true to his faith.”
“The rising star’s campaign shows how powerful a religiously fluent, faith-forward Democrat can be,” he added.
Talarico is a Texas state Senator running for a seat in the US Senate. He won his primary this week.
The op-ed described Talarico’s “unapologetic embrace of his Christian faith” as something that could “even help reshape American politics.” Graves-Fitzsimmons credited Talarico with opposing “Christian nationalism” from within Christianity. In the same breath, he assured readers that religion in the public square is actually OK: “Maintaining a secular democracy does not require banishing religion from public life. In fact, the opposite is true.”
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons says James Talarico’s victory in the Texas Democratic Senate primary is bigger than state politics. Everyone keeps saying that about this race, but I’m starting to seriously believe the hype. Talarico has a lot of powerful qualities, but the unapologetic embrace of his Christian faith sets him apart from other rising Democratic stars — and it could maybe even help reshape American politics.
Before his Senate run, Talarico gained national attention as a state representative by rooting his opposition to Christian nationalism in his own Christian faith. During legislative battles over whether the Ten Commandments should be posted in public schools and guidance counselors should be replaced with unlicensed religious chaplains, he defended religious freedom without casting religion as the enemy.
For decades, Democrats have ceded religious language to Republicans. Republicans claim the mantle of faith, while Democrats too often respond by criticizing the GOP’s “God talk” while emphasizing the separation of church and state. In the process, millions of progressive Americans have become politically voiceless, despite the fact that the majority of Democrats are people of faith themselves.
Talarico changes that.
In other words, faith in politics is acceptable so long as it’s the right kind of intersection of faith and politics — that is, faith and Democrats. That tone vanishes when Republicans invoke their faith.
The Washington Examiner says, "Texas state Rep. James Talarico‘s Senate bid is offering a vision of Christianity that fits comfortably within the Left — and giving Democrats uneasy with religion permission to engage with it on their own terms."
In other words, "write your own script" as to what Christianity should look like while weaving it into biblical Scriptures is just fine in the so-called progressive world of relativism.
A 2022 episode of The Rachel Maddow Show announced that “Christian nationalism’s racist past precludes revival except among GOP’s Trumpiest.” A year later, MS Now published an op-ed by Sarah Posner titled “Mike Johnson’s Christian nationalist track record isn’t a mystery — it’s a tragedy.” The piece declared Johnson “the most unabashedly Christian nationalist speaker in history.”
When Republicans, like Johnson, rely on their faith to oppose murdering babies in the womb, same-sex marriage, or leftist priorities, the coverage becomes alarmist. “Christian nationalism” is framed as a threat. But when Democrats invoke faith for their own policy aims, the coverage takes a decisive turn.
Christian Paz, writing for "VOX," said that “Talarico’s brand of compassionate progressive Christianity, wedded to a populist economic message, has attracted the most attention in and out of the state as a core feature of his campaign. His pitch is a message of radical love, of healing political divisions, and of welcoming Americans who might not be traditional Democrats into a big-tent political coalition.”
Phillip Elliot, writing for "Time Magazine" declares, "The audience at Covenant Presbyterian sits in silence, transfixed by the seminarian at the pulpit. James Talarico is speaking at a deliberate pace and with a practiced cadence, nimbly mixing the Gospels of Matthew and Luke with an avowed progressivism and references to current-day political tyranny and Christian nationalism. While delivering a sermon about secularism, he dashes in the merits of religious diversity and suggests that the Pentagon brass post 'turn the other cheek' in their war-planning rooms."
Time celebrates, "And Talarico is doing this in West Texas, in a county that Donald Trump won by 40 points."
For the media, the only good Christian is a fake one like James Talarico.
Takeaway
Talarico, in a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, offered what he called “biblical evidence” for abortion.
He claimed parts of the Old Testament include “some subtle instructions for how to perform an abortion in the ancient world” and that since Jesus included women in his ministry, it must mean he wants them to be able to murder their babies in the womb."
But just because Jesus didn’t specifically use the word "abortion" in his ministry doesn’t mean he has nothing to say about it or, an even worse assumption, endorses it.
The Bible does say murder is a sin punishable by death and that, in regard to life in the womb, “we are knit together, known, and consecrated before we are born.”
Yet none of the glowing profiles warned that Talarico’s use of Scripture to defend abortion constituted Christian nationalism the same way no one warns that citing Jesus to support socialism or open borders threatens constitutional democracy. The alarm is only reserved for one side.
Talarico is selling a secular, progressive worldview under the guise of Christianity.
The Bible clearly and strongly tells biblical Christians to stay away from false doctrines.
In fact, Paul writes in Romans 12:2, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Mindful. Be Prayerful.