There is a peculiar tragedy in American Christianity today: We have become far more confident in declaring who is going to hell than in proclaiming the good news that Christ came to save sinners.
The latest example comes from Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who recently declared that State Rep. James Talarico will “go to hell” because of his theological positions. Patrick’s statement is not merely a political jab. It is a pastoral failure, a theological overreach and a distortion of the gospel entrusted to us.
Joe Marlow
Let me say at the outset what I believe with my whole heart: Anyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Lord will be saved. That is not my innovation; it is the apostolic witness. Paul writes with clarity that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Not “everyone who gets every doctrine right.” Not “everyone who votes the right way.” Not “everyone who interprets Scripture without error.”
Salvation is not the reward for perfect theology. It is the gift of God to sinners who cling to Christ.
“That is not Christianity. That is spiritual bullying dressed up as boldness.”
And this is where Patrick’s statement does real harm. It presumes that salvation hinges not on Christ’s mercy but on doctrinal precision. It assumes that theological error — real or perceived — places a person outside the reach of grace. It treats disagreement as damnation. That is not Christianity. That is spiritual bullying dressed up as boldness.
Now, let me be equally clear: From my view, James Talarico is wrong in several areas of biblical interpretation. His claims about God being “nonbinary,” his use of Scripture to defend abortion, and his theological framing of same‑sex marriage all fall short of the historic Christian witness. I have written elsewhere about these concerns, and I stand by those critiques.
But disagreement — even serious disagreement — does not grant me the authority to declare him outside the household of faith.
Talarico professes Jesus as Lord. He confesses Christ openly. He claims the name of Christian not as a cultural label but as a personal allegiance. That matters. That means something. And unless we are prepared to say Christ’s promise is void, we must take that confession seriously.
The deeper issue here is not Talarico’s theology but our own moral imagination. We have lost the ability to see one another as fellow pilgrims — broken, mistaken, stumbling, yet held by grace. Instead, we have adopted the posture of gatekeepers, as though heaven were a private club and we were the bouncers. This is not the posture of Jesus, who welcomed tax collectors and zealots, Pharisees and prostitutes, doubters and deniers. The church Jesus founded never was a community of the doctrinally flawless. It was a community of the forgiven.
“We have adopted the posture of gatekeepers, as though heaven were a private club and we were the bouncers.”
When Dan Patrick says James Talarico is “going to hell,” he is not defending orthodoxy. He is shrinking the gospel. He is replacing the wideness of God’s mercy with the narrowness of partisan certainty. He is confusing theological disagreement with eternal judgment. And in doing so, he undermines the very grace that saves him.
Christian realism teaches us to take sin seriously, to name error honestly and to resist the sentimental flattening of the faith. But it also teaches us to recognize our limits. We are not the judges of the living and the dead. We are not the ones who separate wheat from tares. We are not the ones who search the human heart. That belongs to Christ alone.
And Christ, thanks be to God, is far more merciful than we are.
So yes, I will continue to challenge Talarico’s biblical interpretations. I will continue to argue that his theological claims distort the witness of Scripture. But I will not deny him the name of brother. I will not presume to know the fate of his soul. And I will not join the chorus of Christians who speak of hell as though it were a political talking point.
The gospel is bigger than our factions. Grace is deeper than our errors. And the kingdom of God is not guarded by pundits or politicians but by the crucified and risen Lord who delights in saving sinners.
If James Talarico confesses Jesus as Lord — and he does — then he stands where every Christian stands: not on the strength of his theology but on the mercy of Christ. And that mercy is our only hope.
Joe Marlow is a theologian, historian, educator and writer now retired in South Lyon, Mich., with his wife, son, daughter-in-law and their two dogs.
Related:
Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick says Talarico will ‘go to hell’ for his beliefs