Progressive people of faith must demonstrate how religion can inspire opposition to Christian nationalism and the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine democracy, James Talarico said during a webinar hosted by Vote Common Good.
The Democratic U.S. Senate candidate from Texas said moderate and liberal Christians in particular must proclaim a vision of Christ and Scripture that counters the racist and authoritarian religion promulgated by President Donald Trump and his right-wing evangelical supporters.
The Jan. 13 virtual session was co-sponsored by Pastors for Texas Children and Faithful America. Talarico, a current state representative, is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate against Baptist laywoman Jasmine Crockett, currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“For too long, Christians have stayed out of politics by saying they’re nonpolitical or they are neutral,” Talarico said. “There’s no such thing. If you are neutral, you are taking the side of the powerful, you are protecting the status quo.”
“For too long, Christians have stayed out of politics by saying they’re nonpolitical or they are neutral.”
Americans who value pluralism and democracy are called to take a political stand against divisive federal policies designed to attack public education, government institutions, immigrants and other marginalized communities, he said. “We as Christians, we as people of faith from all traditions, have a responsibility to take our faith from the sanctuary to the streets to not just love God, but to love neighbor.”
The online event featured Talarico fielding questions from Texas faith leaders on topics ranging from the role of religious communities in oppressive laws to the candidate’s vision for addressing violent immigration raids, border security and antisemitism.
Katie Hays
Katie Hays, lead evangelist at Galileo Church in Fort Worth, said she feels conflicted about criticizing conservatives for using Christian language to justify discriminatory policies while celebrating the use of Christian language to oppose those measures.
“Lately I’ve just been imagining Jesus just rolling his eyes and wondering if maybe we could just leave him out of it,” she said. “Maybe we could just work it out and not drag him into it. So, I’m asking whether you’ve got the same worry.”
Talarico said he does not because the present-day political struggle is no longer about left versus right but about top versus bottom in society. “When I hear the speeches of Adolf Hitler using Christian language to push his ideology, and I read the sermons or political speeches of Dr. (Martin Luther) King … I do not see an equivalence.”
Talarico said he agrees Jesus is bigger than either political party and would not take partisan positions because both parties are deeply flawed. But the top-versus-bottom analogy suggests taking sides with poor, working and marginalized people against the billionaires, cable news networks and social media companies that seek to divide the nation for profit.
“When you read the Gospels, Jesus certainly wasn’t neutral. He certainly wasn’t middle of the road.”
“Faith can bring us together to take on those entrenched powers, and I think that is very true to our tradition,” he said. “When you read the Gospels, Jesus certainly wasn’t neutral. He certainly wasn’t middle of the road. That’s the tension I’m running into and I’m trying to correct. I’m not trying to claim Jesus for the Democratic Party; I’m trying to wrestle Jesus away from partisan politics.”
But that effort must be religiously and denominationally inclusive, he added. “We should welcome those kinds of partnerships as long as they meet constitutional muster and as long as we aren’t elevating any one faith community over the others.”
Faith-based opposition to Christian nationalism also must not vilify or attack those who introduce and support discriminatory legislation and policies, Talarico said, adding that Christ’s commandment to love enemies is one of the hardest to follow.
“If you’re confronting entrenched power, if you’re speaking truth to that power, or if you’re standing up for vulnerable neighbors, you’re going to have opponents, you’re going to have enemies — sometimes very powerful enemies,” he said.
“When I see these morally reprehensible bills that are being proposed in the Texas House, I feel anger and I feel tempted by hate, but I remind myself that my job is to chart a different path and to stand up for my neighbors. I have to be careful not to become a bully myself, and that is a danger we all face doing this work.”
Charles Foster Johnson
Charles Foster Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, asked Talarico to explain the importance of churches working to preserve public education, especially in light of the private school voucher program recently approved in Texas
Talarico, a former public school teacher, said some of the wealthiest megadonors in Texas and across the country want to line their pockets with money siphoned from schools that serve working and middle-class children.
“And that’s exactly the dynamic we’re seeing across all these issues, whether it’s health care, whether it’s housing or whether it’s education. We as Christians, we as people of faith have to be on the side of those at the bottom against those at the top who are trying to destroy our way of life and destroy the ladders to opportunity in public education.”
Rabbi Andrew Marc Paley of Temple Shalom in Dallas asked Talarico how he and other people of faith can push back against the rising tide of antisemitism surging across the nation.
The answer lies in promoting interfaith dialogue that acknowledges the Hebrew origins of biblical teaching, Talarico responded.
“Our faith is rooted in those teachings,” he said. “Hopefully that can be a model for the rest of the world because if we can’t figure out how to live together in love and peace and brotherhood in the United States, I worry about how the rest of the world would be able to achieve that kind of interfaith community.”
It’s also important to take a both-and approach to border security and to affirming the commandment of Jewish and Christian Scripture to welcome the stranger, Talarico said.
“We all recognize that immigrants make us stronger, they make us richer, they make this country what it is. It is critical that we have an immigration system that reflects our values and that protects human rights. But I don’t think that is mutually exclusive with public safety. I believe public safety is the most important thing the government does.”
Talarico also condemned the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement campaign designed to sow fear in immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.
“In the United States, we shouldn’t be afraid of our government, our government should be afraid of us. That is how a government of, by and for the people should work. So, the secret police force and this practice of disappearing people off our streets is fundamentally un-American and un-democratic, and it has to end.”
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