James Talarico, Texas’ Democrat Senate candidate, had all kinds of crazy theological takes when he was vying to be the Democrat on the ballot running for the Senate. However, CNN reports that on Wednesday night, he came face to face with Texas voters who challenged him on some of his heresies, like that God is non-binary.
“When I said that, I was being provocative, and I want to admit that and come clean about that,” Talarico said.
Instead of fully taking the comment back, Talarico said he believed what he said was not controversial theologically. He then likened his interpretation similar to Charlie Kirk’s, that God can’t be human categories.
He tried to walk back his previous statements, saying instead that the Bible is silent on abortion and each Christian is free to come to their own conclusion on the issue.
Jodi Hunt, a Catholic theologian, told Talarico that he was wrong.
“The Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the Ten Commandments that shall not kill,” Hunt responded.
Talarico agreed that the Bible is absolute truth and God’s final, authoritative Word. However, he compared his differences in theological interpretation with other Christians as similar to disagreement among the early churches.
Dr. Richard Land, professor of theology at Southern Evangelical Seminary, says the Talarico race and many other contests for the U.S. Senate are very close, and both sides are getting nervous. When that happens, candidates move to the middle to become as non-offensive as they can become.
“To me, it’s not surprising that you've got people, who are pretty radical left, who are trying to moderate. And no, you shouldn't believe them,” Land states.
Now is not the time, he says, for Christians to become non-political and let God sort things out.
“Romans 13 tells us that God ordained the civil magistrate, and we are to support the civil magistrate for conscience sake. That at least means voting,” Land states.
To those thinking about sitting this one out…
“That's a sin, in my opinion,” Land says.
