Democratic state Rep. James Talarico of Texas has offered some off-the-wall comments regarding the Bible and God on multiple occasions during his political career.
Talarico, a former public school teacher who is currently attending a Presbyterian seminary, defeated Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the party’s nomination for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Talarico’s comments included arguing that “God is nonbinary” and that the Bible justified abortion.
“In committee, I listened to 15 hours of testimony about this bill. The worst part, for me, was the number of Christians who used scripture to justify hurting children. Even on this floor today, a member tried to justify a hateful amendment in the name of God’s law.” Talarico claimed during a 2021 debate in the state Legislature on legislation to restrict child sex change operations.
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“So, let’s talk about that,” Talarico continued. “The first two lines of the Bible, the first two lines of Genesis, use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity, the second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary.”
Talarico also claimed during a July 2025 appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” that the Bible took an explicitly “pro-choice” stance on abortion, citing the first chapter of Luke in the New Testament.
“And then the last story I would go to is the story of Mary. Mary is probably my favorite figure in the Bible, the mother of Jesus and, you know, she is, she’s an oppressed peasant teenage girl living in poverty under an oppressive empire as a Jew and she, she has a vision from God that she’s going to give birth to a baby who’s going to bring the powerful down from their thrones, going to scatter the, the proud, who’s going to send the rich away empty,” Talarico told Joe Rogan. “I mean, this this revolutionary song that she sings, it’s called the Magnificat. It’s actually been banned by certain authoritarian regimes because it is so radical.”
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“But I say all this in terms of in context of abortion because before God comes over Mary and, and we have the incarnation, God asks for Mary’s consent, which is remarkable. I mean, go back and read this in Luke. I mean, the, the angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do, and she says, ‘If it is God’s will, let it be done. Let it be, let it happen,’” Talarico continued. “So to me that is a an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create. Creation is one of the most sacred acts that that, that we engage in as human beings. But that has to be done with consent. It has to be done with freedom.”
During that same interview, Talarico also said that if the late Pope Francis were to come back to life, he would listen to the pope’s arguments on abortion.
“If Pope Francis, you know, were to come back and sit at this table and tell me, you know, ‘James, I’m pro-life and anti-abortion, here’s my theological argument,’ I am here to listen and respect that opinion,” Talarico claimed. “I have, I have dear friends who are anti-abortion.”
During a September 2024 press conference while on a flight, Pope Francis condemned abortion in no uncertain terms, calling it a “grave sin” and comparing it to murder or hiring a hitman. Francis repeatedly condemned abortion on other occasions, using a similar striking tone.
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Texas Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico says atheists are more Christ-like than Christians:
TALARICO: “I have met so many Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics who are more Christ-like than some of the Christians I serve with.” pic.twitter.com/3Hmz9YbdwY
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 30, 2026
Talarico also criticized conservative Christians, claiming that atheists and Muslims are more Christlike during a January appearance on the “Politics War Room” podcast hosted by Democratic strategist James Carville and former journalist Al Hunt.
“I have met so many Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics who are more Christ-like than some of the Christians I serve with,” Talarico claimed.
During his first sermon preaching at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Talarico argued that transgender people needed so-called “abortion care.”
“I want to acknowledge that our trans community needs abortion care, too,” Talarico said. “Defending trans Texans is something we have to do every day at the state Capitol.”
Talarico also claimed there are six genders during a 2021 state Legislature hearing. During a 2019 sermon at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, he also claimed that Jesus was the most antithetical figure to Trump.
“The antithesis of Trump is not Biden or Warren or Harris or Castro. It’s not even President Obama. The clearest anti-Trump we have is Jesus of Nazareth. His teachings—and those delivered by other prophetic voices throughout history—show us the way to defeat Trumpism in our world and in ourselves,” Talarico said.
“James Talarico is a woke nutjob,” Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Texas will not break its 32-year Republican streak to elect a man obsessed with telling the world that ‘God is nonbinary’ and that there are six genders.”
The Democratic National Committee didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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