James Talarico: Godly Man or False Teacher?

For those who don’t know, James Talarico is a Democrat Texas state representative who is running for U.S. Senate. He is becoming increasingly more visible in the public eye, appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience and The Ezra Klein Show, and more recently Real Time with Bill Maher and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.*

Talarico is also currently working on his Master’s in Divinity at Austin Seminary and frequently cites his Christian faith as the basis for his political beliefs.

The problem? Talarico’s beliefs don’t seem to be all that biblical.

James Talarico appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience on July 18, 2025 in Episode #2352. In this interview, he started by explaining why he does not support displaying The Ten Commandments in schools. He believes doing this is unconstitutional and un-American, citing “separation of church and state” (something that is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, but rather a phrase used by Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church assuring them the government won’t get involved in the church, not the other way around). He is concerned about the Muslim, Jewish (he knows the Ten Commandments is part of the Jewish faith, right?), Hindu, and atheist kids who may perceive it as a way of making them feel as though their religion is inferior. Then he claimed that Jesus would “weep for those students and would demand that we love them as ourselves.”

Whenever we hear things that don’t quite seem like they fit with the Bible, we should go to the Bible to see what it actually says. So let’s do that.

But when the Pharisees heard that he (Jesus) had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40, ESV)

Jesus doesn’t just say, “love others.” He explains that the Law and the Prophets give a guideline to show what it means to love. Specifically, Jesus is pointing to The Ten  Commandments to show us how to love God and love others. Talarico says that Christianity, which he claims as his own religion, is more about power than about love. But he doesn’t know how to define love.

In his interview with Joe Rogan, Talarico discussed Christians hating gay people, needing to reject science, and wanting to control women. At least this is what he said he was told-and if that is so, it’s very sad. These beliefs are not found in the Bible and are not supported by historical Christianity. The problem is, Talarico uses these topics as straw men against historical Christianity to provide a contrast with a more loving version of Christianity, in which Christians can affirm homosexuality and abortion.

Talarico used the argument from silence approach to justify his pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ stance by stating that Jesus never talked about homosexuality or abortion. He claimed that, when the Old Testament prohibits men lying with other men, this could be a euphemism. This argument excludes how Jesus talks about marriage, how Paul talks about marriage, and the entire picture of God’s redemption plan, which involves Jesus as the bridegroom and the Church as the Bride.

To justify his pro-abortion stance, he cited the story of the creation of Adam, in which God breathed life into him, to suggest that life actually starts at first breath. Not only does this ignore science, but it also ignores the fact that Adam was literally the only person in the entirety of history who was not born of a woman. Also, babies do breathe in the womb-they don’t breath air, but they do inhale amniotic fluid, which helps strengthen their lungs and diaphragm. He goes on to claim the Bible says things it doesn’t say to justify abortion, which is discussed more in depth in The Becket Cook Show-the link to this video is included below.

In his interview with Ezra Klein on January 13, 2026, Talarico claimed that, while “Christianity points to the truth…other religions of love point to the same truth.” This reveals everything. Talarico is not a Godly man. He does not actually hold to the teachings of Jesus, who said “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

The sad thing is that Talarico attends a seminary that affirms his beliefs. It seems that he is being taught how to use the Bible to subvert historic Christianity and affirm sin. His seminary education seems to legitimize the way he talks about the Bible. However, the claims he makes about the Bible are lies straight from the pit of hell. He is essentially asking, “Did God really say?” just like the serpent did in the Garden of Eden.

James Talarico is a false teacher who must be marked and avoided. His claims affirm sin. He is deadly wrong.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Christians, we don’t find our hope in affirming sin. We find our hope in the grace of God, which leads us to turn from sin in repentance. We can find freedom in the truth of God’s Word, which shows us how to love God and others.

*This interview sparked controversy when Colbert claimed it was pulled by CBS because the Trump administration did not want it to be broadcast. CBS responded by saying that it would violate the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) equal time provision, which requires broadcasters to give political candidates equal coverage should their opponents appear on air. The interview was posted on Colbert’s YouTube channel instead, and it has been viewed at least 7.5 million times as of Friday, February 20. Within 24 hours of the interview's posting on YouTube, Talarico raised more than $2.5 million dollars, according to Houston Public Media.

Resources

The Becket Cook Show: Distorting the Bible to Advance an Ideology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaCUt5Zy_s

Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age by Rosaria Butterfield

Holy Sexuality and the Gospel  by Christopher Yuan

The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture by Scott Klusendorf

Image of James Talarico taken from https://jamestalarico.com/meet-james-talarico/