I want to believe in James Talarico, but I'm so, so cynical.

[pat_k]

13. I have concluded he is the real deal.

He has been on my radar since 2023. I've watched him battle as a Representative in the Texas state legislature. He is a riveting speaker against Christian Nationalism.

I could, of course, be wrong, but he is not a person who has "come out of nowhere."

He's been walking the walk, and talking the talk since he was elected in 2018. And before that he taught 6th grade language arts in the West Side of San Antonio, one of the city's poorest zip codes, with 97% of its student population classified as economically disadvantaged.

For me, his Oct 2023 sermon against Christian Nationalism shows him to be an incredibly smart, riveting, and effective speaker on an existential threat. I highly recommend watching the entire sermon. I've included some excerpts below that you may want to scan if you don't have time. (I didn't transcribe some great bits where he talks about other faith traditions.)

. . .
He told us we would know them by their fruits.

Jesus includes.

Christian Nationalism excludes.

Jesus liberates.

Christian Nationalism controls.

Jesus saves.

Christian Nationalism kills.

Jesus started a universal movement based on mutual love.

Christian Nationalism is a sectarian movement based on mutual hate.

Jesus came to transform the world.

Christian Nationalism is here to maintain the status quo.

They have co-opted the Son of God. They've turned this humble rabbi into a gun-toting, gay-bashing, science-denying, money-loving, fear-mongering fascist.
. . .

If this was truly a Christian nation, we would love all of our LGBTQ neighbors. If this was truly a Christian nation, we would make sure every child in this state and in this country was housed, fed, clothed, educated, and insured.

If this was truly a Christian nation, we would never make it a Christian nation because we know the table of fellowship is open to everybody, including our Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and atheist neighbors.
. . .

The closest thing we have to the kingdom of heaven is a multiracial, multicultural democracy where power is truly shared among all people. Something that's yet to exist in human history.
. . .

When someone asked Jesus to name his most important commandment, he cheats and gives two -- two that he says are related. The first is to love God. The second, he said, "Is like it: love they neighbor as thyself." It's like it because when I recognize the divine image in myself, I can't help but recognize it in my neighbor; whether they're Christian or not, whether they're religious or not. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus specifically defines neighbor as someone different from us, racially, economically, politically, religiously. God loves diversity; God loves variety. Just look around this beautiful planet of ours.
. . .

God is so much bigger than our human categories. God is not a Presbyterian. God is not a Christian.

God it not a noun at all.

God is a verb.

God is not a being.

God is being itself.

God is love.

And that's why Jesus is against anything that gets in the way of that love between neighbors, including religion.
. . .

That's why he says sinners will get to the kingdom of heaven before religious people do. Sorry to everyone here. I know you came all this way.
. . .

The kingdom of God inverts the power dynamics of "all the kingdoms in the world."

True strength is vulnerability.

True status is equality.

True wealth is sharing.

And we as Christians are called to realize that kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven," not by force, but by faith.

Jesus asked us to have the faith of a mustard seed, trusting that by living and dying for love we give birth to a better world.

That's not easy to do.
. . .

Christian Nationalists are more committed to the love of power than the power of love.

And it exposes a lack of faith because the opposite of faith is not doubt. Doubt is a healthy part of any faith.

The opposite of faith is control. When we stop trusting God, when we stop trusting love, we start taking control for ourselves.

Christian Nationalists want to control what we read, who we marry, where we travel, when we have children. They want to control our minds and our bodies.

"O ye of little faith."
. . .