Texas’ Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has been accused of trivializing the deity of Jesus Christ, likening him to Buddha, Toni Morrison, Mr. Rogers and other “prophetic voices” during a past sermon at his church that's making the rounds on social media ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
The Lone Star Liberty PAC, which is working to support Talarico's opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, in the close race in Texas, released a short video clip of Talarico listing Buddha, Muhammad, Moses, Thich Nhat Hanh, the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and former TV host Fred “Mr.” Rogers as examples of other “prophetic voices” he thought were on equal footing with Christianity.
The clip of Talarico, posted on X Sunday, is among several others released by the PAC, which describes its mission as “exposing extreme liberal James Talarico as too weak & weird for Texas,” and elicited numerous responses. Some commenters posted Bible verses such as 2 Corinthians 11:13-14 and Revelation 12:9, while others reflected on how Mr. Rogers might respond, saying, "Fred Rogers was a true Christian and an ordained Presbyterian Minister.
He was the farthest thing from James Talarico." Talarico’s comments about prophetic voices were made during a September 2019 sermon at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Austin, Texas. He prefaced his list by insisting that “Christianity, like all religions, is trying to help us understand what it means to be human.” “Christianity is the tradition in which I was raised. It’s the vocabulary I know.
Jesus is the prophetic voice in my own life,” he added. In addition to listing famous religious leaders and other public figures, Talarico suggested that prophetic voices could include “your hometown pastor, your third-grade teacher, your parent.”