Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico is a Presbyterian with a seminary degree (albeit from very liberal institutions), but his faith often sounds more universalist than Christian.

He sees no issue between Christianity and the LGBTQ lifestyle, even though the Bible is quite clear that such sexual deviancy is sinful and in direct opposition to God’s revealed and commanded manner of righteous living. More to the universalist point, Talarico apparently finds as much instruction about his faith from other religions as from other Christians.

A recently unearthed clip from a 2024 episode of The State of Belief podcast highlights this problem.

Talarico appeared alongside another guest, Texas state Representative Salman Bhojani, who is a Muslim. During the course of the interview, Talarico offered the following view of his Christianity: “I know personally that I’ve learned as much about my faith from Salman’s tradition, from the Islamic mystics, from poets like Rumi, as much as I have from Christian authors and Christian writers. This kind of interfaith dialogue, it doesn’t water down your tradition; in fact, it strengthens it. It brings out new flavors and new colors.”

Talarico praised Bhojani’s recent election victory as the “true fruition of multi-racial, multicultural, multi-religious democracy.” He added that it’s “a threat to those who don’t believe in a pluralistic democracy” and “those who are pushing a sectarian, exclusive Christian nationalist vision for our country.”

He went on to explain his opposition to Texas passing legislation to place the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms across the state, arguing that it was “deeply unChristian.”

An interesting question to ask of Talarico would be, “What is the gospel?” I don’t think he knows the genuine biblical answer to that question — the fundamental question upon which the entirety of Christianity is built. Maybe it’s because Talarico has been looking to other religions for apparent instruction in his own “faith.” His “Christianity” is more of a Golden Corral buffet of beliefs.

What makes this more troubling is that the Presbyterian Church has a long and storied history of developing a robust, sound, and biblically centered theology and doctrine. Presbyterians have not shied away from theologically challenging questions or arguments. And fundamental to Presbyterianism is the Reformation’s high view of Scripture. Many faithful Presbyterians and biblically committed Christians hold the doctrine of Sola Scriptura to this day.

It’s important to note that Talarico is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the large (but dwindling), mainline, increasingly left-wing denomination. Smaller Presbyterian denominations, like the Presbyterian Church in America, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and Orthodox Presbyterian Church, still adhere to Scripture.

Talarico has abandoned that Reformed view of Scripture and raised in its place the knowledge, lived experience, and intellect of man. How else can he claim to hold to “biblical Christianity” and at the same time equate explicitly anti-Christian religions, such as Islam, as informing his faith?

Biblical Christianity is exclusive in its message. The Bible teaches regarding Jesus Christ the Son of God, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” That is not a popular message to a culture that has embraced pluralism, but that is the message of Jesus as found in Scripture.

The Apostle Paul also warned against religious syncretism, writing to the Corinthian church, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?”

Christians can still share common cause with people of other religions or the nonreligious when it comes to issues outside the Church. But when it comes to biblical Christianity, there is a clear faith that is wholly and fully defined by Scripture alone.

Therefore, Talarico’s self-identified “Christianity” is anything but. Sadly, it’s a faux-Christianity that uses Christian terminology while denying the very Gospel message.