Texas state consultant and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s marketing campaign responded after a resurfaced video of his feedback on the Bible and training sparked outrage.
A clip resurfaced this week of Talarico, a Christian seminarian, talking in a video hosted by the Middle for American Progress Motion Fund in 2025. Within the clip, the host requested Talarico about his legislative battles with “Christian Nationalists,” which means individuals who take into account America to be an inherently Christian nation.
The portion that went viral just lately when Talarico blasted the “most insidious” laws he fought to cease whereas serving in Texas authorities, claiming one invoice required faculties within the state to educate Bible tales as historic reality. He argued that this amounted to pushing “propaganda” on kids and was not simply dangerous for state faculties, however for society general.
“It was a brand new state curriculum that will educate Christian Bible tales as historic reality, as the one fact to our youngest college students, and I imply kindergarten, first graders,” he stated. “These are youngsters who aren’t in a position to assume for themselves but. They haven’t shaped their very own worldviews.”
He additional warned that the alleged effort to “push propaganda, to push indoctrination on these youngest college students is deeply immoral and may hassle all of us.”
Sen. Ted Cruz. R-Texas, retweeted the clip, asking a quick, “Um, wut?” alongside quite a few different commentators.
“The declare made by Consultant Talarico is deceptive,” Mary Elizabeth Fortress, director of presidency relations for Texas Values advised Fox Information Digital. “The curriculum he was referring to within the video from 2025 is the Bluebonnet curriculum, which was an English Language Arts curriculum adopted within the winter of 2024 that helped college students perceive the copious quantities of Bible references made in historic speeches and customary tales like Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.”
“The references to the Bible within the Bluebonnet curriculum assist college students perceive the 1000’s of on a regular basis idioms that individuals use each day which have some context to Scripture,” she continued.
“The Bluebonnet curriculum was defended by prime non secular liberty legislation companies like First Liberty Institute and excessive elected officers like Dr. Ben Carson,” Fortress added. “The aim of the biblical references was to enhance studying scores and studying comprehension amongst college students. Nearly all of Texas mother and father and stakeholders testified in favor of the curriculum, which handed on the State Board of Schooling. A really small variety of individuals would agree with Mr. Talarico’s sentiment and numerous faculty districts have bought this curriculum.”
First Liberty govt basic counsel Hiram Sasser advised Fox Information Digital, “Courts throughout the nation have decided that the Bible has had profound affect on Western tradition and is a crucial piece of literature and historical past. No training is full with out understanding the Bible and its affect, as even the ACLU acknowledges. What’s loopy is that Talarico is to the Left of the ACLU, which agreed in a court docket settlement with us that the Bible could also be taught in Texas faculties.”
“Democrats have a humorous means of defining ‘indoctrination.’ Once they do it, it’s ‘inclusion.’ When it opposes their ideology, it’s thought of government-imposed cruelty,” Tim Graham, the manager editor of Media Analysis Middle’s NewsBusters, advised Fox Information Digital. “Talarico has clearly and repeatedly recognized himself as a pusher of leftist gender ideology, which stands in dramatic contradiction to biblical educating. So it’s not stunning he doesn’t need anyone discussing the Bible within the classroom.”
A spokesperson for Talarico’s marketing campaign advised Fox Information Digital, “James is a Christian seminarian who’s devoted his life to the teachings of Jesus Christ — preventing non secular and political corruption when he sees it as a result of there’s nothing Christ-like about highly effective individuals utilizing scripture to attain political factors. Whereas billionaire-bought politicians like Ken Paxton assault James for his religion — he’ll proceed encouraging Texans throughout the political spectrum to come back collectively by loving their neighbors as themselves.”
In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Talarico shared his private views on the significance of the separation of church and state, whilst a Christian seminarian.
“As a Christian, I feel my concern is for the Muslim child and the Jewish child, the Hindu child, the atheist child who’s sitting in a classroom who now has a poster on the wall compelled by the federal government that claims, you recognize, your faith is inferior, otherwise you’re not welcome right here,” he had stated. “And I simply assume if Jesus noticed that, he would weep for these college students and would demand that we love them as ourselves. And in order that’s why I form of spoke out in opposition to the invoice on theological grounds, not simply constitutional grounds.”
Talarico’s marketing campaign has additionally drawn criticism over his help for elevating kids as transgender, although he has drawn a line relating to procedures comparable to gender reassignment surgical procedures for minors, a coverage he explicitly opposed in a June interview.
