Evangelist and Samaritan’s Purse CEO
Franklin Graham joined a chorus of Christians who pushed back against U.S.
Senate candidate and Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico for recently
claiming “the Bible is silent” on the morality of abortion.
Talarico, who will be facing off against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s U.S. Senate race this November, went viral earlier this week for claiming during an interview with podcaster and former L’Oréal CEO Jamie Kern Lima that his Christian faith leads him to believe the government should stay out of legislating against abortion.
“I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their family members, their doctors, their faith leaders. I don’t believe that’s a place for government. I don’t believe it’s a place for politicians. I don’t believe it’s a place for the state. And that’s a belief I hold not despite my faith, but because of my faith,” said Talarico, who has studied at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA).
“Jesus never talks about abortion. The Bible is silent on abortion. And when that happens with a social issue as important as abortion, we Christians have to take Scripture as a whole. And we’ve got to try to make some kind of ethical determination,” he continued, adding that Texas’ abortion ban prohibits victims of rape and incest from getting an abortion.
Graham was among the many who responded by rebuking Talarico’s assertion that the Bible has nothing to say on the issue of killing the unborn. “Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico couldn’t be more wrong! The Bible is not silent on abortion as he claims — that’s an absolute lie. God commands us, ‘You shall not murder’ (Exodus 20:13). Abortion is taking a life — it is murder,” he wrote in a Wednesday social media post. “The Word of God tells us we are created in the image of God and consistently underscores the value of human life. Jeremiah 1:5 says, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...’ In 2021, this same Democratic candidate opposed a bill to ban men from women’s sports, saying that ‘God is non-binary.’ Don’t be deceived by wicked politicians spouting lies like this,” Graham added.
Other Christians echoed Graham’s take, including Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life of America, who accused Talarico of trying “to hide behind Jesus to defend abortion.”
“‘The Bible is silent,’ he says. Yeah, that’s not how this works. The Bible is explicit. God didn’t stutter when He commanded us not to kill innocent humans. Scripture makes it completely clear how He feels about preborn babies, explicitly stating that He knit us together in the womb and knew us before we were even born,” Hawkins wrote. “The spiritual gaslighting here is unreal. You can twist the words all you want, but the Bible isn’t silent about killing innocent humans who are all created in the image of God. And, [Talarico], you will be held responsible for this perversion of the Gospel,” she continued, adding that Jesus offered an especially severe warning against those who sin against children.
Broadcaster Glenn Beck, who is a Mormon and not a Christian, laughed at Talarico’s implication that Jesus had no opinion on abortion and warned the lawmaker is “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” in a Wednesday X post.
In the accompanying video from his show, Beck cited multiple Bible verses that suggest an unborn baby is a human being, while noting that sexual immorality and child sacrifice were presented as the evil rites of Baal worship that God detested in the Old Testament.
Beck also warned Texas Republicans against dismissing Talarico and his political potential in a Democratic Party he claimed has become “radical” and wants to flip the populous state. “I won’t be surprised if the Democrats turn his campaign into Beto-level funding on steroids. The Democrats know the stakes in Texas. And now, they have to convince Texans that a radical leftist who believes abortion is Christian is a moderate. Texans CANNOT relax after Paxton’s victory. Stand up. Get out there and vote. We CANNOT let Texas flip into the hands of radicals,” he said.
Since winning the Democratic U.S. Senate
primary in March against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Talarico has drawn
intense scrutiny for his liberal theological assertions, which he has
repeatedly defended by claiming Jesus is not on record explicitly prohibiting
certain behaviors such as abortion or homosexuality.
Robert Gagnon, who serves as visiting scholar at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Ridgeland, Mississippi, dismissed such a tactic as “juvenile hermeneutics” in a lengthy X post in March. He noted that “the Bible doesn’t mention every issue in society,” but that its position on issues such as abortion can easily be inferred from both Testaments and the unified witness of early Christian texts.
Christian satire site The Babylon Bee mocked Talarico’s hermeneutical approach with a Wednesday headline that read: “‘Jesus Never Said You Can’t Do This!’ Shouts James Talarico While Dropkicking Labradoodle.”
Graham’s mention of Talarico claiming God is non-binary was a reference to a speech Talarico delivered in 2021 on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives in opposition to a state bill requiring students to play on sports teams that align with their biology.
Talarico claimed the law would drive trans-identifying children to suicide before asserting that “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between; God is non-binary,” which some have pointed out is a Gnostic concept.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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