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Foreign. It's Tuesday, June 2, 2026. I'm Albert Mohler, and this is the Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview. Well, as you know already, we are headed into a very interesting political season, and that is because increasingly the primaries are over. The election ballot is taking shape in most states. We still have a few to go. But right now I want us to think about the fact that there are huge worldview issues very much at stake as we head into the midterm elections. And of course, the big story in the elections is that the midterm elections are setting the stage in 2026 for the next general election in 2028. So a lot of political energy, giant political issues, all of that is before us. Let's talk about Texas. Let's talk about the senatorial race in Texas because it is going to be one of the most interesting and informative races we could consider. Now just remember that it has only been in recent days that the full ballot there, both sides have been clearly defined. And that is because on the democr, it has been clear ever since the original primary. And it is clear that it's James Tallarico, a state legislator, that is going to carry the Democratic banner and is going to be facing off against what we now know, who we now know to be the Republican nominee, and that is Attorney General Ken Paxton. And of course, in order to get there, you had to have a runoff between the attorney general and the incumbent, US Senator John Cornyn, who has served four full terms in the United States Senate, been a very respected figure, worked his way into the Senate leadership. Texas Republican voters said they wanted a new direction. And so they said no to John Cornyn, they said yes to Ken Paxton. And we are off to the races watching what is going on there in Texas. Now, just remember, Texas is such an important state. It's an important state, first of all, in terms of national politics and national population. It's important because of the size of its population, the size of its economy, the size of its cultural influence. All that's true. It is also a laboratory in and of itself. It's a laboratory of politics, a laboratory of a clash of worldviews. It comes with a lot of history and a lot of Texas momentum. And as they say, everything in Texas is big. And so the drama in this case is big. All right, now we will be talking about the Republican candidate, Ken Paxton, the attorney general, but we right now need to talk about the Democratic candidate because the Democratic side has been fixed for a lot longer than the Republican side. The Republican primary required a runoff. The Democratic primary did not. James Talarico has had the Democratic prize, which is this nomination for the United States Senate now for a matter of weeks. And the national media been holding off because after all, he has basically been the answer to a question. Until the general election, the open question was on the Republican side, but now that that side is now answered. Wow. We are looking at one of the most interesting and important races in the recent history of the United States Senate. But today, I want us to look at James Tallarico because he's making big headlines. And I want us to look at how these headlines are being made and why. And I want us to understand that all of a sudden, big theological issues are very much a part of of a campaign with nationwide consequences. So let's take a look. For example, two recent periodicals of a national stature have given a lot of attention to James Talarico's particular, well, as the New York Times says, quote, kind of Christianity. Ruth Graham and J. David Goodman for the New York Times asked the question, are Texans ready for Talarico's kind of Christianity? Well, that's an interesting question that tells you there's a big story here for Christians. Yes, there is. A very big, big story indeed. Elizabeth Brunig of the Atlantic ran an article stating simply, texans will decide if Jesus was a lefty. End quote. Now, how is that for getting to the point? Texans will decide, meaning this senatorial election, if Jesus was a lefty. Here's how Elizabeth Bruining sets the stage for the issue. What has made his meaning, Tal Rico's candidacy so controversial is what he says about God. An avowed progressive, Talrico argues that the country's powerful Christian conservatives have distorted the lessons of their faith. The words of Jesus, he insists, endorse policies the left embraces in deep red. Evangelical Texas. Does his brand of Christian politics have a chance now? What would his brand look like? Well, Elizabeth Bruinig there at the Atlantic explains, in a 2021 debate on transgender issues in the Texas House of Representatives, Talarico said, God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non binary. So here you have a state legisl who is also a Presbyterian seminary student. We will make clear who is making the argument that God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non binary. Now just remember how loaded that language is. He knows what he's saying. In a 2025 conversation with Joe Rogan. And again, Elizabeth Bruinig at the Atlantic is Telling us this quote, Talarico argued that, quote, this idea that there is a set Christian orthodoxy on the issue of abortion is just not rooted in. In Scripture. She then continues explaining, and then she says in parentheses, somewhat confusingly, that because God sought Mary's consent before the conception of Jesus, Christians ought to conclude that creation requires permission and therefore that women should have access to legal abortion. Well, if you look at the text, that's not exactly. Let's just say what it says, and that's certainly not what the scripture is teaching here. But here you have a very interesting phenomenon. Let's just face it. A very interesting phenomenon. We are talking about the words of Jes. We're talking about in the New Testament, we're talking about biblical Christianity, and we're talking about how that factors into the controversy over James Talrico, the Democratic nominee for the US Senate there in the state of Texas. Okay, so I mentioned the article in the New York Times by Ruth Graham and J. David Goodman. The headline asked the question, are Texans Ready for Talarico's Kind of Christianity? Let me just point out that's a very unique cultural development in and of itself, because you don't normally see that kind of question asked about, let's just say, the average, if you could put it that way, the average senatorial candidate. But in this case, there is a big story here, and I think Ruth Graham and David Goodman have done a good job, actually, of setting out the issues in terms of James Tallarico. They begin by talking about his pastor. His pastor is Jim Rigby. He's been pastor at this church, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, for decades, as the paper says, since the 1980s. And the article begins, quote, jim Rigby, a pastor who rarely uses the word God, is a key to understanding the Senate candidate trying to pull off something unusual in Texas. I want to give this duo of reporters at the New York Times credit. I think that's an excellent way to get into the article because it really does set the stage. We're talking about the pastor here who rarely uses the word God. And by the way, that's out of theological intentionality because he's so far on the theological left. Okay, listen to this. On a recent Sunday morning at St. Andrews Presbyterian in Austin, Texas, Jim Rigby asked his congregation to share what came to mind when he mentioned the Apostle Paul, the major Christian figure to whom 13 books in the New Testament are attributed. They cheerfully replied, villain, homophobic. He's a jerk. Okay, so that is what the pastor of this church is inviting. This is the church in which James Talarico grew up and has been formed by. And he mentions this. And when you talk about James Tallarico, he's been so highly identified with this church and even with the influence of this pastor. That's not to say it wouldn't be fair to say they agree on everything. It is certainly true to say they have shared fellowship very, very eagerly in the context of this church. And James Talarico has been very keen to point to the pastor, Jim Rigby, as a formative influence in his life. He said about this pastor, quote, he's my pastor in every sense of the word. He went on to say, not that we agree on everything. Well, let me just state we're not talking here about some kind of minor theological disagreement between liberal and conservative Christians. We are talking about two different religions. That is the point that was made emphatically just about exactly a Century ago in 1925, by James Gresham Machen. Jay Gresham Machen was one of the most important figures in American Christianity, and he defined in his book Christianity and Liberalism, the that when you talk about liberal Christianity and conservative Christianity, you're not talking about two different variants of Christianity. He was absolutely right that liberal Christianity is a different religion. And just to make the point in a way that I don't think would have been so readily accessible to Gresham Machen a century ago, when it comes to Jim Rigby, the pastor of this church in Austin, as the article in the New York Times begins, he rarely even uses the word God. The New York Times article gets back to the pastor saying, quote, Mr. Rigby's theology and his rhetoric reflect what would be heard at many mainline and progressive Christian churches across the country. But in Texas, where conservative evangelicalism looms large, they are rarely visible on platforms like the one Mr. Tallerico now occupies. Next paragraph, quote Mr. Rigby, that's the pastor here, does not use male pronouns for God, for example, because it is a kind of violence, as his word put in quotation marks, to imply to a girl that her brother is more like God than she is. He said in an interview after the service he does not use the word Lord because it conjures a wealthy European male God, he said. For that matter, he added, he doesn't much care for the word God. He uses it on occasion, but he tries to use synonyms because it's going to mean something different to everybody. Now, let me just state from a conservative Christian perspective, from a classical Christian perspective, that isn't even Christian discourse. We're talking about someone who's moved so far to the theological left. I mean, the theological liberals, after all, were very keen to talk about Jesus Christ, very keen to talk about God, very keen to use the language of orthodox Christianity and then to fill it with unorthodox content. In this case, you have a pastor who's ditched the content, but now, quite honestly, I guess, and candidly says he's ready to ditch the language as well. Uncomfortable even with the word God. In the sermon that is mentioned here in this article, we are told he had referred to the creative impulse of the universe, which can be called God, but doesn't have to be called God. End quote. Wow. Okay. So we are seeing a progression, which is exactly what happens. And this is the big issue when it comes to theological liberalism. Theological liberalism is a rejection of the orthodox standards of the Christian faith, and it is a rejection of the notion of biblical authority and the biblical shape of Christianity in terms of the actual truth claims made in the New Testament. You could say in the Bible as a whole, but particularly, you see the animus. And that was very clear even in the opening part of this article. You see an animus towards the New Testament and an animus in particular towards the Apostle Paul. But when it comes to Talarico, he tries to be evasive. Here's what he says. I don't believe in a progressive or conservative Christianity. I believe in a biblical Christianity. My faith is rooted in Scripture and in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Well, again, that is a move very similar to the liberals of the early 20th century. And of course, they were repudiating Christianity. And now we can see in terms of the pastor of this church where that leads. And I would say inevitably. And by the way, if you were to go back to those original theological liberals, they called themselves sometimes modernists in the early 20th century. They were adamant about the necessity of perpetuating Christian morality, for example, a Christian understanding, a biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality, and all the rest of. Over the course of the last several decades, mainline Protestantism has ditched all of that. And of course, it turns out that this pastor, Jim Rigby, was very much a part of that. Within the PC usa, the Presbyterian Church usa, which is the liberal Presbyterian denomination, or at least the largest of them, which is decreasingly large. There are a lot of conservatives there in Texas who have been very much onto, very much aware of what James Talarico is all about. One of the most amazing things is that Talrico has actually wandered or waded into some territory. And he said some things which are very much on the record and, well, you can look at them. Some of them are now posted on social media in which he says the most incredibly liberal things. And I don't mean just liberal as compared to conservative. I mean liberal in terms of basically repudiating Christian truth. And this is what becomes very, very clear. I mentioned the podcast he had done with Joe Rogan and the New York Times, to its credit, gets to the fact that in that interview last year, Mr. Talarico framed the New Testament account of an angel visiting Jesus mother before her pregnancy as a story that points to a biblical basis for abortion rights. Talarico said this, quote, the angel comes down and asks Mary if this is something she wants to do. And she says, if it's God's will, let it be done. Talarico then said quote, to me, that is an affirmation and one of our most central stories, that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create. Okay, that's an absolutely astounding statement. You just think about how he's turned this now into support for abortion. This incredibly precious text in which the angel announces to Mary that she has been chosen. And Mary says, do it unto me. And of course, what you have here is her affirmation, but it's not like a multiple choice question was given to her and she just chose the right thing. And as a model of a woman choosing whether or not she's going to give birth to her living child, this is just an astounding, astounding parallel. Tells you, by the way, a lot about how theological liberals think. And when it comes to the pastor who again had so much influence on James Talarico, Jim Rigby, he said to the New York Times that he had preached on that passage in the past. He wasn't bothered by the fact that in the text the angel does not in fact ask Mary if she accepts the pregnancy as Mr. Tallrico framed it, but rather he tells her it will happen. In other words, I'll just say that Pastor Rigby here is a bit more honest about what the text actually says than James Talarico. But then the pastor comes back to say, it doesn't matter. It's mythological, not historical. So let's get the language right, just in terms of the literature as it stands. But it has nothing to do with reality because it's all mythological anyway. Now let me just state one obvious fact, and that is that I think the vast majority of people in Texas do not understand The Bible in those terms. I think that's fair to say. And by that I do not mean that they are all faithful evangelical or orthodox Christians in terms of historical theological orthodoxy. I just mean I think even intuitively they know better than what they're hearing here. And I think over and over, what you're going to have is an eye opening experience that this candidate is really way, way out there. On trans issues, of course, on the sexuality issues, on all kinds of issues, and in particular in what theologians call theology proper, that is to say, the doctrine of God. We're talking about someone who is way outside, let's just say, light years outside biblical orthodoxy. And he following a pattern that was very clear in terms of the original theological liberals in the 20th century. In terms of modern liberalism, they claimed to be following the words of Jesus even as they repudiated orthodox Christianity. That's explicitly what James Talarico does. But let me just come back. I want to zero in on something, and that's the language issue here and worship and that whole theological context, because I thought of something. The pcusa, the Presbyterian Church usa, is a mainline Protestant denomination. It is liberal Presbyterianism, and it has been on a path of moving into further and further affirmation of LGBTQ lifestyles and all the rest. Basically, it's there in entirety now. So, I mean, just about all the demands made by the LGBTQ movement, They're all in. They're all in. It is interesting that in a modern book of worship, which is the official statement of the PCUSA known as its Book of Common Worship, published in 1993, it is interesting that you still have some traditional language. For example, the very first prayer in this book of worship is eternal God. You have called us to be members of one body. Join us with those who in all times and all places have praised your name. That with one heart in mind, we may show the unity of your church and bring honor to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. So that's the very first prayer. You will notice that that's the kind of language that these two Presbyterians are really trying to avoid. In particular, Jim Rigby, the pastor of this church. He hesitates even to use the word God. And so we really are talking about a radical chasm between this theological position and biblical Christianity. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in Texas. And quite honestly, there's another angle here the national media is really not catching. When it comes to James Tallarica, who's a seminarian. He's a student at Austin Presbyterian Seminary there in Austin, Texas. He's a very photogenic package. In other words, here you have a young man and he's very well spoken, he's clearly intelligent, he's able to speak to these issues. And yet you need to understand basically how unrepresentative he is, even of the kind of religious movement that he's very much a part of. And so increasingly what you have is the feminization of the clergy in these churches and you have more and more men moving out. And that's especially true when it comes to younger portions of the population, as even the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and others have pointed out. This is a denomination that is aging really, really fast. It's having a hard time pulling in younger people. And I think given its theological liberalism, we can understand why. But it is also the fact that James Tallrico, who just has a picture of him, just imagine a photograph of him, he might have been typical of the PC USA, say 50 years ago. He's atypical now. One of the most interesting dimensions in all of this is that Talrico, because he is so young, has basically forged his political identity with social media and other digital media. Very much a part of the story from the beginning. And so, so much of what he has said is now publicly accessible. He said it, you know, it's out there. And the reality is we just skim the surface of some of the very radical things he has said. And it's also true that that stuff is out there and others are observing it. Ali Bastucky, who of course is an extremely well known podcaster and figure among conservative evangelicals, and she's based there in Texas. She wrote in the Daily Wire that James Talarico is quite a progressive culture warrior in lockstep with the secular world. She went on to say he's uninterested in foundational Christian principles like sin, repentance or salvation. Well, I think that's just abundantly true. I think Ali Bestucky is just absolutely right. That's what we're looking at here. And there is so evidence. There's no way he can run from it. What he has going for him is that he looks like a kid. Produced by Protestant Sunday School. He does look like that. People are going to have to pay attention to what he says and very close attention to what he believes. A statement from Turning Point USA I think is spot on when it said that Talarico uses the language of an evangelical while completely undermining the central truth claims of the Scripture, I think that's just absolutely true. And by the way, he speaks about God as non binary. And so we're even going beyond the feminist God speculation that really was very much a part of controversy and frankly the separation of liberal and conservative Protestantism into two just totally opposed groups separated by a vast cultural chasm and theological chasm. What we're looking at here is that you have in the case of this Pastor Jim Rigby, and in the case of his church member James Tallarico, you have light years beyond that and that makes this truly interesting. And so at least heading into this senatorial election in Texas, let me just tell you, we're going to be watching this. We'll come back to this. But the fact is we have the collision of worldviews here and in this case a very explicit collision of understandings of Christianity and Christian morality and what these should mean for our society. That means buckle your seatbelts. As I say, this is going to be a fascinating race and we're likely to see other things emerge on both sides. Frankly, that's the way this works in which in the context, in the crucible of this kind of head to head confrontation heading into the November election, some things are going to get clarified and we'll need to observe them as they happen. Now, before leaving the Talarico situation entirely, I want to come back as a Southern Baptist. I am president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. There are references to the Southern Baptist Convention in this New York Times article and in particular to James Talarico's grandfather, a former pastor known as Jimmy Causey, identified in the article as now being in his 80s. And we are told that having been pastor of three Baptist churches in South Texas in the late 1960s, he spent years outside of the pastorate. He said. I'm reading from the New York Times article. Mr. Causey, age 86, said he found himself on the moderate side during what critics called the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist convention in the 1970s. Although he is no longer a church pastor by then, the slow motion split introduced new political and theological tensions into the denomination. Well, I'm going to quibble with the way some of that is presented, but nonetheless that's something we all understand that's central to the Southern Baptist story. Over the course of the last, say, half century, there was a conservative movement and that conservative movement did oppose a far more liberal side. And by the way, a lot of them at the time were not as liberal as they became. And so that's also a predictable pattern. Or you might say their children and grandchildren have moved even further to the left. Now, this is the statement that is made by this retired pastor who's the grandfather of James Talarico. The conservatives believe that the Bible is dictated by God to the writers of the Bible and that every word of it was to be taken as the literal word of God. He said, I could just never swallow that line. Now, I want to say that what you have here in this statement is somewhat a distortion of the conservative, evangelical, classical Protestant affirmation of Scripture. But what's most important here is what this former pastor, the grandfather of this Senate candidate, denies. He says that the conservatives believe that every word of it, the Bible, was to be taken as the literal word of God. And then he says, I just never could swallow that lie. End quote. And I'll just say two things as an observation there. Number one, why the conservative resurgence in the SBC was absolutely necessary. That ought to be clear. And then, number two, the influence of a grandfather on a grandson, lamentably, I think, in this case, becomes very clear. Finally, for today, I want to come to my own state, the state of Kentucky, where our governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, posted yesterday on x. To our LGBTQ neighbors, we love you for being you. Happy Pride, y'. All. The post was actually coming also with some photographic support. The governor included shots of himself saying, quote, I believe it's our job to never stop standing up for what's right, especially when others are intent on spreading hate. We can't beat hate with more hate, and we can't beat cruelty with anything other than humanity. We win by lifting others up and by showing love and acceptance every day. Okay, very interesting. You'll also note that the governor said, quote, I believe all children are children of God. No exceptions, no asterisks. I made a pledge to fight for every single Kentuckian every single day. Our LGBTQ community deserves to have their rights protected. And I will always stand firm on my values of compassion, empathy, and doing what's right to protect them. And then he continued, he went on to say, quote, to my LGBTQ+ neighbors, I see you and I support you. And in Kentucky, we're going to keep building on the progress we've made to ensure every person is accepted and celebrated for who they are. Okay, so there were other things highlighted by the administration in terms of pro LGBTQ actions that were taken by Kentucky's governor. All right, so what is this about? Is this about Kentucky? The Commonwealth of Kentucky? I just Want to make very clear, yes and no. It is about the governor of this state. And I lament saying this. Just basically going sold out for the LGBTQ agenda. Just basically sold out. Using that language and all the rest. The state of Kentucky is a very red state. That's not to say there aren't blue areas. And in the city of Louisville, for example, and in other areas, to a degree, Lexington and Frankfurt, you are talking about, as you see in so many states, states like Texas, you see blue dots in red states. But this is not a statement that's going to lead to greater popularity for Andy Beshear in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Let me just put it that way. So this has to be about something else. Okay, here's a wake up call. Here's the something else. He is openly running at this point for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028. He showed up at Jim Clyburn's big event in South Carolina just days ago. He is saying things as he is speaking to this national audience of Democrats that he wasn't saying nearly so clearly or emphatically when he was running in the election for Kentucky governor. Two times, by the way, a release in the governor's office that came along with this came out, of course, touting the governor as making this kind of statement. Also recognizing the fact that he vetoed legislation that had overturned his executive orders, pro LGBTQ executive orders. Here's what one Lexington news source says, quote, while Bashir's vetoes were overridden by the General assembly, his efforts and those of his administration to protect Kentucky's LGBTQ community have received national recognition, end quote. Let me just say that makes the point he is aiming here at a national Democratic audience. This is not aimed really towards the Commonwealth of Kentucky. But in any event, we're about to find out who Andy Beshear really is. I think given these indications, we pretty much already know. We also know that he has set his sights not so much on Kentucky, but on the Democratic nomination for president. That also is going to make the coming months very, very interesting. We'll be watching it with you. Thanks for listening to the briefing. For more information, go to my website@albertmohler.com you can follow me on X or Twitter by going to x.comalbertmohler for information on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to spts.edu. for information on Boyce College, just go to Boyce College college.com I'll meet you again tomorrow for the briefing.