'Progressive Christianity' is neither

 There are, in this fallen world, many mutually contradictory terms, things like “jumbo shrimp,” “trans women,” “pregnant men” and above all, “progressive Christianity.” That’s not to suggest that political progressives can’t have at least a semblance of Christian faith, only that their secular, political faith inevitably tends to overrule Christianity, which is why many of our mainline denominations are split asunder. One side insists that God, and His Word, are eternal, everlasting, unchanging. The other side doesn’t. After all, if the Constitution is a “living” document, changeable—or ignored—at the whim of Democrats, why not God?

That’s a question little asked in Texas, among America’s reddest states, where one James Talarico, a former middle school English teacher and Democrat state representative is the Texas Democrat Party’s nominee for the US Senate. He’ll run against either current US Senator John Cornyn whose RICO moves have Texans wary of reelecting him or current Texas AG Ken Paxton. Talarico is in the race because he’s currently a seminary student and Democrats apparently think his “progressive Christianity” might attract the Christian Texas vote.

Talarico is affiliated with the PCUSA, a “liberal Presbyterian denomination,” the “liberal” part being something of an understatement. Suffice it to say for such people, Democrat social policy takes precedence over God’s word, historical fact and common sense, like this:  

Graphic: X Post

Talarico himself anticipates he might have a tough time with Christians who annoyingly insist on taking God at His Word about His Word:

I’ll note only that most Christians would likely take exception to Talarico’s opinion on the Ten Commandments and their supposed lack of “historical basis in American history.” They’re certainly taking exception to his assertions about the “non-binary God” and multiple genders. Though he may have some Biblical backup in Genesis 1:27:  

So God created man in his own non-binary image, in the image of a non-binary God created he him; male and female created he them and multiple other genders to be later announced by a minor Texas political candidate.

OK, OK, so maybe I’m taking a bit of the poetic, political license people like Talarico take in ignoring or misinterpreting the Scriptures. Here are God’s actual words (King James Version):

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

As one might imagine, that didn’t set so well with Texans, but Talarico doubled down on stupid:  

Well, I understand that that comment is a little provocative. I said it on the House floor when the extremists in the Republican legislature were picking on school kids who were different. But I don't think it's controversial theologically. Most Christians would acknowledge that God is beyond gender. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, said that in Christ there is neither male nor female.

And so if someone's got a problem with that statement, they shouldn't take it up with me; they should take it up with the Apostle Paul.

Theology teaches God is beyond our understanding, transcending the two—only two--genders He created. To try to define God is to limit him to what man can imagine and comprehend. Trying to define God with contemporary, woke, Democrat ideology is blasphemy, a term Talarico would surely find quaint and inapplicable to his progressive faith. I’m sure Talarico is like many Democrats: often wrong, but never in doubt.

Talarico is also taking Paul badly out of context. In Galatians 3:28 Paul makes the point that nothing, not gender, not nationality, nothing else keeps us from being one in Jesus, from uniting us with Him, not that God is a 2026 Democrat.

One would think a seminary student would know that, and/or his teachers would correct him on so fundamental a misunderstanding, but perhaps not in the seminary he’s attending. One can be certain a great many Texans lacking Talarico’s apparent theological education will be happy to correct him, some perhaps a bit more fervently than others. And for their pains, they will surely be labeled “Christian Nationalists,” which is a bit of Democrat wordsmithing for “Normal Americans/Republicans we hate.”

One can search far and wide without finding any Christian who identifies as a “Christian Nationalist” or who might know one. Few, if any Christians know what one of those might be. They tend not to say things like they’re more religious than others and wisely understand that people who feel compelled to announce their piety tend to have little. The same applies to Christians who imagine God as “non-binary” in the contemporary woke sense, or who think the Ten Commandments have no place in Christianity or Judaism and no place in American history, to say nothing of the idea that displaying the Commandments, handed down to Moses on stone tablets writ by the hand of God, causes “violence” to either faith.

Talarico is Democrat’s idea of what might appeal to Christians, or at least what might fool them long enough to get him elected. Thank God.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor. 

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/04/progressive_christianity_is_neither.html