Staff Reports
An undercover video obtained and published by Breitbart on September 17, 2026 shows James Talarico’s longtime pastor, Rev. Jim Rigby, telling an audience that people who “hate religion” but “love humanity and love nature” are “on the same team.” The footage raises the obvious question every conservative voter should ask: how can a man who leans so hard into cultural leftism call himself a Christian when his spiritual mentor openly courts atheists? This revelation is not a minor gaffe — it goes to the core of what Talarico claims to stand for.
The video shows Rigby preparing to speak at an event hosted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and another minister on camera, Rev. Babs Miller, flatly says she doesn’t have a need for a God and even calls their congregation “not a worshipping church.” These are not abstract theological debates; they are evidence that the church shaping Talarico’s worldview embraces a theological relativism that many Americans find incompatible with traditional Christianity. Voters deserve to know whether the candidate’s faith is sincere or a political brand handed to him by a denomination that disparages biblical language.
Talarico’s connection to Rigby is intimate and lifelong — Rigby baptized him, married his parents, and Talarico has repeatedly called Rigby “my pastor in every sense of the word,” making this more than an incidental association. If the man who influenced Talarico’s faith formation is preaching to atheist groups and minimizing orthodox belief, that speaks directly to Talarico’s own judgment and the values he would bring to the U.S. Senate. Conservatives are right to press for clarity: Texans should not be asked to trust a candidate whose spiritual mentor appears to reject the faith he claims.
The same undercover reporting shows the church handing out an “Inclusive Bible” that removes traditional terms like “Son of God” and substitutes gender-neutral language, an act that will alarm Christians who believe Scripture should be preserved, not rewritten to satisfy ideological preferences. This is cultural revisionism in ecclesiastical form — a deliberate reshaping of sacred texts that mirrors the same woke impulses we see across education and media. It’s no wonder hardworking Americans are suspicious when a candidate’s spiritual community treats the Bible as something to be edited for conformity with progressive fashion.
Talarico has a record of provocative statements — he once said God is “non-binary” and has described himself in ways that make traditional believers uneasy — and those remarks now sit next to video of his pastor welcoming those who hate religion. That combination is politically explosive because it undermines Talarico’s attempts to present himself as a seminary-trained, faith-rooted alternative to the Republican ticket. Patriots who cherish church and family should see this as a wake-up call: the left’s redefinition of Christianity is not abstract, it’s operating in real congregations and shaping candidates.
This story lands weeks before a Senate contest that pits Talarico against Attorney General Ken Paxton, and it will matter to voters who care about religious liberty, the authority of Scripture, and the moral character of their leaders. Conservative campaigns and grassroots activists should amplify the footage and demand that Talarico answer plainly whether he stands with his pastor’s theology or with traditional Christian teaching. Americans don’t want politics that monetize faith; they want public servants who defend the institutions that built this country — including a robust, unapologetic Christianity.
