James Talarico is a Texas legislator who is studying to be a minister.
He gave this speech recently in response to the claims of Christian nationalists. It has received more than 500,000 views.
The clip is from Instagram. I hope you can open it.
I loved it. I hope you do too. You don’t have to be religious to applaud his message.
If you want to be inspired more by this remarkable man, watch this. James Talarico explains that there is nothing Christian about Christian nationalism.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you, Diane!
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Christian Nationalism is the modern equivalent of the relationship between Rome and Medieval Europe. Will we see Trump waiting outside some mega church in the snow? Henry did at Canossa
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Yeah, that’s gonna happen. Not.
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”Perhaps he should change from being a Baptist.” A friend who was raised Baptist. As a matter of fact, the fastest growing group in the US is the group of people who do not attend church. Christianity is in dramatic decline, and this coincides with the influence of Jerry Falwell and the “moral majority” back in the early 80s. Want to ruin Christianity? Knock down the wall between church and state. Is Putin doing this deliberately? Are Christian Nationalists actually working for Putin? Or is he just taking advantage of a natural tendency in humans?
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Is Putin in the room with us right now?
I mean, you all do know that Putin in Russian Orthodox, right? No relation to American evangelical xtian nationalism.
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Was Putin Orthodox when he was KGB? I no more consider his claim in Christianity to be any more legitimate than that of many modern pretenders in this country. As Jesus said, “not everyone who says Lord, lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.
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Putin is a KGB agent to his core. He commits mass murders and assassinations like other people blow their nose.
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The point is that American xtian nationalism has nothing to do with Putin. That’s purely home grown.
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You are right. Two different strains of fascism.
Our Christian nationalists threaten to kill people.
Putin fascists actually kill them.
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You do understand that the U.S. has a much, much higher body count than Russia does in the time since Putin has been in charge, right?
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The naivete of this statement if breathtaking.
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is breathtaking
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Nice try. “Citizens United v. F.E.C.” and unlimited dark PAC money is a electromagnet for attracting malign foreign influence. There is nothing “purely home grown” at the confluence of right-wing Xian nationalism, politics and well-established global Kremlin interference efforts.
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“Christianity is in dramatic decline. . . “
Thank god!
Don’t know which one.
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Which Christianity, or which god?
The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew: Ehrman, Bart D.: 9780195141832: Amazon.com: Books
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Either one will do but I meant the latter.
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It is how interesting that Trump and his minions who claimed to be Christian are fixing to deport thousands of people who came to the United States, “Home of the Free”, to make a better life for themselves and their families. I guess it is very Christian to sent people back to places that are very dangerous, the gangs run the country, to no jobs, no place to live, and no hope for the future. That is not the Christianity I have the lead to understand but maybe I have been wrong all these 81 years.
I note that all those “Christian” evangelists are not jumping to do anything to stop Trump with his mass deportations. I guess it is not important for this Protestant and Catholic “Christians” to actually demonstrate their “Christian” morals and ethics.
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A fairly good guide in life is to treat others as you would like to be treated regardless of religious affiliation. If more people actually tried to emulate the teachings of Jesus, we would have a more compassionate, empathetic and tolerant society instead of vulture capitalism and scapegoating, which are destructive tools of Christian Nationalism.
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AND JESUS SAID: “Many of you will say to Me on Judgment Day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name drive out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly: ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you evildoers’!” MATTHEW 7: 21-23.
JESUS IS WARNING YOU in Matthew 7:21-23 that reciting the Ten Commandments, prophesying, and even performing miracles IS NOT ENOUGH — we have to actually DO (JAMES 2:26) what Jesus says, such as feed the poor and love those who hate you…many people who think that they are followers of Jesus are going to get one Hell of a surprise on Judgment Day, like those in Matthew 7:21-23 got…don’t be among them: Practice what Jesus preached.
Here is what Jesus — The Most Woke One of All — preached, and what we each must DO to enter heaven:
MATTHEW 25: 41-46 — Then He will say to those on His left: “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.”
Then they will ask Him: “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?”
And He will tell them: “Truly I say to you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these people, you did not do for Me.”
Then they will go away into eternal punishment.
ACTS 2:44-45 — And all those who believed in the teachings of Jesus were together and shared all things in common, selling their properties and possessions and giving the proceeds to anyone in need.
MATTHEW 6:4-8 — And Jesus said: “When you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites who stand and pray in the synagogues and in public so that they are seen by others. Truly, I tell you that they have already received any reward they are going to get for such praying. Instead, when you pray, go into your private room, shut the door, and pray in secret to your Father.” You don’t need to pray in a megachurch…all you need is a private room and a door to shut.
LUKE 10:27-37 — And Jesus said: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Then he made clear who your neighbor is by telling the Parable of the Good Samaritan: The Jews despised the Samaritans, viewing the Samaritans as traitors to Judaism. Yet, in His parable, Jesus says that Samaritans — everyone we dislike — are to be loved in the same way that a Christian loves him/herself, regardless of race, religion, gender, or politics.
Read again the above “woke” teachings of Jesus and then meditate on them, for right now is the moment to think about how you will be judged on your personal Judgment Day because you don’t know the day or the hour (MATTHEW 25:13). Change your ways right now — while you still can.
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And Matthew 5 suggests we should have love for our enemies. Not those other words for love, but agape, love so radical and sacrificial that we would be willing to die for our enemies. This is a tough commandment.
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Thank you for saving me the trouble of writing this.
Amen
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Christian Nationalism is the new name for the Ku Klux Klan.
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Give that man a Kewpie doll.
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i know a lot of people on here are not religious. But THIS is what religion should be and what I aspire to every day.
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Diane, thanks for introducing us to James Talarico.
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I didn’t see a teleprompter or a script. Impressive.
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Your OTC (Old Testament Christian) doen’t give a fig about that pinko bearded hippie dude and you can look it up in all their favorite bible quitstions.
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edit: quotations
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I’ll be hoping Democrats fail to turn the other cheek, personally. We will need to live by the filibuster. Thankful prayers we didn’t ditch the filibuster when we had the chance. It’s all there is left.
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LCT, exactly right. Without the filibuster, the GOP would approve all Trump’s crackpot nominees.
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I wouldn’t trust the Dims to do the right thing and use the filibuster. Ya know ya got to get along so that the masters can continue to rape the earth and its denizens.
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It’s far more likely the Republicans will simply scrap the filibuster.
Or maybe just disband Congress since Americans have voted to make Trump an authoritarian leader.
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“James Talarico is a Texas legislator who is studying to be a minister.”
My condolences to him. . .
Why anyone would choose a path of ignorance, perhaps better said described as stupidity, that is religious faith beliefs especially Abrahamic ones is beyond me.
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