Talarico says Jesus isn’t the only way to God — Allah is another path

BS BULLETIN:

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico says Christianity, Islam and other religions are “equal pathways to truth.”
Talarico said God, Yahweh, Allah, Nirvana and the Great Spirit are different names or paths toward the same “divine mystery.”
The resurfaced remarks add another clip to the growing pile of Talarico’s unconventional Christian theology.

James Talarico has spent much of his Senate campaign talking about his Christian faith.

But his version of Christianity apparently leaves room for quite a few alternate routes.

In a resurfaced video gaining attention Monday night, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee explained that he does not believe Christianity has an exclusive claim on religious truth.

“I find that they’re all kind of equal pathways to truth,” Talarico said while discussing the world’s religions.

He described the world’s faith traditions as forming a circle around what he called the “divine mystery of the universe,” with different religions approaching that mystery from different directions.

Talarico then got specific.

“Whether it’s God or Yahweh or Allah or Nirvana, the Great Spirit, whatever you call it,” he said, they represent different paths toward the same fundamental truth.

That puts Talarico at odds with the traditional Christian teaching that salvation comes through Jesus Christ — including Christ’s declaration in John 14:6 that no one comes to the Father except through him.

The clip isn’t Talarico’s first excursion into decidedly unconventional Christian theology.

In a 2021 Texas House invocation, Talarico invoked several religious traditions, including the Torah, Quran and Gita, before praying to God “in all your many names.”

And this isn’t the first time these particular views have surfaced. Fox News reported earlier this year that Talarico said Jesus reveals divine reality to Christians while Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism reveal that reality in other ways.

The latest clip arrives as years of Talarico’s interviews and speeches are being excavated during his U.S. Senate campaign.

The Daily BS has already covered remarks in which Talarico described himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity,” said straight white men have “blinders,” and discussed his belief that God cannot be confined by human gender categories.

Now voters can add one more theological position to the collection: Jesus is a path. Just not the only one.

MY QUICK TAKE:

James Talarico certainly has an interesting campaign strategy for a Christian running statewide in Texas.

Keep explaining why practically everything Christians have traditionally believed needs a rewrite.

I’m old-fashioned enough to think that if you’re going to make Christianity a centerpiece of your political identity, “Jesus is one of several equally good options” might raise a question or two.

Especially in Texas.