The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Undercover video exposes the unusual Bible handed out at James Talarico’s longtime church

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BS BULLETIN:

  • Undercover footage shows the longtime pastor and spiritual mentor of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico discussing an “Inclusive Bible” his church gives to new members.
  • The translation removes or replaces traditional terms including “Lord,” “Father” and “Son of God” in an effort to avoid language its translators consider sexist or classist.
  • A second video released Friday shows pastor Jim Rigby saying people who “hate religion” can still be on his “same team.”

The church that helped shape James Talarico’s religious and political worldview has a very different Bible waiting for new members.

Undercover footage released Thursday shows Rev. Jim Rigby, the longtime pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, discussing the church’s use of “The Inclusive Bible” — a translation specifically designed to remove traditional gendered language from Scripture.

Rigby isn’t some pastor who happens to attend the same political events as Talarico.

Talarico has attended St. Andrew’s since childhood. Rigby baptized him, officiated his parents’ wedding and delivered the invocation when Talarico was sworn into the Texas House.

Talarico has called Rigby one of the biggest influences on him “as a Christian, as a human being.”

And apparently new members at Rigby’s church sometimes leave with a particular version of Scripture.

“We typically give people a copy of the Inclusive Bible when they join,” Rigby tells an undercover journalist in footage obtained by the Daily Caller.

Rigby said the translation is “good on the gender stuff,” although he was less enthusiastic about other portions of it.

“The more, like, metaphysical stuff, it’s not a very good translation,” Rigby said.

Then came this: “I think it’s really important to have a good translation so you can let go of the stupid stuff.”

The footage also shows the church actually presenting the Inclusive Bible to a new member during a service.

One woman describes it as “the Bible that we use at this church” and explains that it was rewritten to use inclusive language rather than what she called the “gender-fueled language” found in the King James Version.

And this isn’t simply a Bible that changes a few “he” pronouns to “they.”

The translators describe their work as a “re-imagining” intended to find “new and non-sexist ways” of expressing Scripture.

Traditional references to God as “Father” can become “Abba” or “Loving God.”

“Lord” is avoided because the translators describe the term as having “sexist and classist connotations.”

And references to Jesus as the “Son of God” are replaced with alternatives including “Only Begotten,” “God’s Own” and “Eternally Begotten.”

But the story didn’t stop there.

Another undercover video surfaced Friday showing Rigby discussing his relationship with atheists while preparing to speak at an event associated with the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

“If you love humanity and you love nature, and that’s why you hate religion, then we’re on the same team,” Rigby says.

Rigby also says an atheist had joined St. Andrew’s and remarks that it was “not a big deal here.”

Another St. Andrew’s minister, Rev. Babs Miller, is shown saying, “I don’t have a need for a God.”

“We are not a worshipping church,” Miller adds.

None of that means Talarico personally made those statements, and the undercover videos do not establish that he personally endorses every theological position held by Rigby or other St. Andrew’s clergy.

But the relationship is politically relevant because Talarico himself has repeatedly described the church and Rigby as formative influences.

Talarico previously declared that “God is non-binary,” although he has since called the phrasing “cringey” and deliberately provocative while maintaining his underlying view that God transcends gender.

He has also previously described himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity.”

Talarico is now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas against Republican Ken Paxton.

The Daily Caller said neither Talarico’s campaign nor St. Andrew’s responded to its request for comment before publication.

MY QUICK TAKE

I have questions. Quite a few, actually.

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