James Talarico’s longtime church is handing new members a rewritten Bible. Undercover video captured at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Austin shows pastors promoting the “Inclusive Bible.” The translation strips “Lord,” “Father,” and “Son of God” from the text. Its creators call those words sexist and classist. That choice now sits at the center of a growing fight over the sincerity of Talarico’s words; especially when his use of Scripture in political discourse.
NEW: James Talarico’s longtime spiritual mentor, Rev. Jim Rigby, says his church provides copies of the “Inclusive Bible” to new members.
The “Inclusive Bible” strips the Bible of “gendered language.” It refuses to call Jesus the Son of God and describes traditional… pic.twitter.com/R6Nf4SPisg
— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) September 17, 2026
What the Inclusive Bible Changes
Priests for Equality published the volume in 2007. It replaces “the Lord” with “Most High” or “Sovereign One.” Jesus is no longer “Son of God” or “Son of Man.” He becomes “Only Begotten,” “God’s Own,” or “Eternally Begotten.” The Lord’s Prayer shifts to “our Father-Mother in heaven.” In 1 Timothy, language about sexual immorality is recast as trafficking “in human flesh.”
Rev. Jim Rigby, Talarico’s spiritual mentor and pastor for more than 35 years, told the undercover journalist the church “typically” gives the book to people when they join. He said it is “good on the gender stuff.” He also said it is “not a very good translation” for the “metaphysical stuff.” He added that a good translation helps people “let go of the stupid stuff.” The church’s own site argues that calling God male is “perhaps the most sexist comment a person can make.”
The Congregation the Videos Show
The theology matches the flock. In our earlier coverage of the undercover videos, parish minister Babs Miller — who calls herself an “out” lesbian chaplain — said most members would not call themselves Christian. “If you polled [St. Andrew’s] membership and asked them if they were Christian, agnostic, or atheist, the vast majority would say agnostic or atheist,” she said, “because they don’t buy the religion that we got from the Puritans.” In the same video release the St. Andrews elder discussed congregants who wished the 2024 assassination attempt on President Trump “had been more successful.” A video, apparently from the same batch of recordings, later showed her saying Talarico would “change his tune back” on transgender issues after Election Day.
Why It Matters in a Senate Race
Talarico was baptized at St. Andrew’s. Rigby married his parents and spoke at his House swearing-in. Talarico has called himself a “Christian who hates Christianity” and once said “God is non-binary.” He now says he uses a standard translation in private. The church still puts the Inclusive Bible in new members’ hands.
In America, politicians may hold whatever religious beliefs they choose. Voters are free to elect them. The newly released videos, however, raise a different question: whether James Talarico means what he says when he reaches for Scripture.
A Texas politician who constantly wields the Bible against his opponents—and quotes it as if it were a deeply held conviction—comes from a church in which Christianity, on the evidence of these tapes, looks like anything but deep conviction. So why does Talarico quote the Bible so often? Is it to win over voters in a historically Christian state? Or is it to turn holy texts into a cudgel, branding conservative Christians as hypocrites?
Whatever the motive, the stakes are larger than one set of verses. If his use of Scripture is not grounded in genuine belief—if he is saying what he thinks he needs to say in order to win—voters are entitled to ask what else he is willing to misrepresent.
Texas voters are being asked to trust a candidate formed in a congregation that rewrites Scripture, downplays creeds, and, by its own ministers’ words, is largely agnostic or atheist. The Inclusive Bible is not a side note. It is the text the church chooses to truth-seekers.
