Zammurkele
27494
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/james-talarico-pete-hegseth-pastor
Mar 26, 2026 11:14 AM
Zammurkele
27494
882
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/25/james-talarico-pete-hegseth-pastor
CobainsSarcoma
it's really really really too bad that the default assumption for people who are 'religious' is that they're going to be humorless extremists who have had their politics influence their faith rather than the other way around.
that said, 'religious' people have largely done it to themselves. anyone who supports donald trunp because they think he's a man of christ is the best example there is likely to ever be.
swofromtherock
Any more proof needed for who are the bad guys?
Shaodyn
They want him to die in extreme pain over a long period of time, and somehow they're the religion of love and peace.
OldSchoolNewRules
BLUE TEXAS LETS GO
LuminoZero
Talarico can be a good Christian, and I respect that.
I want every Republican dead.
TheTojo15
To pray for someone’s death… how in the fuck can bible thumpers believe they are godly people. I know it’s bcuz they’re stupid but cmon man I thought there was a limit and they just keep sinking lower and lower on the intelligence scale
OverwhelmingSurplusOfDiggity
I’m so tired of all the endless religion in American politics. “You’re bad because of my religion, I’m good because of my religion” blah blah fucking blah.
BellsTheorem
Remember folks Jesus wanted to vanquish his enemies and deport the stranger.
djangojazz
I would explain the irony of saying they should nail him to the cross like Jesus. But these people are incredibly stupid to begin with.
billymaditsdone
Religion could be a good thing. I used to hate it, but now just realize I hate those who have hijacked it. Started to wonder how many lives I could change opening up a church that accepts all. Maybe we need to take it back and then use it for good.
ahorseelbowdeepinme
Lutherans, episcopalians, ucc, uuc, there's a lot of good sects
artmeredith5236
You'd think we'd be beyond all the fictional stories by now, but, here we are.
elgalileo
Sigh. Sure, he can love his contempter if he wants. But any sane state/nation would prosecute someone threatening another.
malachilenomade
Wait, what? "crucified with Christ?" But aren't you supposed to be sad that Christ was crucified? So do you actually love Talarico or do you hate Christ?
SalmonTheWise
Well, crucifixion of Christ is supposed to be good thing ultimately and part of God's big plan to sacrifice his son (or aspect of himself to himself) to redeem humanity's sins. I guess they want to imply "like two criminals crucified next to Christ" (and still, one of them converts and is promised salvation) but it comes off as "make him a martyr like early saints", and either way it's probably least christian thing they could want, it's something pagan Romans did.
HeckedUp
This Brooks guy sounds like a real Pharisee. He might get that if he had any kind of media literacy.
Imjurbro
I still don’t like grown adults getting together and telling themselves magic stories - it’s not how we are going to make it as a species - but at least he seems like a good man.
rshini
you have to remember this fucking Texas. Mr. R/Atheism isn't going to get more than single digits, Teleracio is speaking the language.
509tigerfish
Hatlled
Gladly, you mutherfu-
EmperorCartagia
Talarico understands Jesus' teachings better than Hesgeth.
Hexidimentional
they didnt just pray for his death, they said he should be crucified, one of the most painful forms of torture
RARusk
Where does watching Melania rank on forms of torture?
Az663
Look what happened to Trump.
torisenblack
So they think Trump is Christ but want to crucify his opponent, they really don't know shit about their own religion, do they?
secretdpp
No Christian does
doctorId
No shade to nice Christians but like, this is pretty correct. I was a church-goer for years and part of why I ended up leaving is cause I couldn't reconcile the logical inconsistencies and contradictions throughout the bible. If good-hearted people practice it and don't use it as a way to hurt others, more power to them, but even they're sort of ignoring how little sense the dogma of the religion makes.
DamnThursdays
Because they aren't Christians. Their Christian Nationalists. Their faith is America and money, and America's leader is Trump, so Trump is their Jesus, and billionaires have all the money so there's the disciples.
ZeroVektor
Agree with all this.
Wish the conversation went a more rational direction establishing common ground, then walking through agreeable fact and onto conclusions without snark or smugness, but it often falls apart too early.
Inclusion is a 2-way street.
I miss the good ole days when this type of racism, misogyny, hatred, on and on was being shamed from society.
What has bringing it back brought positively? Nothing. Le sad.
ananfro
I prefer national Christians…. NatC for short
MerriMod
Yep, there's always the "all Christians are like this!" folk who ignore that these idiots are 100% not Christian. I always try to get the idea through as "If someone claims to be vegetarian, yet exclusively eats meat, you wouldn't say 'All vegetarians do this', you'd rightly call that person a liar". People are way too eager to misconstrue all religion or all religious people with the heinous shit evil idiots do using religion as a mask, which is literally EXACTLY what those evil idiots want.
Etherealvalentine
Well said
ka1iban
Specifically, it's Christian Reconstructionism. It's pretty shitty.
tinydog
Wololo!
Redshadow09
NeverEnoughFoxes
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1MTBwZndhNG0yZ2NuaTI0MDZzYjh5ZDQyZDF2d3RrcXVsZ25pZGk5MiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/PfU0R7E4hhWBhZAhJ9/200w.webp
BurnieCinders
Goozefraba
Stolf
You make an interesting point
feldemon
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1aTY1eGh2NXNvOGFpeDFmNWp4MDNpMmhmcmRhZGhxajd1N21jZXNiYyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/67jkYnYYtdlhC/200w.webp
critikaster
This, young grasshopper, refers to the sound of a priest in the ancient game of Age of Empires. I was there, 3000 years ago ..
thatwastooclose
I typically blame it on my ISP
lemonsquizle
Sick reference that im somehow old enough to get!
DesdemonaMoor
The church aligning with the political party that is pushing the US towards authoritarianism tells you all you need to know about religion; it's about control. It's not the devil that wants your soul it's Christian evangelicals.
Feralkyn
I think it's very much the opposite. There's PLENTY of vocal Christians, even in power (in Catholicism bluntly including both this Pope & the last) who speak out against exactly this.
I think the reality is that fascist governments conjure up scapegoats and enemies to incite people into rage and fear, and often use moral/religious arguments to do that. It's because they have no real platform that would help anyone, so they need to make up enemies and foment hate and division to even get into-
Feralkyn
power.
The telling bit is that it's not the government officials who are religious. They lie about being so, and then hold their fucking bibles upside-down and sell autographed copies. They're using an existing organizational tool (religion) and twisting it to their own ends.
The fuckwits who proclaim themselves "Christian" but buy right into the frothing hatred are their own brand of moronic evil, for sure.
mbus
I'm of two minds about that last comment. It feels like a "no true scotsman" thing. Like, I'm Jewish and think that the Palestinian genocide is an unconscionable horror that is antithetical to my understanding of both normal human decency AND the requirements of my religion; however, orthodox jews in Israel who think this is justified by religion are still Jewish. I think that there's a very important gap between religious text, interpretation, and practice.
mbus
I see many arguments from the outside arguing that Jesus said X but people do Y, so they're not Christians. This is misleading because it misses out on the centuries of interpretation, debate, and dogma that stand between the text and the practice(s) of that religion (of which there are MANY). It would maybe be better to say "this seems to be a contradiction" rather than "these people aren't true Christians" because that's false. Both Talarico and Potteiger are Christians.
Feralkyn
Oh I'm not saying they aren't "real Christians," just acknowledging that religion is a mixed bag. It's to clarify my statement, which overall is rebutting the "all you need to know about religion; it's about control" comment.
To clarify further: I think fascist governments are about control and will gladly use religion as a tool, whereas actual religious people come in a vast spectrum of good, decent people to utter morons.
DamnThursdays
Okay, I'm no fan of religion, and the majority of religious people I'm wary of, but "I love you more than you could ever hate me" is a line that goes so hard it'd break a diamond.
CouldntCakeLess
ipokeangrycats
CouldntCakeLess
activeracer28
Praying for someone's death is definitely not real religion.
backrideup9
No religious people are cool. No politicians are cool. Some are just better at hiding their bullshit and smart enough not to scream it to the world thru social media.
ExquisiteConundrum
I dont trust this dude as far as I can throw him. He makes me uneasy. It all seems disingenuous to me. That said, id still vote for him if I lived there. Maybe he can split the evangelical vote.
SomeDetroitGuy
Oh, fuck off with this bigoted, idiotic, ignorant bullshit.
nosnowyno
I don’t understand why this is being upvoted.
wandermanspacebot
It's not bigotry. You choose to be a religious nut. You choose to be a politician.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
"Intolerance or prejudice, especially religious or racial; discrimination (against); the characteristic qualities of a bigot. "
nosnowyno
Refers to specific religions, not religion in general. Intolerance of all religions is often referred to as "antireligion" or "irreligion."
wandermanspacebot
Thanks. I guess I'm super into general religious bigotry then. They're nuts and gullible rubes.
magus200342
I agree. This dude in the article is better than most Christians at this point, but it's still a religion that is against progress and hates everything not straight and male. Like, he's the lesser of two evils sure. Would vote for him if in his district, but under no allusions that he would support me in my "unholy aberrant lifestyle" as some of these "loving" christians has told me.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Illusions* and that is the whole thing that got him support. He stands with gay, trans, and seemingly all LGBTQIA+ and his record shows him that. He also seems to be Texas' best bet for flipping blue. You don't have to like him or agree with his religion but just recognize he is representing the best aspects of Christianity and can hopefully lead the mindless religious followers to do better.
nosnowyno
I don’t understand why this is being downvoted.
Theshnazzyone
johnnycashmustache
How is what they said publicly not a threat? Not hate speech??
newsguycraigevans
He has (D) behind his name and they are politically connected to the (R) side. That should answer your question.
pfunk81
It is stochastic terrorism. "I didn't explicitly instruct anyone to kill him." They alluded to the notion that him being killed would be beneficial. Fucking Grey area bullshit.
Feralkyn
I don't think it would qualify as hate speech in any way, but imo it SHOULD be counted as a threat. I'm not sure why it doesn't, or maybe it does and nobody has charged them. But it might be that "praying to god" for someone's demise, even publicly, doesn't count as a threat or incitement.
Heelcat70
It should at least earn revocation of tax-exempt status.
bikergeek6249
The legal standard in the US is "incitement to imminent lawless action", which leaves quite a lot of room.
Elsoyyo
nosnowyno
Hanlon’s Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
Elsoyyo
Yeah, that's right, it's about the money.
Hexrowe
OTOH, any studipidity sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from malice.
Elsoyyo
It's also the summation of the history of societies.
Well worth the study.
spattr
Not really true in all cases. Religious nuts have been killing apostates with no material advantage to themselves throughout history.
Elsoyyo
The excuse isn't the motivation. Preservation of worldview is about the distribution. As the saying goes, "the lamb lies down with the lion when each is satisfied according to their needs."
Hexrowe
These are not mutually exclusive and different people do the same things for different reasons. It can be either or both and/or a bunch of other things, too.
Of course they're still all wrong, and assholes on top of that.
Elsoyyo
Never mistake the imagery for the mechanics. Particularly when theory and evidence don't support conflation.
Elsoyyo
As stated elsewhere, This is a solid reference.
Mirrormancer
The video in question where white Christian Nationalists quite excitedly advocate for him to be killed.
/gallery/Ee2dZHI
Timesarrows
obama's previous pastor Wright spoke some stuff (all true if u read it) but the GOP and Corporate Media 100% lied and smeared it the GOP and Corporate Media hosts were saying Obama should be IMPEACHED! nobody else remembers this? this one issue shows how rancid corrupt the CM is and CM is 98% pro GOP. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/18/barackobama.uselections20083 and Obama was such a coward he shunned Wright!
BellsTheorem
I don't remember Jesus saying any of this.
UsertubeBandwagon
WTF!
my1rstlaptopwas34inchscreenup
damn. must be pretty sheltered to compare him to barbarian horde wanting to pillage and rape. fucking dry cunt
phalanxausage
Wow, that was disgusting. These guys should also read the New testament. Particularly the words of Christ, not the words of Paul. Christ explicitly calls upon people to love their enemies. If these guys want to ignore Christ's word in favor of Paul's, they need to come up with a new name for their religion.
Remcha
I always found this line of thinking really confusing. I was raised as a Mennonite (pacifists among other things) and Jesus LITERALLY says "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" like....... Seems pretty straightforward.
I'm not religious anymore but I do remember this being one of the things that denominations really disagreed on.
Oatmealman1
Sure would be a shame if...sorry, WHEN this Nazi bitch gets caught with a child like most pastors/republicans
Butzebebel
Amazing how that awful set of screeds can justify every atrocity humans can invent, many even for contradictory reasons. You'd think that an all-powerful, all-knowing deity would be able to inspire or produce a text that does not allow multiple readings.
Wirey1
Most modern Christians don't realize that Paul preached a gospel unique from Peter and the other apostles, nor that they are not under the Mosaic law. Christians are to teach that God is presently conciliated to the world and they should in turn seek to be conciliated to Him. (2 Cor 5:19. "Reconciliation" in the typical translations is erroneous). At the same time, love for as preached by many on the left would not have been embraced by Paul, either.
HashMaster9k
Most Christians don't read or understand the Bible, at all. So yeah, they don't realize it, because they have no idea it exists and don't fucking care.
psugab
What a bunch of fucks
MostlyAngryButNiceAboutIt
That should be considered intent to incite murder.
Athol
And that might actually mean something if the Rule of Law still held weight in the US...but it clearly doesn't, at least for those aligned with the current administration
beerlady
Fucking sick, just gross
drGrafenberg
I s it because you are an underdeveloped country that you have that type of religious fanatics?
SerialChickenLover
But don’t you dare say a fucking word about how the world is a better place without Charlie Kirk in it.
Mirrormancer
It's all team sports to these chucklefucks. The rules only apply to the enemy, never to themselves.
HashMaster9k
Oatmealman1
🤣🤣🤣🤣 stupid racist bitch lmao, 0 sympathy for that stupid fuck
Purrmageddon
Sounds like premeditation to murder to me.
BellsTheorem
Stochastic terrorism.
Radar2400
Evangelicals.
georgejimmydoodle
Same thing
MentalFest
Are they actually hallucinating large “hordes of barbarians” ready to attack US cities? Are they actually insane people on fucking drugs that genuinely think we’re in danger from “hordes of barbarians”? Do they not realize how dumb they sound to people without religious psychosis?
Rhythmaster
Bruh it's been decades of fearmongering about the "invaders". Yes they really believe. Yes it's insane. No, they don't realize because everyone around them watches Fox news and listens to right wing radio and believes the same shit. The racist "great replacement theory" is a mainstream GOP talking point. Do you know the common thread of all the January 6th insirrectuonists? They came from all over the place, different walks of life, the one thing they shared was belief in the great replacement.
boredgunner
Fearmongering.
georgejimmydoodle
It's all about stochastic terrorism. Republicans can only rule through hate and fear. They light fires in unstable people and wait for them to explode in a mass shooting. Then they blame us for it.
AsianLeprechaun
Reasonable people aren't their audience, and I assume they don't care what we think either.
johnblood616
No, but their dumbass followers are.
TheTojo15
I don’t think they’re on drugs. I think they’re not on some much needed medication
OmegaRainbow360
Nah, it's just a very old and effective way of manipulating feeble minded people. The most "famous" historical origin is the Ancient Romans' "Hannibal is at the gate". You focus the attention of others against a perceived external enemy so they don't focus it on you while you're robbing them blind. "It's the blacks! It's the women! It's the communists! It's the gays! It's the terrorists! It's the trans!;it's the immigrants! Etc etc..."
Feralkyn
I think it's even more sinister than that. It's not just about "so they don't focus it on you while you're robbing them blind." It is, at this point and by Republican politicians but going back at least as far as Hitler, "so we have an imaginary bigged-up threat to save people from, if only they vote for us." They create enemies, scapegoats, so they have blind followers willing to put them in power out of fear & hate. Because they have no actual, real platform that would help anyone.
OmegaRainbow360
Yes. "Robbing them blind" is reductive I agree. Maybe robbing them not only in a monetary sense, but robbing them also of their rights, their political choices etc. it definitely is a strategy used to acquire power by the people who dont have an actual plan to benefit the voters because... that's not the reason for them to become politicians... They want to acquire power for themselves, not for the benefit of others. So no real platform is really needed. A made up enemy works much better :/
Feralkyn
Yup, they have no intention of helping anyone, and "I'll get you universal healthcare" is something they can be called out on when they DO NOT do that. It's a lot harder to call them out and prove that ex. "trans people aren't actually evil" as it's a much broader, vaguer thing, and the important thing is that it Makes People Mad. So they just go with all that shit.
OfficialPresidentGump
If it sounds dumb to you, then you are the barbarian to them.
somethingdark
They will tell you that it's a metaphor.
MentalFest
Until they start claiming brown people are foreign sleeper cells out to get us all
Mirrormancer
They believe that Muslims, LGBTQ+, atheists, and feminists are the hordes. Basically everyone that doesn't buy into their batshit nonsense and is rocking the boat. People that just want to live free from oppression.
HitandRyan
I’ve never been part of a horde before. Did I miss the meeting and horse archery training?
DMSledge
Its that projection thing. Since they don't want these people to exist, then these people must want to destroy them too. Its the Rittenhouse idea that going somewhere to kill people makes you the victim.
abc987
Through some mental gymnastics they also view catholics trying to find better lives in US also as a part of that horde
quasisentience
Religion is stupid
thatwastooclose
Amen.
UncleRat
All religion is commerce.
CedricDur
Religion is pretty stupid at its fundamental level, if someone was to, you know, stop and think for a minute or two. But the problem are the believers who then turn that shiny rubik cube into what ever *they* want to hate. Gays, abortions, trans, skin colors. Suddenly their 'god' is against those things which makes their actions okay.
Toqom
It's made up hooey, there is no god, just asshole humans
JohnSmithterms
They are both idiots. Religion is stupid and wishing crucification on me would make me arm myself and prepare for defence. As a bare minimum. Speaking as an ex Christian i am super wary of any religious people because they are not logical. You cannot trust or predict how they interpret the fantasy book.
Bruskey
Yeah, believing in something greater then chickens is so year 0.
livingonagiantfireball
To believe in story book is like beliving the stripper really like you.
CaveJohnsonHatesLemons
Spirituality is fine, you pretending you know for certain of something with zero proof (no, you waking up at 1234 o clock etc doesnt count as proof, either does seeing a deer after saying give me a sign god, these are not indicative) is called lying. You do not know for sure. At best you have FAITH. Faith means theres no proof but you believe, and as a rational human its your job to go "Yeah, I believe... but theres no proof so I'll leave them be given I could be wrong" But yall dont.
FelonyRaptor
Yep. It's also a good contender for the most damaging and destructive thing humans have ever come up with, along with capitalism.
pfunk81
Capitalism is relatively new. The damage caused by capitalism is a drop in the bucket compared to the damage caused by religion over the last... 8,000 years?
BJWTech
There's a reason that word lord is in the term: landlord. From antiquity, organized society requires a class that must be exploited by a smaller class that capitalizes on the larger class's labor. Religion is often co-opted to legitimize the whole affair. Chosen representatives of the guy in the sky who will smite your enemies and make it rain.
SavageDrums
Replace "capitalism" with concentrated wealth.
pfunk81
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cjFhbzd0OTRwZWphenZwbGNtOGU3bHlhdmVoajlzZ2J1eHY3ZTlqMiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/5xtDarmwsuR9sDRObyU/200w.webp
BJWTech
There's a reason that word lord is in the term: landlord. From antiquity, organized society requires a class that must be exploited by a smaller class that capitalizes on the larger class's labor. Religion is often co-opted to legitimize the whole affair. Chosen representatives of the guy in the sky who will smite your enemies and make it rain.
BJWTech
Meant to reply to the higher up comment. :)
Iaimtomisbehave
Talarico is going whip whoever gets the republican nomination for senator. (It's between Cornyn and Paxton.) "You can't be a christian nationalist and be a christian. . . ."(James Talarico)
MadamPuddifoot
I fucking hope so, good grief that would be nice. Even thigh I hate religious people, he seems to understand the separation of church and state.
TaiPan87
In theory (and I hope) you are correct. However, as a point of context, Paxton is a literal criminal, hated by his own party in Texas, and a boot-licker extraordinaire for Trump.
And yet, it is likely to be the nominee. The issue is that Talarico appeals to the people who bother to listen. Paxton only has to get the endorsement of Trump, and it will be an uphill battle for Talarico.
Arbitrarynamehere
Blexas 2028
Arbitrarynamehere
I wish more people on here would recognize the opportunity we have with Talarico to disrupt the religious right with an empathetic leftist seminarian instead of reflexively doing the r/atheism thing of bashing all religious people and alienating our own electorate. Insanely bad politics from us.
rshini
This, R/Atheism isn't going to shake off the soft supporters - it'd make them cling to the religious right harder.
MothMonsterMan
Problem is will be give them the same treatment they have given us? We cannot fix anything by continually taking the high road and meeting them half way.
It's exactly what got us here
LordofGoats
Biden always talked about reaching out and working with Republicans, and yeah, that got us here. Talarico tends to talk about actually changing things.
pgdave
We cannot make things better by making things worse, either. If we think it's bad to kill people, then we can't kill people to make it better. If we think that laws should apply to everybody then we should apply them to ourselves. If we want the world to be better we first have to be examples of how. That doesn't mean "don't do anything", unless you think the best world is one in which nobody is punished or suffers consequences.
Kingdomonsterdeath
It's bad to kill innocent people. Anyone choosing to do evil is fair game. We didn't beat the nazis the forst time with warmth and compassion. By their very ideology they have chosen the evil route.
pgdave
Sure - if that's your ideology that's fine. I have a different view, and I think many people oppose things like the death penalty not just because people might be innocent but because they think killing people is wrong. But your view isn't any less or more valid than mine, just different. So long as you have a good way of distinguishing what "good" and "evil" people are, or at least a consistent one.
grandfalloon
I mean, I oppose the death penalty because I think the State killing people is wrong. You kill to make others safe, and prison exists. I would make an exception for agents of the State who abuse their powers in truly vile ways. Like judges who take bribes to send kids to juvie. Or the entire current administration.
MagnorCriol
Yes, but conversely, treating them the way they treat us just make us...them. And I don't want to be them.
We need to find a new way. Something that gets stuff done, holds people accountable, but doesn't make us a hatemongering mob with a persecution complex like they are.
TomBrokaw
Prosecution is not necessarily persecution
Badprenup
That's easy. The middle ground between letting a hatemongering mob run rampant destroying shit and becoming one is just... Holding the hatemongers accountable and actually punishing them for shit. We could get so much more done if we weren't obsessed with doing nothing in the name of unity.
(and the fact that there's rarely enough Dems in power at once to make, but running on sending a bunch of career criminal politicians to prison might actually help get them elected)
Kitehammer
We're asking for the Dems to adopt Republican politics, not policies. Use your brain just a little bit, please.
MagnorCriol
I'm not saying anything against that, and in fact those are exactly the words I've used when talking with a colleague about this before.
It's just easy to slip into becoming like them once the opportunity presents itself when they've spent so long being awful to us. You see it with a lot of people. Justice doesn't feel quite as good as retribution does, but retribution isn't necessarily justice.