America doesn’t need a Jesus made in our political image

Progressive Christians have long found support for their politics in the Bible. Often, the argument begins with what Scripture doesn’t explicitly condemn: Jesus never mentioned gay marriage or abortion, for example. From there, they appeal to Christ’s compassion for the poor, the stranger, and those rejected by society to justify positions on contemporary issues ranging from immigration reform to gun control.

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico takes a different approach. A seminary-trained Christian, Talarico has argued that the Virgin Mary’s consent to bear Jesus supports abortion rights and that God is “nonbinary.”

The Jesus revealed in Scripture cannot be reduced to the portions of His teaching that satisfy a contemporary ideology.

Talarico isn’t merely arguing that Christianity is compatible with progressive politics. He’s making the more ambitious