The attacks being levelled against Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico are sending a couple of loud and clear messages from Paxton and his supporters. One, they know that they cannot campaign on Paxton's record, or on his character. Those are both losing propositions. And the other message? They see the numbers and they know that Talarico is poised to win. In the past couple of weeks, his polling averages in several of the more reliable national polls with a reputation for accuracy has slipped above the 50% threshold. He's picking up the lion's share of undecided, independent voters.
Paxton is desperate. So instead of campaigning on the issues, none of which go in Paxton's favor, they are attacking Talarico's character, his masculinity, and more specifically, his Christian faith. None of those are things which have anything to do with what kind of Senator he will be and how he will represent Texas. But they focus attention away from Paxton's moral bankruptcy and corruption, which led his own fellow Republicans in the state legislature to impeach him and attempt to remove him from office. He survived the removal attempt because of the partisan makeup of the Texas legislature, though there were Republicans who voted in favor of his removal as Texas Attorney General.
It's somewhat hypocritical to me for a man with the baggage of corruption that Paxton carries, including having had at least one well publicized affair, which a divorce court labelled adultery and considered as legitimate grounds for his divorce, to be championed by the majority of church members as qualified for any kind of public office. Men getting away with adulterous affairs, and being warmly welcomed in Evangelical congregations, and sometimes treated as heroes as a result, is common, especially among Southern Baptists, one of whose churches Paxton attends regularly and holds membership.
[Paxton Lets Sexual Abuser Adam Hoffman Off the Hook]
So when Talarico is attacked, mostly in social media, for making statements which are reflective of his theology and personal convictions as a clergyman in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA), known as the more liberal branch of Presbyterianism, it reflects a disgraceful and dishonest hypocrisy on the part of conservatives. Clearly, this is getting a significant amount of backlash as the same polling data that shows Talarico trending toward the 50% threshold also shows that voters disapprove of this particular tactic of Paxton, by more than a 2 to 1 margin. The criticism of Talarico's theology and faith by the Paxton campaign is hurting his chances with voters.
The Theological Battle at the Core of This Campaign, Liberal vs. Conservative Christian
For those outside the very confusing tangle of what lies behind the high, thick walls American Protestants have built around a patchwork of unbiblical denominations build on specific doctrines of reformation-era theology, Conservative Evangelicalism is a Johnny-come-lately splattering of doctrine based on faulty theories of the inspiration of the Biblical text, and on a very distorted and falsely skewed literal interpretation and application of the text.
American Evangelicals are split between the Fundamentalists, who are hard liners when it comes to being anti-education and separatist when it comes to their attitude toward anyone claiming to be Christian who doesn't believe exactly what they believe, Charismatics and Pentecostals, who have added emotionalist and spiritualist error to the practice of the Christian gospel, and the Restorationists, who focus on "getting back to the original interpretation of the text," and take a literalist interpretation of the Bible to extremes.
All three of these Evangelical traditions are relatively new on the scene when it comes to the history of the Christian church and they have several things in common. They emerged from the anti-intellectual, anti-educational bias of the frontier revivals of the Second Great Awakening, when churches did not have access to very many educated pastors and ministers, and developed beliefs influenced by superstition and fear of the unknown. Their lack of education prevented them from knowing or understanding the whole context of the history of the Christian church, its origins, and the language, history and cultural influences, the understanding of which is absolutely essential to a correct interpretation of the scripture.
The primary error in interpretation that American Evangelicals make is found in their theories of the inspiration of scripture. Evangelicals claim to believe that, because of God's presence in inspiring the writing of every word of the scripture, the whole 66 book Protestant Bible is inerrant in its original manuscripts, and infallible in practice. The terms "verbal and plenary," applied to the expression of this belief, mean that every word of the Bible is inspired, and the whole of the text of the 66 books in the Protestant Bible is equally inspired.
This is false doctrine, and a grievous error leading to all kinds of misinterpretations and faith practice that is essentially meaningless. And it is diametrically opposed to the core doctrine of the Christian faith, which is the divinity, humanity and supremacy of Jesus the Christ.
The life examples and teachings of Jesus, recorded in the four gospel accounts in the New Testament, form the criterion by which all other scripture is to be interpreted. The person of Jesus as the son of God, one of three persons of the trinitarian view of God, is, in Christian doctrine, the only perfect revelation of the Christian gospel. Any theories of interpreting scripture which lead to stand-alone interpretations of statements without filtering them through the thoughts and ideas of Jesus is contrary to true Christianity and to the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Nor can the words of any of the Bible's authors be equated in their inspiration or truth with those of Jesus Christ. In Christian doctrine, Jesus was God, and the gospel he revealed, perfect. And while it is legitimate to consider the other authors, such as Paul, John, Peter, and whoever wrote Hebrews, as being inspired by God, their words are subject to interpretation that filters them through the gospel of Jesus Christ before determining what they mean. They do not stand alone in their interpretation, which produces obvious conflicts when they are incorrectly interpreted in the literal context used by most Evangelicals.
No Christian denomination or church has a corner on correct doctrine and theology. However, those who have been labelled as "liberal" for not accepting the literalist premises of conservative Evangelicals actually have a much better handle on the kind of faith practice that the gospel of Jesus Christ establishes. What Evangelicals practice is salvation by works, which include making wise decision and following the rules, while abstaining and avoiding things that have been judged to be breaking them. The Christian faith begins with the ten commandments, in their view, obedience is the key to true faith according to their doctrine and theology. So if you do enough good works and you properly judge and condemn evil, you can add up enough points for God to let you into heaven. This is exactly what their theology teaches, in spite of protests to the contrary.
For the so-called "Liberal" Christians, like the PCUSA, to which James Talarico belongs, the Christian gospel begins with the Beatitudes, and it carries through the theme of forgiveness and restoration, according to scripture. Following the example of Jesus and correct interpretation and practice of the principles he taught and modelled leads to salvation that comes from God's grace, and the serving of his creation, in the "liberal" view. The emphasis on the human end is the receiving of grace and living in gratitude as a result, with judgment and condemnation left up to God. Jesus focused the core principle of the Christian gospel on loving God with all one's heart, soul, strength and mind, and loving one's neighbor. The outcome and practice of the Christian gospel is quite different from the Evangelical Fundamentalist perspective.
Texas Has a Large Number of Moderate to Liberal Christians
Talarico has an M.A. in theological studies from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. There's a reason why the Presbyterian Church USA, which is the largest and most liberal branch of the Presbyterian church, has a theological seminary in Austin, Texas. That's because there are a large number of members of the Presbyterian Church USA in Texas. The seminary is known for social justice-oriented curriculum which is drawn directly from the Christian gospel. The membership of the Synod of the Sun, which includes Texas, dwarfs the more conservative Presbyterian Church in America membership in the state.
Texas also has the largest number of the very progressive Episcopal Church among its population, as well as the largest number of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is its most progressive branch. And after the great schism among the Methodists, the more progressive United Methodist Church also has its largest number of adherents in Texas, with more than three times as many members as those who left to form more conservative churches.
Then there are the Southern Baptists. Yes, the Southern Baptists.
Following the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, which started in 1979, the majority of its churches and members across the country supported the ultra-conservative domination of the national body. But the exact opposite happened in Texas.
The state convention affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Texas, known as the Baptist General Convention of Texas, also split with conservatives forming the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBCT) and the more moderate to liberal members retaining control of the BGCT. The majority of churches and members in the 2.3 million member body have remained in the more progressive group, which has also affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the more progressive group which formed on the national level.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and the Baptist General Convention of Texas, are both very active when it comes to social justice, and they both reject the literalist interpretations of the Bible that ignore or downplay the principles of the Christian gospel. And while that might not mean they will vote for Talarico, it certainly means that they do not disagree with his theology and doctrine, which is being attacked by conservatives. In spite of the split, the more progressive Baptist General Convention of Texas remains the state's single largest religious group.
Take These Attacks for What They Are: Republican Desperation
We wouldn't see these attacks on Christian theology and doctrine happening if Talarico were not a serious threat to the Republican retention of this Texas senate seat. It's pretty desperate that a morally bankrupt politician, who attends church only when it suits his public image, and whose lifestyle reflects the exact kind of worldliness that conservatives and fundamentalists reject, would attack some of the terminology and concepts of an ordained minister who demonstrates a thorough grasp of biblical theology.
Paxton hangs around with Evangelicals enough to know that many of them are theologically and doctrinally ignorant of their Christian faith, and he knows the buzz words and superstitions and where the lines are drawn in the sand. So he's got people who are trying to distract voters from his record, on which he cannot win, so he has to scare voters into thinking that the evil bugaboo that conservative Evangelicals must rely on to set up their straw man arguments has infected Talarico, too.
But there might just be enough Christians in Texas who have already been through the battle over the hearts and souls of their church members to know that Talarico speaks truth when he talks Christian faith and that it's the Evangelicals and Paxton who are the liars. That. and the sinking popularity of an incompetent boob of a President are making Talarico's chances at winning this election excellent.
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