Groff Media ©2026 benandsteve.com Truth Endures

June 15, 2026

When Faith and Politics Collide

James Talarico is a Presbyterian seminarian running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, and his comments about Christianity have ignited a fierce debate.

The controversy began after Talarico told comedian and host Stephen Colbert that Jesus never explicitly mentioned abortion or same-sex marriage in the Gospels. The reaction from some conservative commentators was immediate and intense.

Podcaster Benny Johnson accused him of distorting Christianity. A host on Newsmax questioned his interpretation of scripture. Even Riley Moore suggested on a political program that Talarico’s views were spiritually dangerous.

Yet the passages Talarico cites are among the most familiar in the Bible.

In Matthew 22, Jesus summarizes the law with two commands: love God and love your neighbor. In Matthew 25, he speaks of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming strangers, caring for the sick, and visiting prisoners.

These are not obscure verses tucked away in scripture. They are central teachings, repeated in sermons, printed on church walls, and taught to generations of Christians.

For Talarico, these passages point toward a simple but profound idea: that society is measured by how it treats those who are vulnerable—the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, and the outsider.

Others disagree with his political conclusions or argue that Christian teachings encompass a broader set of moral issues. That disagreement is not new. American politics has long wrestled with competing interpretations of faith and public life.

What makes this moment notable is how intensely the argument has become personal.

Critics accuse Talarico of misrepresenting Christianity. Supporters argue he is reminding people of teachings they believe have been overshadowed by political battles.

Whatever side one takes, the underlying questions remain:

Who gets to define the role of faith in public life?

What teachings deserve the greatest emphasis?

And can political movements built around religious identity tolerate interpretations that challenge their assumptions?

These are not questions that will be settled in a television interview, a podcast, or a campaign speech.

But they are questions Americans continue to ask.

And the verses themselves remain where they have always been—waiting in the pages of scripture, inviting each reader to decide what they mean and how they should be lived.

Meanwhile –

Ted Cruz said James Talarico isn’t “masculine,” and Talarico answered with a list of what real men never do. The smear came Monday on Fox News, where Cruz declared that if you were making a list of 1,000 adjectives to describe the Texas Democrat, “masculine” would not be one of them, then added that a stiff breeze would blow him over like a feather.

The attack was not a one-off. Since Talarico won the Democratic nomination and pulled ahead of Ken Paxton in the polls, the Republican machine has gone all in on manhood.

Paxton called him “too low-T for Texas.” White House aide Stephen Miller falsely claimed Democrats had nominated “their first transgender senate candidate,” a lie about a man who is neither transgender nor, for the record, the vegan they also keep insisting he is.

None of it touches his actual record. That is the point.

On MS NOW with Jen Psaki on Thursday, Talarico took the question head on, and he answered it with a lawn mower.

He told the story of Mark Talarico, the adoptive father who gave him his last name.

Every Saturday morning, rain or shine, whether he wanted to or not, his dad mowed the family’s lawn. Then, without anyone asking, he walked next door and mowed the lawn of their neighbor, an elderly widow.

He never talked about it. He just did it.

That, Talarico said, is what a man does.

A man takes responsibility. A man upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors. A man does what’s right even when no one is watching.

Then came the other half. “They don’t lie and cheat their way through life. They don’t sell their soul to the highest bidder. They don’t steal from other people in order to enrich themselves.”

Real men serve others, he said. Weak men serve themselves. And he closed the door on his way out: he doesn’t think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is.

The list reads differently considering who it was aimed at.

Cruz spent 2016 watching Donald Trump publicly mock his wife’s appearance, then endorsed him and became one of his most loyal soldiers.

When a deadly winter storm froze Texas in 2021, Cruz boarded a flight to Cancun.

Paxton was impeached on bribery and corruption charges by his own Republican colleagues in the Texas House, and his wife filed for divorce last year citing adultery.

Mark Talarico never talked about the widow’s lawn. He just mowed it. Some men do what’s right when no one is watching.