Representative and Senate candidate James Talarico from Texas, USA is a welcome new voice in both religion and politics. Some of his religious views are strikingly in line with key teachings of Creativism.
Out of the darkness comes light; out of yin comes yang.
The world today is passing through a time of exceptional darkness, when the largest powers – and many smaller powers - are ruled by dictatorships, and cruelty, greed, corruption and other forms of dishonesty have spread their tentacles everywhere. Evil and suffering are always with us, for this is common to the human condition, but there is a widespread perception that we have reached another tipping point in history, which ordinary people are unable to correct. Not only this, but the forces of opposition to this horror are not well placed to resist.
This being so, I’m delighted to acknowledge American legislator James Talarico as the latest voice of hope, and one of the most effective. But who is James Talarico?
James Talarico
Representative James Talarico is a member of the Texas House of Representatives. Born in 1989, he had a difficult early childhood, being the son of a single mother and an abusive, alcoholic father. Offsetting this, however, was a sound Christian education, influenced by a grandfather who was a Baptist preacher. After graduation – he has degrees in arts and education – became a teacher then became a director of Reasoning Mind, a non-profit organization working to improve maths education in schools.
At the remarkably young age of 28 he was elected to the Texas legislature and has built an impressive reputation for legislative reform, despite the difficulty of being a Democrat in a Republican controlled House. His main interests there have been education, social justice and rights. He now is developing a policy programme that he calls the Friendship Agenda, based partly on the State motto which is Friendship.
Talarico is a busy man. He is running for endorsement as Democrat candidate for the US Senate in the 2026 elections. He is also studying at a Presbyterian seminary to become a minister. For he is a devout Christian who happens to have remarkably enlightened ideas in the realms of religion and politics.
The Divine
In 2021 James Talarico delivered a prayer or invocation to the day’s proceedings in the House of Representatives, which begins with the words “Holy Mystery.” In other words, not only there is acknowledgement of that element which we call the Divine as source and centre of our lives – something that many people can’t bring themselves to do – but it is in language that concedes that, no matter how much we try to define this Divinity, it is beyond definition. The reason is simple: we humans are too small to know. We can apprehend the existence of a Divinity but we cannot comprehend, hence it is a mystery. It has aspects which religious people perceive, being seen as creator, sustainer, ultimate source of truth and love, and so on, but by being all these things at once, and much more, this Divinity is beyond the power of language to pin down. The words Holy Mystery have to suffice.
Balancing this remarkably sophisticated understanding by Talarico is a recognition of and respect for the great diversity of religious understandings around the world. It is like saying the One is true, but equally the many are true. Indeed, it is through contact with other faiths that we can better understand and appreciate our own. In an interview with Ezra Klein (James Talarico’s Beautiful Answer to Christian Nationalism | The Ezra Klein Show), Talarico has said:
I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth. I've learned more about my tradition by learning more about Buddhism and Hinduism and Islam and Judaism. And so I see these beautiful faith traditions as circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos, and that truth is inherently a mystery.
The Divine is visible and real for us in all creation; in each being, each person, the Mystery is revealed. It is only a part, but enough – if we have eyes to see! In Talarico’s words (https://davidfwatson3.substack.com/p/jesus-and-james-talarico):
The genius of Christianity - the miracle of Christianity - is not the claim that Jesus is God. It’s that God is Jesus, meaning that Jesus helps us understand the mystery. A mystery can’t help us understand Jesus. So this idea that ultimate reality, the ground of our being, the cosmos, however you want to define God, somehow looks like this humble, compassionate, barefoot rabbi in the first century, someone who broke cultural norms, someone who stood up for the vulnerable and the marginalized, someone who challenged religious authority - that, to me, is such a revolutionary idea, and it leads you to challenge organized religion. The Gospel just inherently tries to break out of some of these religious dogmas and orthodoxies and challenges religion itself.
The centrality of love
Central to the Talarico is love, which he sees as embodied by Jesus. Love here has a specific meaning, not something sentimental or romantic but a force as real as gravity. In his prayer he says to the Holy Mystery:
You are the strange love uniting all things. The love that drew elements together after that Big Bang; the love that drew life itself from those primordial oceans; the love that drew us all to this exact moment; the love we were born of, the love we exist in, and the love we will one day return to.
This is something much more muscular and I would say real than the “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild” of the 18th century Charles Wesley hymn. It is also a challenge to traditional religion and science alike, coming from someone who is not afraid to challenge everyday views of the way things are and offer something a bit new that is also remarkably well integrated.
In the theology and philosophy of Creativism, which is the substance of this website, love does not occur without the presence also of truth. Truth is absolutely foundational. It is the potential for ongoing goodness, through creation, just as it is the realization of this goodness. James Talarico is not familiar with Creativist thought – why would he be – but his concept of love alone shows that he is thinking in the same vein.
Evil and suffering
Absent from the publicly expressed Talarico worldview, as far as I can tell, is an explanation of the dark side of existence: how it occurs and where it fits within the overall framework. He sees evil as arising in the love of power and love of money, but there is – apparently – an awareness that the Holy Mystery might be as much dark as light. In other words, traditional Christianity prefers to see God as unambiguously good without recognizing an alternative that is mixed. Creativism, which is offered as a more realistic set of ideas, holds that the Divine is not limited in any way and therefore necessarily is the centre and source of all values, not just those that we deem to be good.
The most positive or optimistic view of adversity is that it presents opportunities for advancement. Disease, for example, offers opportunities for healing and thence for a healthier life. This is part of the overall balance of things, as in the Tao with its yin and yang. Belief in the Divine is a tool or support that helps us along the way. Without confidence in the healing power and uplifting capabilities of the Divine, exemplified by Jesus, we would be much less able to cope in the face of evil and suffering.
Necessary action
Religion is of no value unless it motivates us to action. A variant on this theme is the idea that we honour not just the name of Jesus but the way of Jesus. This applies to us all in every aspect of our lives. Talarico rightly says that Christianity comes down to just two principles: to love God (or whatever we perceive as the Divine) and to love our neighbour. In this interconnected world where we find the Divine through our neighbour, this makes all the sense in the world. And there are no limitations on the word “neighbour.” In his prayer he uses these words: “free the oppressed, feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, release the prisoner, welcome the stranger, forgive the enemy, and above all; protect your Creation.” Exceptions are not made for LGBTQI people, or Muslims or Jews, or Republicans or Democrats, or miscreants of and kind. All are in the net.
The quality of our action is something that I have not seen or heard addressed by Talarico. Being a young and energetic man, he projects energy and enthusiasm, but as we all know there are limitations. Even Jesus had to say “enough” at times. We also have to set our own limits in terms of scope of action, deciding what is reasonably achievable given our talents and the varying circumstances of our lives. And finally, we have to be prepared for both opportunity which can come out of the blue, and failure. Patience and forbearance are needed at all times.
Politics
As an observer of politics not only in my own country but also in others, especially those that are the so-called democracies, I look for sound motives and a way of operating that is consistent with those motives. Talarico is explicitly religious in his approach to politics. In parenthesis I have to add here that politics is one of the hardest callings for a religious person to pursue, due to the innately contradictory natures of politics and religion. Talarico has given this issue considerable thought. On the one hand he firmly supports the separation of church from state, not so much to protect the state but because when the church gets too close to state it loses its prophetic voice (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v3JXP8UKHlM). This in his view should not prevent people of goodwill from using their faith to inspire them in trying to make the world (or the community at least) a better place. In other words, church and state should be kept apart as institutions, but individuals should remain free to act in accordance with their own conscience.
A second observation of interest from Talarico is that democracy is not just a constitution: it is also a covenant. The word “covenant” is not exclusively religious but it’s safe to assume that it is being used in a religious sense here. To elaborate, we might say that there is a broad agreement between ordinary people and their rulers, covering matters like legitimacy of power, ways of exercising this power, and the purposes to which power is put. Along with a covenant comes expectations, whereby a defaulter or transgressor may be punished (or of course rewarded). In the context of America today, Talarico sees a breakdown not just in the constitution but also in the covenant between the people and their administration.
This brings us to a third point, which is that Talarico views the fundamental divide in American politics and society today as not Left versus Right but possession versus absence of money and power. People with huge and growing amounts of money and power are people who transgress against the Word of God through greed, ego and cruelty. How this changes our outlook on modern politics I can’t say, except that Left and Right are fundamentally about the management of change. Left are like Jesus, the barefoot rabbi who taught that a better life was available through love of God and love of others. Right are those who resist change, seeing the existing order as the way things should be. Underlying all this is the simple truth that life, through ongoing creation, is all about change whether we like it or not. And if we choose the way of goodness, we will start using government and other means to redress some of the hideous imbalances in our society. The Talarico Friendship Agenda, mentioned above, is a good way to start.
Prayer
Here is the full text of James Talarico’s prayer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDOjNFNa5Ss):
Holy Mystery: you have so many names. The Torah calls you Creator; the Quran calls you Peace, the Gita calls you Destroyer, the Dharma calls you Truth, and the First Epistle of John calls you perhaps the most beautiful name of all: Love.
You are the strange love uniting all things. The love that drew elements together after that Big Bang; the love that drew life itself from those primordial oceans; the love that drew us all to this exact moment; the love we were born of, the love we exist in, and the love we will one day return to.
In my faith, you expressed yourself through a barefoot rabbi who embodied your perfect love. A crucified carpenter who gave only two commandments: love God and love neighbour. Because there is no love of God without love of neighbour.
Help us love not just in word, but in action. Help us honour not just the name of Jesus, but the way of Jesus.
Help us free the oppressed, feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick, release the prisoner, welcome the stranger, forgive the enemy, and above all; protect your Creation.
The Word of God is Love. Let us not be hearers of your Word, but doers of your Word---in our families, in our communities, and in this chamber. Not just with prayers, but with policies. Not just personal love, but political love.
Because democracy is not just a constitution; democracy is a covenant.
Holy Mystery: open our minds, open our hearts, open our hands so that we may build a new world in the shell of the old. A world that is more just, more free, more whole, and more in love with you.
In all your many names, we pray. Amen.
This is messaging clear, simple, direct, positive and action-focused. In fact it has all the characteristics we look for from people, political and/or religious, who offer us their guidance on living.
Thank you, James Talarico, for giving us so much hope.
Routinely in life, or so it seems, bad things lead eventually to good outcomes. The bad thing in this case is the thuggery, cruelty, corruption and systematic falsehoods that have enveloped large parts of the world at present, driven by the Trump administration and other autocracies. But there is more, for intertwined with these toxic politics is some very bad religion. Christianity has in particular been perverted through nationalism and fundamentalism; it has also been leached of its essential simplicity and power through excessive conservatism in the churches.
Representative James Talarico from the Texas State legislature has emerged as an unexpected voice for a new, more enlightened spirituality and simultaneously a new brand of politics. What is most remarkable here is that these sets of messages come from the one person. From time to time there are people of faith who make their mark in politics: going back through history we find examples in William Wilberforce, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Practicing politicians who have also had exceptional insight into religious fundamentals are, however, less common. (Religious fundamentals here are taken to include such things as divinity, holy people and things, the relative merits of different faiths, evil and suffering, and faith-based ethics).
The public record as it stands today gives only limited insight into the theology of James Talarico, but there is enough to excite more than a little interest. One might describe Talarico as a radical Christian. The ultimate reality he finds to be encapsulated in the Holy Mystery (his term for God or the Divine), which is love and truth and creation and all sorts of interconnected other things. Love is for him a binding force not limited to our usual concepts of love but equivalent to the fundamental forces of nature. Spirit-guided action is distilled from the two great commandments of Jesus: love of the Divine which stretches our consciousness outwards and love of others which compresses that consciousness into a meaningful scope, suitable for action. And he has an absolute inclusiveness that means, amongst other things, an embrace of other faiths as equal partners in the search for ultimate reality.
There are elements here that sound remarkably like Creativism, though the central argument of that philosophy is missing, namely that existence is inescapably a process of creation and that we therefore find meaning through living in a creative way. As creation is truth brought into actuality by love, our lives have to be governed by truth and love, which are embodied in our various notions of the Divine. This is so whether the Divine for us is God or Christ or Allah or the Tao or Brahman or any other of the many visions of holiness.
Whether James Talarico reaches his goals in politics as a US Senator or religion as a Christian minister, we have to be thankful that he has brought together this enlightened set of ideas and backed them up by positive actions. For the world today is sorely in need of all of the above.