By Ian M. Giatti, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, June 04, 2026Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks during a campaign launch rally on Sept. 9, 2025, in Round Rock, Texas. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images

In a newly resurfaced video of a 2022 sermon, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, made several questionable claims about the Bible, including that the Christian holy book makes no mention of abortion or that Jesus “had something to learn” from his interactions as the Son of God.

The sermon from November 2022 was delivered at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, a theologically liberal Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation that was Talarico's home church in the Austin area. The congregation is one of 33 churches to be designated a "Reproductive Freedom Congregation" by the Texas Freedom Network's Just Texas Project, which defines such congregations as ones that "proudly proclaim abortion is a moral and social good."

In the approximately 20-minute message — which he identified as his “first sermon” — Talarico preached on the topic of abortion and touched on several biblical passages while defending bodily autonomy for “every one of our neighbors with a uterus.”

The following pages detail four of the most controversial statements from that sermon.