Talarico’s Church Hands New Members a Bible That Won’t Call Jesus the ‘Son of God’

The Austin church that formed Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico hands new members a Bible translation that avoids calling Jesus the “Son of God,” according to undercover footage obtained by the Daily Caller. In the video, recorded in August 2026, Talarico’s longtime pastor and spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jim Rigby, tells a prospective member the translation is “good on the gender stuff” and that it is important to have a good translation “so you can let go of the stupid stuff.”

Talarico is running against Attorney General Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat in a race the Daily Caller described as within striking distance. He has built his campaign persona around faith. The footage raises a fair question about what faith, exactly, he was raised in.

What the pastor said on camera

Rigby has been head pastor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin for more than 35 years. In the footage, he tells an undercover journalist that the church “typically” gives people a copy of the Inclusive Bible “when they join.”

His review of the book was revealing. “It’s good on the gender stuff,” Rigby says. “The more, like, metaphysical stuff, it’s not a very good translation, if that makes sense. I think it’s really important to have a good translation so you can let go of the stupid stuff.”

The footage also shows the practice in action. During a service, a new member identified as Larry is presented with a copy. “It’s the Bible that we use at this church,” an unidentified woman says. “It’s been rewritten so that there is only inclusive language and that it doesn’t use the gender-fueled language that the King James Version uses.”

What the translation actually changes

The Inclusive Bible was published in 2007 by Priests for Equality. Its translators describe it as a “re-imagining” of Scripture meant to find “new and non-sexist ways” to express biblical language, according to the Daily Caller.

The changes go well beyond pronouns. In a section explaining its choices, the book says it avoids using “Son of God” to describe Jesus, preferring “Only Begotten,” “God’s Own” and “Eternally Begotten.” The translators call “the Lord” a “sexist and classist form” of God’s name and replace it with terms such as “YHWH” and “Most High,” while conceding, as the Christian Post reported, that the word is hard to replace “because it is confessional.” “Father” becomes “Abba” or “Loving God.”

That matters. “Son of God” is not a stylistic flourish. It is the confession at the heart of the New Testament, the claim the Gospels are written to establish. A church can choose its translation. But a translation that cannot say what the apostles said is making a theological statement, and the pastor whose church hands it out calls it “good on the gender stuff” while admitting it is “not a very good translation” on the “metaphysical stuff.”

Not just any church

This is not a church Talarico wandered into. According to the Daily Caller, he was baptized at St. Andrew’s and has attended since childhood. Rigby married Talarico’s parents and delivered the invocation when Talarico was sworn into the Texas House. Talarico told the Texas Tribune, “Politics and religion and causing trouble all was very intertwined and synonymous for me growing up.”

The church is open about its views. St. Andrew’s describes itself as “Presbyterian & Progressive” and, according to Texas Scorecard, argues that “to say that our divine source is male is perhaps the most sexist comment a person can make.” It also rejects titles such as “King” and “Lord” for God.

Texas Scorecard reported on separate undercover footage of Babs Miller, a minister at the church, saying that if members were polled, “the vast majority would say agnostic or atheist, because they don’t buy the religion that we got from the Puritans.” In the same footage, Miller says: “We still have people in this church that wish that that young man had not just nicked [Trump’s] ear, but had been more successful.” That is a minister claiming that members of her own congregation wish the July 2024 Butler assassination attempt had succeeded.

Talarico’s own words

The church’s theology tracks with things Talarico has said himself. In a 2021 Texas House floor debate, he declared that “God is non-binary.” Asked about it in March 2026, he called the remark “cringey” and “deliberately provocative,” but rejected the idea that it was “controversial theologically” because “God is beyond gender,” the Daily Caller reported.

On a 2021 episode of the “Activist Theology” podcast, Talarico described himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity.” He has also argued, in an interview with Joe Rogan, that there is “a lot of biblical evidence” supporting a pro-abortion position.

Neither Talarico’s campaign nor St. Andrew’s responded to the Daily Caller’s or Texas Scorecard’s requests for comment.

Why voters should care

A candidate’s church is not a campaign issue in itself, and Americans are right to be wary of religious tests. But Talarico has made his faith a central part of his pitch, presenting himself as a believer who can speak to Texas Christians. When a candidate asks voters to judge him by his faith, voters are entitled to know what that faith teaches. In this case, the pastor who shaped him hands out a translation he praises on gender and concedes is weak on the “metaphysical stuff,” his church’s Bible will not call Jesus the Son of God, and one of its ministers claims most of the congregation would call itself agnostic or atheist.

Texans can decide for themselves what kind of Christianity James Talarico was raised in, but they should not be told it is the same faith their churches preach on Sunday.

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