OPINION:
The Democratic U.S. Senate nominee in Texas, state Rep. James Talarico, claims the Bible says nothing about abortion. Yet if he actually read the Bible occasionally, rather than simply using it to justify his political agenda, he might take a more thoughtful approach.
At an Oct. 14 town hall, a woman who identified herself as a Catholic voter questioned Mr. Talarico on his repeated claim that the Bible is silent on abortion.
“There are the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill,” the woman said.
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Abortion is the wrongful taking of human life. What could a life generated by two human beings be but human?
Taking an innocent human life is anathema to both Christianity and Judaism.
Pagans disposed of unwanted children by exposing them to the elements or wild animals. Some Eastern religions — such as Baal worship — incorporated child sacrifice into their fertility rituals. The Bible calls such practices an abomination, its strongest censure.
In Psalms, King David says God knew him in the womb. Did David mean that God knew some unknown entity who would not be human until he passed through the birth canal? The Talmud says creating a child involves three partners: the mother, the father and God. This suggests that God puts the child in the womb.
Mr. Talarico has an annoying habit of trying to shape Christianity to suit his politics.
Although he has since walked back the position, he said in 2021, “God is nonbinary.” He now claims that he was “intentionally being provocative and annoying” — not traits usually associated with success in politics.
Although it is true that God does not have a physical form, the Bible refers to God with such words as “he,” “him” and “his.” The Lord’s prayer begins “Our Father who art in Heaven” — not “Our parent of indeterminate gender.”
It is the essence of Christianity that Jesus was born and lived as a man, not as a nonbinary individual or nonlactating person.
Mr. Talarico studied at the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, affiliated with the liberal Presbyterian Church (USA). Its doctrines are not those of traditional Christianity.
More to the point, Mr. Talarico is a doctrinaire liberal. Under that creed, abortion is a human right and permissible up to the moment of birth.
To claim that the Bible is silent on the subject is dead wrong.
Texans who follow the Bible will easily see through Mr. Talarico’s deception. Defending human life is essential to the Judeo-Christian tradition.
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