James Talarico

scripture, and we've got to try to piece together what we think love demands of us on a particular policy question.

And you're right, for the past 50 years in this country, the religious right, a political movement,

convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality, two issues that aren't really discussed in Scripture.

Abortion is never mentioned.

Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned.

And so it's remarkable to me that you have an entire political movement using Christianity to prioritize two issues Jesus never talked about.

So I'm not saying they're not important.

I actually think both of those issues are very important.

But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger, three things we're told to do ad nauseum in Scripture, to me is just mind-blowing.

You're preaching to the choir.

Absolutely.

Concern for the poor, concern for the oppressed is everywhere.

I mean, economic justice is mentioned 3,000 times in our scriptures, both the New Testament and the Hebrew scriptures.

So this is such a core part of our tradition, and it's nowhere to be seen in Christian nationalism or on the religious right.

And the Bible is all over the place when it comes to marriage.

Paul tells us not to get married.

Certainly many different kinds of marriages throughout Scripture.

And the same with gender.

Paul says that in Christ there is neither male nor female.

which is pretty woke for the first century, you know?