James Talarico

Yeah, I mean, we were talking earlier about theocracy and the dangers of theocracy, and we're seeing that in this Texas... We're seeing that in the Texas state capitol.

We are seeing lawmakers pushing bills that...

erode the sacred boundary between church and state, that separation that's in our first amendment in the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

And this bill that they were pushing would force every teacher in Texas, in every public school, not private schools, but public schools, force every teacher to put up a poster of the 10 commandments.

And as a Christian, as a person of faith, the 10 commandments are very important to me.

I've tried to live my life

based on those 10 commandments.

It's hard enough to be different as a kid.

It's hard to be a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist kid in a Texas public school where Christianity is the dominant religion, the dominant culture.

And so the fact that we have powerful politicians who are forcing now their teachers to preach a certain kind of religion from the front of the classroom or from the walls of the classroom,

to me is not only unconstitutional, not only un-American, but I think also deeply un-Christian.

And it's why I fought so hard against that bill.

I also just think, is Christianity really at a point where we have to force people to put up a poster to prove our faith's legitimacy?

To me, that's the sign of a dead religion.

And my religion is not dead.

I know it's not dead for you either.

But I think when you have politicians who feel like they've got to force people to put up a poster in their classroom for the sake of that religion, that's a real troubling sign in our faith, in our church.

And it's something I think Christians have to push back against loudly because it is a perversion of our faith and it's a subversion of our democracy.

Well, I've been a fan of Stephen Colbert since I was in high school when the Colbert Report was on.

And so when we got invited to go on The Late Show, it was just like, I can't believe I'm going to meet Stephen Colbert, right?