David French refuses to question James Talarico's faith: 'Not writing these people out of Christianity'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Monday, April 20, 2026

New York Times columnist David French said during a recent interview that he is unwilling to claim U.S. Senate candidate and Texas state Rep. James Talarico is not a Christian, despite his liberal theological views that many Christians have denounced as heretical.

Speaking during an April 17 interview with conservative BlazeTV podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey, French was asked about his column last month that described Talarico as "one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian."

I asked David French about his article calling James Talarico a Christian example in light of Talarico’s statements in support of transing kids, abortion, and God being “non-binary.”

French: “I’m just not willing to say James Talarico is not a Christian.”

My response: pic.twitter.com/IhMjPahUXi

— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) April 17, 2026

French, a former member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) who has become an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, argued in his column that Talarico is a potential antidote to the "members of the MAGA Christian movement" he rebuked when he endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.

At 36 years old, Talarico has quickly become a rising star in the Democratic Party after securing a decisive win in the Texas U.S. Senate primary last month. The Presbyterian seminarian and lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has made his Christian faith a key pillar of his political platform, but has raised eyebrows for using the Bible to defend far-left positions on Scripture, abortion, race, gender, sexuality and the nature of God Himself.

Noting Talarico's left-leaning policy positions are "not interesting to me," French told Stuckey he is more interested in Talarico's polite demeanor, which he suggested is a welcome departure from the prevailing caustic politics that he said are "ripping this country to shreds."

"It's not necessarily interesting that he's a left-leaning progressive Christian on policy, and as I said, that's not interesting to me," he said. "But what is interesting to me about him is the way in which he interacts with his opponents and the way with which he interacts in the public square."

Contrasting Talarico's approach with his Democratic Senate primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who he claimed "made her name being vicious and cruel to her opponents," French said Talarico made his name "by reaching out and trying to extend an open hand, even though he's much more progressive than I am."

"And his kindness towards opponents, his openness towards opponents; in that, to me, that's acting like a Christian."

Conceding that Talarico appears more polite and civil than some politicians, Stuckey questioned how Talarico could qualify as a Christian when he has used the Bible to justify "openly blasphemous" positions endorsing abortion, transgender surgeries for children and the idea that God is non-binary.

French warned too many are "very eager to write people out of Christianity based on their political positions," which Stuckey pushed back on by noting that Talarico has expressed a universalist theology that claims all religions have the "same truth" as Christianity.

"I'm just really not willing to say that James Talarico is not a Christian. I'm just not going to do it," French replied, repeating his concern that the political discourse around Christianity in the U.S. too readily excludes people based on policy.

When Stuckey said many of Talarico's assertions about gender, the nature of God and the exclusive claims of the Gospel are fundamentally theological and not policy positions, French reiterated his unwillingness to question Talarico's Christian faith.

"Yeah, well, I'm just not writing these people out of Christianity. I'm just not doing it," he said, adding that he believes Talarico's conduct elevates him as a good Christian example.

"And I think that that's one reason why people are responding to him is because he is so countercultural in this political moment," he said.

Stuckey later said she agreed with French's claim that more civility in the public square would be a positive development, but maintained her reluctance to affirm that a candidate who denies the tenets of Christianity should be held up as "a Christlike example."

French's March column praising Talarico prompted a firestorm of backlash from many Christians, including Al Mohler, who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He wrote an opinion piece for WORLD last month arguing that the debate over Talarico represents "the battle for the evangelical soul."

"Talarico may be David French's ideal of a 'faith forward' politician, but his brand of theology not only includes abortion rights and the LGBTQ revolution, but is part and parcel in with the liberal theology of his own denomination, the PCUSA," wrote Mohler, who publicly warned in 2006 about the spiritual trajectory of Talarico's boyhood PCUSA church when it admitted an avowed atheist into full membership.

Mohler suggested Talarico's denunciation of Christian nationalism and apparently winsome temperament is a facade masking a desire for political power, claiming he "condemns evangelical Christians for attempting to influence politics while he seeks to establish his own religious liberalism as law."

"Talarico wants to divide voters just as much as Donald Trump, but on different grounds and along different lines," he added.