Lesbian nonbinary minister at Talarico's PCUSA church denies Gospel, condemns God as 'vengeful'

'Jesus was put on that cross not to save us'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, September 23, 2026

An openly lesbian minister from the home church of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico was recently caught on camera denying the virgin birth, denouncing God as vengeful and questioning whether Jesus Christ even existed.

The Rev. Babs Miller, who serves as minister to the parish at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Austin, Texas, also explicitly denied the Gospel in undercover footage first reported Wednesday by The Daily Wire.

“Jesus was political. Jesus was put on that cross, not to save us; Jesus was put on that cross because Rome hated Him and they thought He was a threat to their domination of that area. And so they killed Him. He didn’t die to save our sins,” she told an undercover journalist posing as a prospective new member.

EXCLUSIVE: James Talarico’s Pastor Says Jesus Didn’t Die For Sins, Slanders Virgin Mary

“We have no way of knowing if Jesus really existed,” Rev. Babs Miller of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church says in NEW undercover video obtained by @realDailyWire. pic.twitter.com/spK4TWS4XT

— Jacob Wheeler (@JWheelertv) September 23, 2026

“That makes a whole lot more sense to me than to say that some God would kill his Son for us. That doesn’t make sense. How does that make up for all the things I can do? No, it doesn’t,” she added.

Miller, who reportedly identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, also claimed the virgin birth is a false teaching that emerged from an outdated pagan belief system predicated on “archaic rules.”

“Mary and the virgin birth come out of the pagan belief that the gods came down and impregnated people, that people were still hanging on to at that time,” she said. “We have no way of knowing if Jesus really existed, any more than we have of knowing that the original Buddha ever existed. And whether or not Jesus existed doesn’t really matter to me.”

Despite appearing to deny that God would love the world enough to give His Son to satisfy His wrath against sin, Miller also condemned God revealed in the Old Testament as “not a loving God.”

“It’s a vengeful, killing-people kind of God. This is a lot of mythology,” she said.

“It could have all been made up, for all I know,” Miller also said of Christianity, which she likened to a 12-step program in which one can “take what you want and leave the rest.”

The video featuring Miller denying the Gospel is the latest in a series of undercover videos exposing the theology of those who lead St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, which Talarico has attended since childhood. He has touted its lead pastor, the Rev. Jim Rigby, as his spiritual mentor who convinced him to pursue a political career.

Video published last week by Breitbart showed Miller claiming she doesn’t “have a need for a God” and that Rigby’s church is “not a worshipping church.” The same video showed Rigby boasting that he was speaking at an event with the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist nonprofit that wages aggressive legal campaigns aimed at removing Christian expression from the public square.

“Because to me, it’s like, if you love humanity and you love nature, and that's why you hate religion, then we're on the same team,” Rigby said, echoing a similar sentiment from Talarico, who said on a podcast in 2021 that he thinks of himself “as a Christian who hates Christianity.”

Unearthed sermons by Rigby that have been circulating on social media in recent days also show him questioning whether the Resurrection was literal and espousing other Gnostic doctrines, such as likening the Lord’s Supper to breastfeeding from Sophia, the central feminine divine figure in Gnosticism.

Last week, Rigby was found to have recently promoted an “inclusive” translation of the Bible that strips the text of gendered language for God, including Jesus’ titles as Lord, Son of Man and Son of God.

In a Facebook post he wrote Tuesday, Rigby also denied belief in “an actual devil” and the idea “that sin exists in the abstract.” Other Facebook posts he has made over the years have denied the Resurrection, the virgin birth and the need for atonement.

The latest footage of Miller prompted a flood of backlash from many on social media, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who said: “I try never to judge another’s faith — that’s for God to do — but if James Talarico’s pastor says she doesn’t believe that Jesus existed or that Jesus died for our sins, then that ‘pastor’ is not a Christian. She’s just a left-wing activist.”

“James Talarico will take your most deeply held Christian beliefs and wear them like a skin suit to justify raising your taxes, abortion until birth, and putting a welcome mat on the border,” said Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, reiterating comments from his speech at the Republican National Midterm Convention on Sept. 9. 

In another undercover video released last week, Miller suggested Talarico’s apparent shift to supporting a national ban on transgender procedures for minors and opposing trans-identified males in girls’ sports is a temporary political makeover.

“I can guarantee you that once he gets elected, he’ll change his tune back to where he was,” she said.

Talarico holds a slight lead over his Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to a recent NBC 5 Dallas/Telemundo Station Group poll.