@jamestalarico

“There is nothing Christian about Christian Nationalism.”

♬ original sound - James Talarico

"Let me be very clear, there is nothing Christian about Christian Nationalism. It is the worship of power, political power, social power, economic power in the name of Christ, and it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth," he explained.

This powerful video is already going viral on TikTok, where it's garnered just shy of 550,000 views in less than 24 hours, and is also gaining traction on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Threads.

School boards across the state voted against the legislation Talarico has been fighting, Senate Bill 763, that passed the Texas Legislature last May. The bill allows chaplains to become school counselors even if they don't have any training or credentials, the Austin Monitor reports.

Talarico has been an outspoken opponent of the bill that had to be voted on by Texas school boards on March 1. While he wasn't able to persuade the entire state to shut down the Republican-let effort to insert religious leaders into schools, Austin ISD and 12 other school districts voted against it.

"Jesus never asked us to ban books, to silence teachers, or defund schools," he said of efforts across Texas to ban books with any references to the queer community. "Jesus never asked us to control women's bodies. Jesus never asked us to establish a Christian theocracy."

Talarico then points out that the Bible teaches that you are supposed to love your neighbor even if they are part of the LGBTQ+ community. "All he asked was that we love thy neighbor," he said. "Not just our Christian neighbors, not just our straight neighbors, not just our male neighbors, not just our white neighbors, not just our rich neighbors."

He continued, "We are called to love all our neighbors, and that is exactly the opposite of what Christian nationalism does in the world."

Texas often seems like an extremely unfriendly place for queer people to live, but politicians like Talarico are fighting against the far-right to make the state a more progressive and welcoming place to live.