Dec.01

electoral-vote.com

Dem 51

   

GOP 49

This Week in Schadenfreude: Jesus Day

Did you know that Jesus Day is an official state holiday in Texas? People don't get the day off, in part because it's always on a Saturday, but they are encouraged to march as part of public demonstrations in support of Jesus. The enabling legislation was signed into law by George W. Bush back in the year 2000.

In other words, it's yet another reminder that Texans don't think too much of the separation of church and state. We also feel pretty comfortable hazarding a guess that the people who promulgated the holiday, and probably a lot of the people who partake in celebrating it, are the sort of Christians who seem to have very little interest in the spirit of the Bible and who, more often than not, seem to be unfamiliar with the letter of the Bible, except for a few carefully chosen passages that just so happen to support their modern-day political views.

And you know what kind of person drives those right-wing Christians nuts? A left-wing Christian, particularly one who most certainly has studied his or her Bible. Someone like state Rep. James Talarico (D), who is very clearly a devout Christian, and is also very clearly not the sort of Bible-thumper that suits the taste of many Texans.

The reason that Talarico is in the news right now is a hearing held about seven months ago and once again making the rounds online, in which state Rep. Candy Noble (R) presented a bill to Talarico's committee that would have required the Ten Commandments to be posted in all Texas schools. The give-and-take between Talarico and Noble was really quite something to behold, as he was ready with both civic and religious arguments, while she was generally reduced to stammering. We don't love linking to TikTok, but that's where the video is, and where it has gotten more than 6 million views and 26,000 comments. So, here it is:

@jamestalarico Texas Republicans are trying to force public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. I told the bill author: "This bill is not only un-constitutional and un-American, it's deeply in-Christian."#txlege ♬ original sound - James Talarico

If you don't care to watch it, or you can't watch it (TikTok embedding is a little dodgy), here are the money lines from Talarico's interrogation:

• A religion that has to force people to put up a poster to prove its legitimacy is a dead religion, and it's not one I want to be a part of. It's not one I am a part of.
  
  
• Every time on this committee that we try to teach students values like empathy or kindness, we're told we can't because that's the parent's role. Every time on this committee that we try to teach basic sex education to keep our kids safe, we're told that's the parent's role, but now you're putting religious commandments—literal commandments—in our classroom, and you're saying that's the state's role. Why is that not the parent's role?
  
  
• I guess what I'm trying to figure out is: Why is having a rainbow in a classroom considered indoctrination and not having the Ten Commandments in a classroom?
  
  
• I just worry this is what gives us religious people a bad name. That instead of living out the way of Jesus, we're instead imposing our beliefs on other people. Instead of leading by example, we're leading by mandates.
  
  
• I believe this bill is idolatrous, I believe it is exclusionary, and I believe it is arrogant. And those three things, in my reading of the Gospel, are diametrically opposed to the teachings of Jesus.

There are a sizable number of readers of this site who are devout Christians. But, in our experience, those readers are entirely in agreement with Talarico that it's not OK to force religion on people, particularly when it's the state that's doing the forcing. And, presumably, our non-Christian readers, and our non-religious readers, are in agreement as well. So, we thought you'd like to see it (or, at least, read about it) when someone like Noble gets cut down to size by someone like Talarico. As a bonus, you can see several of Noble's fellow Republican Christians squirming in the video; some of them even disappear halfway through.

Oh, and the bill was never brought up for a vote, so it will not become law. Did Talarico's words have something to do with that? We'd like to think so. (Z)