James Talarico, the Democrat nominee hoping to succeed Republican John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate, is a part-time Presbyterian seminarian who has emphasized, “My politics grows out of my faith.”
That faith was apparently greatly shaped by Jim Rigby, the pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas. Talarico previously cited Rigby as one of “the biggest influences on [him] as a Christian, as a human being.”
‘It’s mixed with myth.’
Hidden-camera footage exclusively obtained by Blaze News appears to show Talarico’s pastor rejecting one of the fundamental precepts of Christianity: the virgin birth.
In the video, Rigby is asked by a person off-camera, “Do you really believe, like, a virgin had a child?”
“I don’t,” the pastor responds, according to the video.
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“The virgin birth stuff, you see it like in Hinduism … and it’s more like, it’s more like all human beings were born out of the transcendent,” Rigby claims in the video.
“There’s a cosmic process, there’s animals and stuff, so when the Christmas story is told, all of that’s in there.”
“I think the virgin birth came off of Plato,” Rigby continues, according to the video. “‘Only begotten one’ and kind of stuff like that — that’s in the writings of Plato. It’s about humanity and the cosmos.”
After the person off-camera poses the question of whether Jesus is reducible to an “allegory,” Rigby appears to state, “I think there probably was a Jesus, but I don’t think we can get back to that. I mean, I don’t think there’s — ‘cause the stuff is so legendary, and it’s mixed with myth and stuff.”
Rigby both claimed that “there’s no way you can know what happened with Jesus or any of the people from a long time ago” and appeared to suggest that Christ or Christianity was simply trying to convey that “you’re a child of the stars,” according to the video.
In a separate undercover video obtained and published by Blaze Media, Rigby was asked whether a newcomer to St. Andrew’s has to profess belief “that God became a baby and that a virgin had a baby.” Rigby responds, according to the video, “We all got in by lying.”
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Blaze News did not receive responses from the Talarico campaign or Rigby.
In addition to rejecting the virgin birth, Rigby has expressed disbelief in Christ’s Resurrection. He also has expressed contempt for belief in the supernatural and belittled evangelical Christians.
Rigby previously expressed hope that Talarico would one day succeed him as pastor, and Talarico has delivered various woke sermons at St. Andrew’s church.
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