A newly surfaced undercover video is raising fresh questions about the theological foundation behind Texas Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, whose campaign has leaned heavily on his identity as a seminary-trained Christian running against Republican Ken Paxton. The footage centers on Talarico’s longtime pastor and self-described mentor, who tells an atheist advocacy group that he welcomes them into his church and considers those who reject religion to be on his side.

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Talarico has built much of his political brand around his faith, frequently citing his religious background as he campaigns across Texas. That makes the beliefs of the man he calls his spiritual guide, and the church that shaped him since childhood, directly relevant to voters trying to understand where the candidate actually stands.

From Breitbart:

The video obtained by Breitbart News shows Rigby as he prepares to speak at an event for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). The organization says, “Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion.”

FFRF says it is the nation’s largest “freethought association” with nearly 42,000 freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree.

Rigby continues in the video, saying, “I’ve been on trial within the denomination for LGBT stuff, abortion and non-theist… We had an atheist join the church but that’s not a big deal here.”

The pastor in question is Rev. Jim Rigby of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, where Talarico has attended since he was a toddler and where Rigby has led the congregation since the 1980s, according to a New York Times profile. Talarico has called Rigby “my pastor in every sense of the word” and named him, alongside his grandfather, as the biggest influence on him “as a Christian, as a human being.” Rigby baptized Talarico and officiated the wedding of Talarico’s parents, a relationship that spans the candidate’s entire life.

In the undercover footage, Rigby elaborates further, telling the audience that if someone loves humanity and nature and that is the reason they reject organized religion, “then we’re on the same team.” He also described his approach to language about God, saying he avoids male pronouns because he considers it a form of violence to suggest to a girl that her brother resembles God more than she does. According to the Times, Rigby avoids the word “Lord” because he believes it evokes a wealthy, European, male deity, and he said he does not particularly care for the word “God” either, preferring various synonyms because the word means something different to everyone.

Rigby is not the only St. Andrews leader featured in the video. Rev. Babs Miller, listed as Minister to the Parish, says plainly that she does not have a need for God, though she believes there is “something out there that holds all this together” that she does not consider to be God. She adds that St. Andrews is “not a worshipping church.” Miller also weighed in on Talarico’s Senate campaign directly, suggesting his public statements are politically calculated and predicting that once elected, he will revert to positions he held before entering the race.

Talarico has already tried to soften some of his own public remarks about God, including a widely noted comment that God is non-binary. In a later interview, he said he was being “provocative” with that statement and clarified that his intent was to argue that human categories cannot fully define God. Talarico is running against Republican Ken Paxton in one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country this November.

What a candidate believes about God, and who shaped those beliefs, is not a private matter when that candidate seeks public office while campaigning explicitly on his faith. Scripture warns that spiritual leaders bear real responsibility for what they teach, since those who instruct others will be judged with greater strictness (James 3:1), and it calls believers to test what they hear against the truth of God’s word rather than accept comforting reinterpretations (1 John 4:1). A church that welcomes any belief about God without distinction, and leaders who describe common cause with those who reject Him, represent a complete abandonment of Christianity and the Bible. Voters of every party deserve clarity, not vagueness, about the convictions guiding the people who seek to represent them. Let us pray for discernment for Texas voters, for truth to be spoken plainly by candidates and pastors alike, and for genuine revival in churches that have traded the authority of scripture for the comfort of ambiguity.

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(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)