Talarico's pastor promotes 'Inclusive Bible' that strips 'Son of God' from Jesus: 'Let go of the stupid stuff'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, September 17, 2026

The longtime pastor of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico was recently caught on camera promoting an "inclusive" translation of the Bible that strips the text of gendered language for God, including Jesus' titles as Lord and Son of God.

The Rev. Jim Rigby, who has pastored St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) near Austin, Texas, for more than 35 years, discussed The Inclusive Bible with an undercover journalist posing as a prospective new church member, according to video recorded in August and first reported Thursday by The Daily Caller.

Noting the church typically provides new members with a copy of The Inclusive Bible when they join, Rigby claimed, "It's good on the gender stuff."

"The more, like, metaphysical stuff, it's not a very good translation, if that makes sense. I think it's really important to have a good translation, so you can let go of the stupid stuff," he added.

NEW: James Talarico's longtime spiritual mentor, Rev. Jim Rigby, says his church provides copies of the "Inclusive Bible" to new members.

The "Inclusive Bible" strips the Bible of "gendered language." It refuses to call Jesus the Son of God and describes traditional… pic.twitter.com/R6Nf4SPisg

— Amber Duke (@ambermarieduke) September 17, 2026

The video also depicts a new member named Larry being given a copy of the inclusive translation to applause during a service at St. Andrew's.

“And Martha's here to give Larry his Inclusive Bible," a woman says in the video. "It's the Bible that we use at this church. It's been rewritten so that there is only inclusive language and that it doesn't use the gender-fueled language that the King James Version uses."

First published in 2007, The Inclusive Bible touts itself as "the first egalitarian translation" and offers "a re-imagining of the scriptures and our relationship to them," according to a description.

"Not merely replacing male pronouns, the translators have rethought what kind of language has built barriers between the text and its readers. Seeking to be faithful to the original languages, they have sought new and non-sexist ways to express the same ancient truths," the description reads.

The translation was published by Priests for Equality, which is an extension of the Maryland-based Quixote Center. Co-founded in 1975 by Bill Callahan, a Jesuit priest who was removed from the order for promoting women's ordination, the Quixote Center also served as the basis for the pro-LGBT New Ways Ministry, which helps Roman Catholics find "LGBTQ-friendly parishes."

According to an explanatory introduction, the translators of The Inclusive Bible said they "had to consider whether modern renderings of sacred scriptures present modern sexist biases, in addition to biases of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean cultures."

Claiming that "scriptural language specifically referring to God presents a major problem," they go on to denounce "the Lord" as a "sexist and classist form" of God's personal name. They replace it instead with "YHWH," "Most High," "Most High God," "Almighty" or "Sovereign One."

God the Father's title as "Father" is replaced with "Abba" or "Loving God." Christ's titles as "Son of God" and "Son of Man" are especially "difficult," according to the translators, who replaced such terms with "Only Begotten," "God's Own," and "Eternally Begotten." The terms "Chosen One" or "Promised One" are also used.

Acknowledging that Jesus' title as "Lord" is "hard to replace because it is confessional," the translators said: "To avoid sexist and classist connotations, we use substitutes for Lord that are meaningful in our own confessing of Jesus, such as Sovereign, Savior, and Jesus Reigns."

In another undercover video released Thursday, Rigby boasted of speaking at an event with the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist nonprofit that wages legal campaigns often 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." The video also appears to show the Rev. Babs Miller, who serves as "minister to the parish" at St. Andrew's, claiming she doesn't "have a need for a God" and that Rigby's church is "not a worshipping church."

Talarico, who raised eyebrows for claiming God is non-binary, has touted Rigby as one of his most influential mentors, whose church he has attended since childhood. The pastor baptized him, officiated his parents' marriage and delivered the invocation before his 2019 swearing-in ceremony at the Texas House of Representatives. In a recently resurfaced clip from 2023, Talarico praised Rigby's church by noting it taught him "the idea that Christianity is just another word for causing trouble."

Known for promoting the liberal theology that Talarico has often echoed throughout his political career, Rigby has repeatedly clashed throughout his ministry with the dwindling conservative wing of the mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), especially over issues of sexuality and gender.

Rigby openly defied the PCUSA's former prohibition on homosexual marriage and ordination since the 1990s, though he failed to trigger the formal ecclesiastical trial he said he wanted.

In 1995, when the PCUSA's Book of Order still limited ordination to those living in fidelity in heterosexual marriage or chastity in singleness, he took to refusing to wear his clerical robe or share the Lord's Supper at presbytery meetings in protest that the sacrament was not open to those who unrepentantly practice homosexuality.

Rigby has also compared aborted babies to "extracted teeth," and appeared to deny the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection in a lengthy, sarcastic Facebook post on Christmas Day in 2015. In another Facebook post he made during the Christmas season in 2022, he called Jesus "the magical baby" and used the Nativity story to condemn gendered descriptions of God, claiming instead that "the transcendent does not need to have a gender."