Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico is now making the case that Scripture does not merely encourage Christians to care for the sick, but demands that government guarantee health coverage.

That was the pitch he delivered to a Texas church crowd, where the Austin Democrat wrapped a public insurance plan in New Testament language.

Talarico made the remarks during a July 20 town hall at a church in DeSoto.

His campaign later posted footage of the event on Saturday under the title “James Talarico Unveils Plan For Black Voters.”

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The candidate told the audience that America should “finish the work of President Obama” by passing a public option.

Then he moved from Democrat policy shop talk into the pulpit, arguing that the Gospels point straight toward government backed health insurance.

“Because health care is a human right. It is not a privilege,” Talarico said.

For Talarico, the argument was not only political. He told the crowd he wanted to speak from Scripture because of the church setting, then presented the healing ministry of Jesus as a policy blueprint for Washington and Austin.

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“If you read our scriptures, if you read the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing? It’s not preaching, it’s not teaching, it is healing. Healing the sick,” Talarico said.

“And in Matthew 25, scripture says that’s how we will be judged and how we will be saved. By healing the sick, by feeding the hungry, by welcoming the stranger, by visiting the prisoner.”

That is quite a leap, even by the normal standards of campaign season theology.

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Jesus healed the sick through divine power and personal mercy, while Democrats keep insisting the same moral category includes another government program, another entitlement, and another layer of bureaucrats between patients and doctors.

Talarico’s campaign platform calls for letting every American buy into Medicare through a public option, regardless of age.

It also includes drug price negotiation and caps on out of pocket costs, the familiar progressive checklist dressed up with church language for a receptive crowd.

The Democrat also pointed to his work with Republicans in the Texas state House to cap insulin copays at 25 dollars per prescription.

Still, he argued that Texas has the largest number of uninsured residents in the country and used that statistic to press for a larger government role.

“So this is an emergency across the state of Texas,” Talarico said.

Conservative Christians have not exactly been lining up to applaud the sermon.

Critics on the religious right have accused the seminary trained Democrat of twisting the faith into a campaign brochure and turning salvation language into a sales pitch for progressive policy.

Some writers have called his politics “blasphemous” and described his message as a “works-based” gospel that rewrites the core meaning of Christian salvation.

Other outlets, friendlier to his approach, have noted that his campaign platform can read like the New Testament, which tells voters plenty about the branding effort underway.

The backlash is not difficult to understand.

Christians have long believed that caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and helping prisoners are personal and church obligations rooted in faith, charity, and obedience to God.

Talarico is taking that spiritual duty and trying to convert it into a mandate for government health coverage.

In other words, the Good Samaritan apparently needed a federal benefits office, a public option, and a campaign consultant.

The political stakes are not small.

Talarico is running close against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Senate race that could help decide control of the chamber.

His campaign has also pledged 25 million dollars toward black voter outreach.

The DeSoto event, packaged as a plan for black voters, fits neatly into that larger push.

The church health care remarks also fit a broader pattern from Talarico, who has repeatedly used religiously charged language to attack conservatives.

He has described laws restricting gender affirming procedures for minors and Texas abortion restrictions as products of a “Christofascism movement.”

That kind of rhetoric makes his latest appeal to Scripture even more pointed.

When the Bible is useful to sell a Democrat program, Talarico quotes the Gospels, but when Christians defend unborn children or parental rights, he reaches for inflammatory labels.

“Health care is truly a human right for every single person in this state,” Talarico said.

Voters in Texas will now decide whether they see Talarico’s message as sincere faith in action or just another progressive policy agenda wearing a Sunday morning suit.

Either way, the race is becoming a high profile test of whether religious language can make bigger government sound like a biblical command.

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