Do you believe that Democrats have ceded religion to the conservatives? I do, and so does Texas Representative James Telarico (D).

Telarico, a Christian, believes that many conservatives in the U.S. think Democrats are hostile to religion. But Christian nationalism found on the religious right is not Christian. It’s a form of idolatry.

Telarico won in his district in 2018 where our current president resoundingly won in 2016. The reason Telarico won was because he emphasized love and concern for the hungry, the sick, and the poor that all Christians should agree upon. These are prime teachings of Christ.

Jesus stated: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger [alien] and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me (Matthew 25:35-36)…. I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (verse 45).

Yet, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican majority, many of whom claim to be Christian, recently passed a bill designed to cut food stamps and Medicaid, programs created to help the poor. Instead, Republicans are planning to give enormous tax cuts to billionaires using that House bill.

Republican Speaker of the House, Rep. Mike Johnson, asserted Medicaid was not mentioned in the bill. Yet the agencies tasked with cutting $880 billion dollars would have to take from that program. These acts do not reflect the teachings of Jesus.

It’s hypocritical and deceptive to those who don’t understand how the system works. Johnson was acting like those “whitened sepulchers” Jesus referred to those who look good on the outside, but are filled with dead men’s bones on the inside.

Among Republicans in red states, there is a strong movement to replace the public school system with school vouchers which can be used to send children to private religious schools using state taxes, a clear violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. School vouchers are an attempt to shift education set up to help the poor. According to Telarico, it’s “stealing from the poor to give to the rich billionaires, bankrupting public education [in the process].”

Lest you think I’m picking on Republicans, let me add that Democrats are not following Christ’s teachings when they support transgender females competing in women’s sport, defeating the purpose of Title IX rules which allow for females to compete against their own sex. Hypocrisy is not limited to Republicans.

Telarico became a member of the U.S. Senate because he was a moderate and because he used his Christianity to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans. He won in 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 in Republican-dominated Texas. That’s quite a feat.

Democrats could follow Telarico’s example by embracing Christianity as Jesus taught it as the key to their political resurgence, instead of ceding religion to idolatrous Christian nationalism that dominates the three branches of government today.

Christ came to unite humans and to treat all people, whether rich or poor, white or colored, citizen or immigrant, educated or uneducated, male or female, as equals who are worthy of respect. Religion should not be used by politicians to increase their power by creating divisions. Religion should be used to serve others, especially those who through their own bad decisions or fate are considered the lowly.

Would you like to see the end of American polarization and division in this country? I would. Telarico seems to have found the answer to unite all of us.