A new statement by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has revealed that he believes Christianity is the most violent religion.
Earlier this year, Talarico, who is also a Presbyterian seminarian, was featured in a New Yorker profile where he said Christianity is the “most violent” relgion compared with others, including Islam.
“Seth and I talk about how Judaism is Season 1 of the show, Christianity is Season 2, and Islam is Season 3,” Talarico told The New Yorker. “I’m Season 2—the most violent season. My religion has done more damage to both of those religions than they’ve done to each other.”
Talarico’s statement has drawn criticism, as Islam has exceedingly perpetrated more terrorist attacks, accounting for more than 87 percent of terrorism related deaths over the past 50 years.
According to the Cato Institute, from 1975 through 2025, Islamic terrorists carried out the deadlies attacks on U.S. soil. The institute found that 53 Islamic terrorists killed more than 3,100 people in the United States during that period, more than terrorists motivated by any other political ideology or religion. The figures do not include thousnads of U.S. military personnel killed overseas in conflicts involving Islamist terrorist organizations.
Talarico has also criticized President Donald Trump. Speaking to the Pakistani American Council of Texas, he called Trump a “threat to all of us,” and said he stands with his “Muslim brothers and sisters.”
His remarks came in response to Trump’s immigration restrictions on individuals affecting several countries identified as posing national security concerns, including Afghanistan, Republic of Congo, Iran, and Somalia.
Further, Talarico has also argued that the Bible does not directly address abortion and has said that “God is non-binary.”
In May 2026 interview, Talarico said the Bible “is silent on abortion” and that the issue should not be decided by the state.
“I don’t believe it’s a place for the state,” he said. “And that’s a belief I hold not despite my faith, but because of my faith. Jesus never talks about abortion. The Bible is silent on abortion. And when that happens with a social issue as important as abortion, we Christians have to take scripture as a whole.”
Additionally, Talarico has vehemently opposed to a Texas law requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments, arguing that it is “deeply unchristian.” He has also opposed Texas’ Education Freedom Accounts, which allows families to take their tax dollars and use it for schools of their choice.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz criticized Talarico’s comments on Christianity.
“James Talarico says Christianity is “the most violent religion” and has done ‘more damage’ than Islam. Let that sink in,” Cruz wrote on Facebook. “That’s not just historically illiterate. It’s a direct insult to millions of Texans whose faith built our churches, charities, schools, and communities.”
