General Discussion

State University.

His ability to connect with people is remarkable. In the relatively short time he spoke, he had women on each side of me wiping away tears – not because he'd told a sad story but because the empathy he expressed caused them to feel seen by him.

A friend met him at a Democratic event in my county and had a one-to-one conversation with him for several moments. He really touched her as well. When she got emotional he hugged her. He wasn't looking to be someplace, but focused on their conversation. He is genuinely kind.

We have had decades now of conservative Christian evangelists and Christian Nationalists trying to claim Jesus and painting a deeply unattractive picture of Christians. They're loud, insistent, dominate the airwaves. Anyone could be forgiven for having a completely negative view of Christianity. I once held that view myself. Yet, I was deeply moved by listening to Martin Luther King as a teenager and read many of his books. I didn't recognize then that he was deeply Christian in a very different sense than the narrow-minded, judgmental types I stereotyped Christians as. I guess I thought MLK was an anomaly.

In reality these Christian Nationalists and other RW Christians are defaming the character of Christ as revealed in the Gospels and other books of the New Testament.

For years I've hoped for the same kind of Christian as MLK, Rev. William Barber, and others who are public theologians capable of inspiring us and of countering and exposing the heresies being spouted by RW Christian Nationalists. I'm thrilled we may have on in the U.S. Senate if we are so lucky to elect Talarico to the U.S. Senate.