FRC Action

10/19/2026

Sorry, James Talarico. "The Bible not only prohibits the taking of innocent human life, but it also affirms that life begins in the womb."

Americans have long lamented the decline of civil debates, where two people on opposite sides of an issue talk through their disagreements in a calm and productive manner for the benefit of a third party. Such debates require a level of rhetorical skill, wit, and command of the issues that many powerful politicians do not have. So, they simply avoid them. One candidate is out to change that, and not in the way one might expect.

On Wednesday, U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico (D) sat down with Texas voters at a CNN “Town Hall” of sorts. Those voters posed tough questions, and Talarico responded. It was a combination of retail politics and civil debate that suited Talarico’s talents perfectly. But the main feature of civil debate and the reason why it is so highly prized is the way that talking through an issue brings clarity to the positions. This is especially true when a candidate’s positions are monstrous and indefensible, as is Talarico’s support for abortion, which he allegedly bases on Christian values.

In the televised exchange, a Catholic voter asked Talarico to respond to Catholic concerns about his support for abortion. Talarico responded:

“I can respect anyone, like you, who is consistently pro-life. And I actually think there is common ground we can find here. We may come to different moral and ethical conclusions when it comes to the question of, ‘should abortion be legal or not?’ It sounds like you and I do come to a different conclusion. That’s okay. We’re both Christians. And the Bible is silent on abortion. It means you and I both have to look at different Scripture to try and come to a conclusion.”
This is a credible-sounding answer, of sorts. On ethical issues to which Scripture does not speak clearly (e.g. immigration), Christians should look at different texts to reach a conclusion, and they should humbly extend charity to others who make different inferences from Scripture.

But Talarico’s response is not valid in the case of abortion. After politely listening to Talarico hem and haw for another two minutes, the woman who asked the original question replied, “I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the Ten Commandments. ‘Thou shalt not kill’ [Exodus 20:13]. And as Catholics, we take great insult, sometimes, when it’s spouted that way” (and Protestants do too).

With more time, perhaps this lady could have added that the Bible not only prohibits the taking of innocent human life, but it also affirms that life begins in the womb. From David’s confession, “You knitted me together in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:13) to the unborn John the Baptist leaping in the presence of the unborn Jesus of Nazareth (Luke 1:41), Scripture affirms the humanity of the unborn with one voice.

The Ten Commandments mic-drop was this Catholic voter’s uncompromising answer to Talarico’s attempts to manufacture common ground. The candidate had suggested:

“What I think we can do is come together on actually reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions. … We treat it as a philosophical debate, or a theological debate, when actually it’s a public policy problem. Because I also want to see fewer unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. I want to see fewer abortions. So, you and I actually have the same goal.”
If reducing abortions (or even caring about the safety of women) is really Talarico’s goal, then he should support federal enforcement of the Comstock Act to prohibit the shipping of abortion pills through the mail. Instead, he chose in the next breath to attack Texas’s law protecting the unborn from death by abortion, falsely claiming that the law took more lives than it saved.

It should be noted that Talarico’s proposition has the virtue of sounding attractive. Shouldn’t pro-life Christians be willing to forge any alliances in the ultimate goal of inching toward the elimination of abortion? Here, a biblical precedent may be helpful. When the returned exiles of Israel set about building the temple, the Samaritans proposed to build alongside them. Israel’s leaders responded, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel” (Ezra 4:3).

How harsh! Where is the spirit of ecumenism? Is this simply an instance of Jewish xenophobia, something Scripture records but does not mean for us to imitate? The key lies in facts not reported in Ezra. The author of 2 Kings testifies that the Samaritans, who were relocated to the land of Israel after the northern tribes went into exile, practiced syncretism. “They feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. To this day they do according to the former manner” (2 Kings 17:33-34). If the Jews had accepted the Samaritans’ help in building the temple, they would have had to accept them into the covenant community. And this was unacceptable while the Samaritans still worshiped other gods alongside Yahweh.

The point is this: some people claim to worship the true God, but their doctrine and practice tell a different story. Christians should be wary of cooperating with such people. In a nation like America, political cooperation may be acceptable or even necessary. But clear moral issues like abortion present a line that must not be blurred.

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers,” Paul exhorted the church in Corinth. His initial concern had little to do with intermarriage and everything to do with protecting the church from clever rhetoricians who sought to use the label of “Christian” as a means of personal profit. “For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

What partnership can pro-life, Bible-believing Christians form with politicians who want to make abortion legal everywhere, and who even deny that the Bible condemns it? “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). When someone makes a claim based on Scripture (e.g., “the Bible is silent on abortion”), always check their claim according to Scripture, and then respond accordingly.

𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑎 𝐴𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑑.

10/16/2026

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10/15/2026

Your vote matters. Do you know where your candidates stand?

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✅ Find out if you are registered to vote.

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Access our Election Hub at the link below. 👇

10/14/2026

Pastors, your voice matters in the midterm election. Great to see this initiative by Alaska Family Council.

Alaskan pastors, check this out: https://www.akfamily.org/pastor-endorsements-growing-across-alaska-for-this-election/

10/14/2026

Pray with us leading up to the election!

🙏 Join in prayer!

The 2026 midterm election will have a significant impact on policies affecting our churches, families, and communities. But as Ephesians 6 reminds us, our ultimate battle is not against flesh and blood. Our hope and strength are in the Lord!

From October 14 through Election Day, join pastors and Christian leaders from across the country on the Stand Firm app. They will lead us in daily prayer for key issues and races on the ballot, godly leadership, and wisdom and discernment for voters as they choose our next leaders.

👉 Download the Stand Firm app to watch and pray with us! We will post a new prayer at noon ET each day. App link below. ⬇

10/14/2026

"Amendment 3 would make most abortions illegal again in Missouri... [and] prohibits there from being gender reassignment surgery or chemical treatment on any minor."

Vote YES on Amendment 3!

Comment "MISSOURI" for a link to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins's interview with Missouri Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway.

10/14/2026

In an open letter, Kansas Pastor Kyle Lammott called for Pastor and U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hamilton to “repent of what you have taught and to withdraw from the Senate race.”

“A shepherd is not at liberty to keep silent while another shepherd leads the sheep somewhere Scripture forbids.”

By Tuesday, Lammott’s open letter to Hamilton had surpassed 700 signatures.

Read more. ⬇️

10/14/2026

A stunning new poll has revealed that American young people are expressing positive views toward Sharia law at higher rates than ever as the midterm elections approach in three weeks. Experts say much of the support can be attributed to the lack of balanced formation being provided by American universities and fear of being labeled racist, leading to young people being ill-informed about the oppression inherent in Islamic legal code.

Earlier this month, Rasmussen Reports published the results of a survey that found a full 43% of voters aged 18-24 saying they have positive views of Sharia law. Strikingly, the poll also found that 27% of voters under 30 said they would support a community adopting Sharia law.

Sharia law is an Islamic code of law based on the Islamic scriptures of the Quran and hadith and is practiced in predominantly Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia where there is a notable lack of human rights. Sharia law calls for extremely severe punishments for crimes, including amputation for theft, public flogging, and the death penalty for adultery and so**my. It also includes apostasy and blasphemy laws that stipulate the death penalty for renouncing Islam or speaking out against the religion, as well as unequal inheritance laws where men receive higher inheritance shares than women. Women are also required to wear veils and be accompanied by male guardians in public places.

The polling results come as several high-profile Muslim political candidates such as Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed (D) are gaining increasing exposure. While El-Sayed’s campaign has said that he “opposes any effort by any religious community to write their faith laws into the laws of our country,” the candidate has also decried efforts to ban Sharia law in the U.S. such as Oklahoma’s 2010 referendum, saying in 2022 that such efforts are tantamount to “white supremacy.”

Experts like author, columnist, and podcaster Larry Alex Taunton say that Sharia law is incompatible with the constitutional freedoms inherent in America’s legal system.

“We need to recognize that it doesn’t deserve the respectability and protection as a religion,” he contended during “Washington Watch” Monday. “That’s because Sharia does not accept … freedom of religion, assembly, press, petition, speech — none of what is in the Bill of Rights. They do not accept our view of women. They do not accept our views regarding freedom. They do not accept the foundational principles of this particular country.”

Nonetheless, Taunton went on to observe that sympathy for Sharia law is gaining traction among young people due to ideological doctrines on perceived racism that are being propagated in higher education. “[A friend from] the University of Oregon texted me a copy of a book that a professor is requiring of his students that deals with immigration and basically says that Americans who oppose open borders are ‘xenophobic,’ that they are racist,” he related. “Now, of course, we know this is sheer nonsense, but we’re talking about students and classes who are being barraged with this kind of thing, who are being taught to feel rather than think.”

Taunton further detailed an experience at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. “[S]ome years ago, … I was speaking to students there who are on the ministerial track, specifically apologetics. And what I discovered was that their professor, who was himself woke … was not preparing future ministers of the gospel. He was preparing social justice warriors [and] was radicalizing his students. Now this is happening in evangelical institutions. Imagine what is happening in our state institutions. Imagine what’s happening in places like the Ivy League. … [S]tudents begin to … lick their finger [to] feel which way the social and political winds are going.”

As for how the trend can be reversed, Taunton emphasized that student engagement with the real world is key. “[If] … young people actually engag[e] with the real world … that’s the kind of thing that can often change a mind is when you think that the country you live in is racist and horrible, and then you travel outside of it and you begin to see the world, and you see how many people are trying to get into this country. You recognize, ‘Maybe I had it better than I thought I did.’”

Taunton also underscored the importance of personal engagement with young people in order to drill down on the weakness of the ideological positions being foisted on them. “[T]hey’re not being taught to think,” he noted. “When I engage with students in universities or elsewhere, when you really start scratching at the surface, what you discover is that they’re taught to feel, they’re taught to shut you down. They’re not taught to really think about these things. And when you’re able to actually engage with them gently and push on their worldview just a little bit, you begin to see that it crumbles.”

In addition, Taunton described how Islam and leftism “are being packaged together. We all hear of the so-called Red-Green Alliance, and that is a very real thing. And both of them are coming together in their universities, in their books, in the culture as a whole, in media, in entertainment. … I don’t think [students] know enough about Islam or for that matter, about leftism to actually think through these things.”

“They want to change our country because they keep being told how evil and racist it is, and the last thing these days anybody wants to be called is … racist,” Taunton added. “What’s kind of fun is to point out again, in conversation, ‘You do realize that Islam isn’t a race. It’s an ideology. … Do you recognize that?’ And you begin to see them kind of panic at the realization that they’re being sold a bill of goods that’s false.”

𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝐷𝑎𝑛 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑡. 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑.

10/12/2026

A response to Vice President JD Vance's comments on socialism, from an exiled Cuban journalist, writer, and producer.

"Socialism, classically, was about prioritizing workers. ... Now I think that, in reality, what it truly means in the American context is wanting to replace Ame

10/07/2026

A letter from Virginia pastors petitioning citizens to vote against amendments to the state constitution that would codify same-s*x marriage and abortion is gaining traction. On Tuesday morning, the document totaled 354 pastors’ signatures with room for more before November 3.

“We pray that this letter amplifies truth throughout the Commonwealth before Election Day, and that Amendments 1 and 2 are defeated.” Ben Purves, pastor of Community and Member Care at Occoquan Bible Church (OBC) in Woodbridge, Va., told The Washington Stand. “This letter presents ancient truths on the sanctity of life and marriage that the church has held from the beginning. These are biblical doctrines.”

David Schrock, pastor of Preaching and Theology at OBC, told TWS, “We’re going to continue to fight for the protection of life from the womb all the way to the tomb, and we’re going to fight for what marriage is according to God’s word.”

According to the Virginia Department of Elections, Amendment 1 would make abortion a “fundamental right,” giving women the power “to make and carry out decisions” when it comes to abortion “with only certain, specific exceptions.” Additionally, Amendment 2 would “(i) remove the ban on same-s*x marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of s*x, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law” if the Supreme Court were ever to overturn the ruling that legalized same-s*x marriage nationally.

Purves said that he’s encouraged by the growing number of pastors signing the letter. “Supporting abortion and redefining marriage is a fundamental rejection of historic Christian doctrine. The church must not abdicate its role when it comes to speaking for truth in the public square,” he shared. “It is the responsibility of every Christian voter to steward one’s vote to love one’s neighbor, protect innocent life, and uphold truth at the ballot box.”

Most of the pastors who have signed the letter hail from the Baptist faith tradition, but the only criteria to sign is simply that the pastor affirms the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation. President of the Southern Baptist Convention W***y Rice took to X to express his gratitude for the initiative of the pastors. “I’m grateful for their courage and willingness to engage,” he wrote.

Reverend Terrence Kim of Impact Church in Chantilly, Va., told TWS that the proposed amendments give Christians an opportunity to clearly speak biblical truth but also serve as a reminder: “We need to fulfill our duty of loving our neighbor. Give them something to eat, give them something to wear,” he said, referencing Scripture and explaining what it means for the church to care for its neighbors. “This is a good conversational starter as opposed to just another social issue that comes up every month or so,” he continued.

Data shows that churches are filling the gap of serving expectant mothers in need. In 2021, the Charlotte Lozier Institute reported that approximately 3,000 faith-based pregnancy centers existed in the U.S., offering life-affirming care.

“Calling people to vote against [the amendments] is really easy because it’s not a partisan issue. It really comes out of what the Bible says. We believe God is good, that His word is good, that it is true,” Schrock continued. “We’re just saying, if you believe these things from the Bible, that you should speak [on] them in all forums, including in the level of our constitution. That’s going to have an impact on our state.”

“There’s a place and a time to be able to say that one party today, I think, is anti-Christian,” he added. “I think the Democrats are anti-Christian, and certainly not protecting and preserving life. They’ve made it a party platform to enshrine abortion wherever they can.”

Schrock explained that what’s on the ballot in Virginia this November transcends partisan politics. “We’re not asking you to vote for a candidate or to pick a party or anything like that. … There’s a place for that, perhaps. But in this, it’s really simple to say there’s a straight line from what the Bible says to what these amendments say, and we want to help people to think about it.”

The pastor contended that those who support abortion and same-s*x marriage often use specific language to entice and confuse voters. “They’re going to frame it as positively as they can, as ‘health care’ for women, or to be able to provide ‘freedom’ for women on the abortion issue, and then again with the ‘freedom’ to be able to express your desires for marriage. But underneath that is something that is very insidious and destructive to the family, destructive to culture, destructive to human life.”

Schrock explained that the type of pastor that concerns him is one that would affirm the biblical realities of marriage and life but refrains from touching on anything related to politics. “I really want to spur pastors on to say, look, this is something that’s really clear, and it’s going to have life and death implications for the abortion issue. It’s going to have family implications.”

Jesse Johnson, the lead teaching pastor at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, Va., told TWS that it’s a low bar for Christians to have to say that it shouldn’t be a constitutional right to kill babies.

“Marriage predates law, and sanctity of life predates law,” Johnson said. “It falls to the government to protect human life and to regulate marriage, but it does not fall to the government to define human life or to define marriage. That’s what Christians often refer to as ‘common grace,’ the truth of marriage and life is something that extends regardless of your religion.”

“This is not Christians forcing their religion on somebody,” he continued. “This is recognizing common grace that everybody who’s been born has been born from a father and a mother and has been allowed to survive childbirth. …This isn’t even so much of a Christian issue or trying to legislate morality or anything like that. It’s recognizing the reality of how God made the world and voting in accordance with that.”

𝑊𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑄𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑛 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟. 𝑃𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑡𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑.