Pastor and Senate Candidate Adam Hamilton Questions Biblical Interpretations

In a video from 2015, Democratic Senate candidate and pastor Adam Hamilton raised questions about how much “tolerance” Christians should exhibit when grappling with the Bible. He specifically pondered whether it was acceptable to label the Apostle Paul as “wrong.”

Hamilton made these remarks during an event organized by an LGBTQ-affirming Christian group at a pastors’ conference held by the Religious Reform Project, a nonprofit established in 2013 by Matthew Vines aimed at changing church teachings on sexual orientation and gender identity.

While engaging with members of his congregation who identified as gay, Hamilton noted that they expressed a lack of guidance on how to interpret the Bible. He found himself questioning the divine inspiration of certain texts and the extent of interpretative freedom one should have. “How much latitude should we give to that? Where can I say I think Paul is wrong here?” he reflected, calling this notion quite unsettling for someone who reads the Bible daily.

Hamilton recounted that tensions regarding these issues emerged during sermons he delivered in 2001. A pivotal message for him centered on the topic of divine violence in the Old Testament, which he came to see as contradictory to Jesus’s teachings. This led him to conclude that the Bible contained more cultural context than he had previously acknowledged.

“It affects how I read Bible passages that often apply to same-sex relationships,” Hamilton admitted.

In a sermon from January 2025, Hamilton revisited the Apostle Paul while discussing Mary Magdalene. He argued that churches prohibiting women from preaching had misinterpreted Paul’s letters. He suggested that instead of emulating Jesus’s treatment of Mary Magdalene, these churches defaulted to Paul’s first-century views. Reports indicate that Hamilton called Paul “wrong” regarding women and ministry in this sermon.

Currently, Hamilton is contesting against incumbent Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) in the Kansas Senate race. As the senior pastor of Resurrection Church—the largest United Methodist congregation in the U.S.—he recently won the Democratic primary.

Hamilton further claimed there are “hundreds” of errors in the Bible. In a 2022 sermon, he even implied that followers of other religions, including Islam and Hinduism, might attain heaven and recognize Jesus after death.

Recent public policy polls showed Marshall leading with 46% and Hamilton trailing slightly at 45%, with 9% of voters still undecided. Notably, pollsters tend to have a Democratic leaning, and analysts have recently shifted the race designation from “safe Republican” to “probably Republican.”