-
You never know the day your life will change—or the person who will change it. For me, her name was Om Hassan. I was 23, an American soldier…
-
Rising Together with Preemptive Love
EDITOR’S NOTE: To celebrate the recent launch of the Red Letter Marketplace, we’re touching base with some of our featured organizations to chat more about their good work toward justice…
-
Swallowing Stones
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article by Rev. Susan Chorley is part of the Radvent series, a daily devotional for radicals and would-be radicals. “I wonder if there is a time in…
-
Worthy of the Fruits of Justice
By Kaji DoušaEDITOR’S NOTE: This reflection by Kaji Douša is part of the 2019 Growing the Light: Advent Reflections on Farmworker Justice. “He said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned…
-
The Justice System is Broken
Jesus was arrested, given a trial, tortured, and then crucified on a cross — a criminal’s death. This should remind Christians that societal systems of justice are imperfect — and…
-
Mary’s Subversive Song
By Ryan KujaFind any nativity set, and we all know the familiar characters: Mary, Joseph, the little baby Jesus, and the various barnyard animals. Mary’s story is central to the Christmas narrative…
-
The White Evangelical Persecution Complex
It is widely known that white American evangelical Christians feel they are under siege. In 2017, pollsters at the Public Religion Research Institute asked Americans about their perceptions of discrimination…
-
American Jesus, Stay Away from Me
I once heard a fantastic sermon at my alma mater, Indiana Wesleyan University, the kind that stays with you over half a decade. I would credit the man who gave…
-
The Red Letter Marketplace
Dear Red Letter Movement family, We’re pumped to officially announce our newest international initiative: The Red Letter Marketplace! www.redletterchristiansmarketplace.com We have created a hub for missional businesses on our website…
-
Wake Up! A New Day of Justice Is Dawning!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This reflection by Brian McLaren is part of the 2019 Growing the Light: Advent Reflections on Farmworker Justice. “Besides this, you know what time it is, how it…
-
Henri Nouwen on Celebrating the Holidays — and Every Day
By Henri NouwenEditor’s note: This is an excerpt from the posthumously published “Following Jesus: Finding Our Way Home in An Age of Anxiety,” by the late Henri Nouwen. Celebration is what we…
-
Mark Charles and Soong-Chan Rah Share ‘Unsettling Truths’ in New Book
Via RNS — President Donald Trump and independent presidential candidate Mark Charles agree on at least one thing. When Trump declared November for the first time to be National American…
-
Growing the Light: Advent & Farmworker Justice
By RLC EditorThe season of Advent draws us into a time of anticipation and preparation with all who long for release from oppression. This Advent, the unwavering allies of the Coalition of…
-
Paige Patterson’s Career Ended After She Came Forward. Her Struggle Continues.
Via RNS — Megan Lively glanced down furtively to the copious notes she had jotted in a thick spiral-bound notebook resting in her lap. She was about to speak to…
-
The Power of Prayer, Vulnerability, and Interdependence
From the time I was a child, I was taught that as a Black girl who would one day become a Black woman, I needed to work twice as hard…
-
Learning Resistance and Courage From Ida B. Wells
My earliest act of resistance came when I was a teenager, when I was taken to the local doctor. He had a waiting room for black patients in a dimly…
-
Sex Scandals Show Why Evangelicals Need to Recover the Sacrament of Confession
Via RNS — Recent news that popular Christian comedian John Crist has been accused of sexual harassment put the spotlight once again on sexual sin within the church. This would not,…
-
Why Jesus Followers Should Be Prison Abolitionists
I am about to be a public defender, and not one that just helps the system move along or only works hard for innocent people, but the kind of public…
-
The Rise of Fundamentalist Catholicism
By Mark SilkVia RNS — It is normal and customary to identify Pope Francis’ conservative critics as “traditionalists.” But much of what they say is a far cry from Catholic tradition —…
-
Paula White and the Mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article from Sightings refers mainly to white American Pentecostalism, and does not acknowledge the thriving presence of Black, Latinx, and Asian Pentecostalism in the U.S. and around the world — many…
-
A Feast in the Wilderness
One day the teaching session had gone on so long that it was getting toward dusk when we suddenly realized nobody had eaten anything all day. It was too late…
-
Could a Revived ‘Theology of Hope’ Restore Faith in Hopeless Times?
Recently, I’ve been pursuing instances of “hope,” which, one would think, are usual and non-rare. But if you pay even marginal attention to media, politics, arts and, yes, religion, you…
-
Debunking the Trump-Cyrus Prophecy
Why on earth does the Religious Right cling so desperately to Donald Trump’s presidency? One answer has to do with a supposed biblical prophecy that Trump has come to fulfill,…
-
Cast No Stones
By Chris BrownEDITOR’S NOTE: This reflection is from Dr. Chris Brown, the son of a criminal sentenced to death. His book, Child of Grace: A Death Row Story, takes you on a…
-
Why Trump — Not Jesus — Is at the Heart of White Christian Love for Kanye
By Andre HenryVia RNS — Rapper Kanye West is once again being likened to the Apostle Paul, and this time, it’s not just Kanye making the comparison. After Kanye released his highly anticipated…
-
Is Jesus King of Kanye’s Bank Account?
Via RNS — Well, the new Kanye album “Jesus Is King” is all the buzz. It’s expected to sell 65,000 to 85,000 copies this week alone, and a quarter of a million…
-
A Christian Response to the Rise of Extremism in Iraq
By Kathy KellyYesterday morning (Oct. 27), President Trump announced the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and three of Baghdadi’s children. President Trump said Baghdadi, the founder of ISIS, was fleeing U.S. military…
-
Mourning Elijah Cummings, Preachers and Presidents Recall a Man of Faith
By Jack JenkinsVia RNS — After news broke last week (Oct. 17) that Maryland Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings had died, many were quick to note that one of the last things the longstanding…
-
Where Are Our Safe Spaces?
As a Christian, I often contemplate what is expected of me as a believer. How should I treat my neighbor? How should I respond to life’s events? How should I…
-
Jury Convicts 7 Catholic Pacifists of Breaking Into Nuclear Submarine Base
Via RNS — A federal jury on Thursday (Oct. 24) convicted seven Catholic peace activists of three felonies and a misdemeanor for breaking into a nuclear submarine base in Kings…
-
‘Border Church’ and ‘Border Mosque’ Team up for Prayer Service
Via RNS — For more than a decade, the Rev. John Fanestil, a United Methodist minister, has held a Sunday service at Friendship Park, a historic meeting place on the…
-
Progressives: Let’s Leave Room for Others to Make Progress
By Nick LaParraVia RNS — Two weekends ago, Ellen DeGeneres attended a Dallas Cowboys football game and was seated next to her friend, the 43rd president of the United States, George W.…
-
Why Three Temptations?
As noted, there were three temptations given us, but scripture is clear; there were 40 days of continuous temptation, not just three on the last day. The three given us…
-
How We Can Use the Current Crisis in Politics and Christianity to Reclaim Jesus
By Jim WallisI remember a breakfast conversation with a member of Congress in Washington, DC, in 2017 about the relationship between faith and politics. He asked, with deep puzzlement in his eyes,…
-
Who Carries the Vision?
Around the moment when the hand of our historical clock was ticking from B.C. to A.D., Herod ruled Judea as a puppet of Rome. Granted the title “King of Judea,”…
-
Seeing Jesus in Unexpected Places
By Elrena EvansThis is the baritone played in fourth grade band by the kid who got kicked out of kindergarten. This is the Book Club selection read by the kid who got…
-
SCOTUS: In God’s Image
By Jacqui LewisThis week, the Supreme Court is hearing the cases of people who were fired because they are gay or trans. Many use biblical interpretation to undergird prejudices against LGBTQIA people.…
-
Let’s Not Ask Botham Jean’s Family to Choose Forgiveness over Justice
Via RNS — Sometimes it can feel like you are better off being white and guilty in America than Black and innocent. As I watched the recent trial of Amber…
-
Christians in Support of the Impeachment Inquiry
EDITOR’S NOTE: On October 1-2, 2019, Red Letter Christians gathered in Goldsboro, North Carolina for a Red Letter Revival to lift up Jesus and justice. While President Trump has claimed…
-
How a Courtroom Ritual of Forgiveness Absolves White America
Via RNS — Last week, fired Dallas police officer Amber R. Guyger, who is white, received a sentence of 10 years in prison for the murder of an unarmed black…
-
God Is Not Dead!
I sat near the back pew at Goldsboro District Assembly, after the ushers asked me to move up a few pews. Didn’t you know that pastors, especially Lutheran ones, abhor…
-
Deconstructing: When the Price is Belonging
A few years ago I walked out of the church I had attended and served at for many years. I didn’t really have a choice. I followed Jesus out of…
-
#GOLDSBOROREVIVAL LIVESTREAM
By RLC EditorIt’s time for a Christianity that looks like Jesus again. It’s time for gospel preaching and prophetic witness. It’s time to return to the things Jesus said. It’s revival time!…
-
It’s Revival Time!
Christianity in America is in a funk. The same people who led many of us to Christ have also led us to Trump. In 2016, 81 percent of white evangelicals…
-
We Are Not of Those Who Shrink Back
Dr. King once diagnosed America as having a septic commitment to racism, poverty, and militarism that was destroying the nation’s soul and ripping apart its moral promises and possibilities. And…
-
Who’s an Evangelical and Who Gets to Decide?
By Thomas KiddVia RNS — The most often repeated story about religion and politics these days is the evangelical love affair with Donald Trump. Virtually every week we get another story of…
-
My Tension with Kanye West’s ‘Sunday Service’
“He’s fashionable, he’s reaching a lot of people who weren’t going to church, and he sits with people who have diverse opinions.” I’ve heard a wide range of thoughts about…
-
Left Behind: How End Times Heresies Undermine Evangelical Action on Climate
By Don GoldenClimate Week kicked off in New York City this week (September 23-29) as a matter of global urgency. Organized in collaboration with the United Nations, the week is meant to showcase…
-
Smuggling Justice
By Laura MelvinI had no plans to step into one of my favorite parables, but sometimes you meet someone in need along a road. Sometimes, it’s really not a choice to walk…
-
People of Faith Know What Must Be Done on Climate Change
Via RNS — As America’s youth march in the climate strike this week and United Nations leaders discuss climate change at their summit in New York, the climate crisis is…
-
Why Is Temptation So Tempting?
Lu 4:3-4 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written,…
-
Love Your Neighbor: Use Their Preferred Pronoun
Via RNS — Last month, hundreds of thousands of freshly minted high school graduates stepped onto university campuses for their first day of classes as freshman college students. It is…
-
Amazing Grace in the ‘Killing House’
Behind my desk there sits a clock, crafted by Terry King, a man who has become my friend and who has lived in Unit 2 on death row in Tennessee…
-
‘The Neck That Turns the Head’
Everybody’s talking about this recent Politico article outlining the underbelly of Liberty University President and Trump fanboy Jerry Falwell, Jr., and I figured as the author of a book on Trump-supporting Christians, I…
-
Netflix Exposes Massive Dysfunction in ‘The Family’
By Rob SchenckIn the five episodes of the Netflix documentary mini-series, The Family, based on a book of the same title by investigative reporter Jeff Sharlet, we learn a lot about a…
-
Using Stories to Bridge the Empathy Gap
When it comes to challenges such as the crisis at the southern border, restrictions on voting rights and problematic policing, our culture has an empathy gap. While these issues register…
-
We Are Too Old Not to Get Arrested for Children at the Border
Via RNS — One of the most important tasks of any community’s elders is to protect children — all children. One obligation of rabbis is to love Torah, live Torah…
-
Ted Cruz Takes Alyssa Milano to Bible Study — with an NRA Edition of the Bible
Via RNS — It takes some serious theological gymnastics to twist the Bible to defend guns. Ted Cruz was the largest recipient of National Rifle Association funds in the Senate…
-
Why Christians Leaving Churches Today May Be Christianity’s Best Hope for Tomorrow
By Peter OliverOne of the reasons many people leave churches may be that too many churches place too much emphasis on the importance of human rules and traditions, and not enough emphasis…
-
Chasing Resurrection: How Conservation Is Gospel Work
We need varying strategies for convincing Christians to invest in environmental conservation. Some read Genesis 1 with an extended interpretation of what “dominion” should really mean. Others appeal to personal…
-
Stressed-Out Anglican Priests Turn to Trade Unions for Support
Via RNS — The archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, was an oil executive who helped run a major corporation before he…
-
#GoldsboroRevival: Challenging the Distorted Moral Narrative of the Religious Right
By RLC EditorWe’re thrilled to announce that we’re partnering with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II and Repairers of the Breach to co-host a two-night Red Letter Revival on October 1st and…
-
Dear Gov. Lee: Pray with These Brothers in Christ on Death Row
By Kevin RiggsRecently Gov. Bill Lee was challenged by a reporter to personally witness Tennessee’s next execution. Gov. Lee said while he had thought about doing so, he has never felt compelled…
-
ICE Raids in Mississippi: White Crosses, Brown Babies, and Black Jesus
Last weekend I sat with a group of traumatized children in a small, rural sanctuary and listened to their stories. Their lives had been ripped apart by the ICE raids.…
-
A Survivors’ Guide on How to Navigate Sexual Abuse in the Headlines
Hey, other survivors, I see you. You are not alone. People supporting survivors, I see you too. Thanks for standing with us when we can feel so alone. On days when…
-
Why Trump — and Some of His Followers — Believe He Is the Chosen One
Via RNS — This week, President Trump took on two new titles, one bestowed upon him, and the other self-proclaimed. First, in a series of tweets, the president quoted Wayne Allyn Root,…
-
Sister Helen Prejean on New Book, Getting Rid of Death Penalty, and Getting Jesus ‘Right’
Via RNS — Sister Helen Prejean wants to get religion “right.” But too often, she said, people use religion, including Christianity, for the wrong reasons. That includes Scripture used by…
-
Red Letter Ethics: Putting First Things First
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is written by the editor of Christian Ethics Today, which strives to express, teach, and encourage disciples to look to the red letters of the Bible…
-
Abandoning Faith to Find It
By Jim ZartmanWe are starting to see a pattern, and we need to respond differently. Hillsong worship leader and song writer Marty Sampson recently posted on Instagram about losing his faith: Time…
-
Taking Love Out of the Statue of Liberty
I am not one who believes there is such a thing as a “Christian nation” or who imagines that the United States counts as one. Nevertheless, there are aspects of…
-
Lip Service is Not Enough: Trump Should Repent and Resign
Every pastor knows the difference between the grace of the Gospel — salvation through faith in Christ and repentance for our sins — and what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace,”…
-
Thy Will Be Done
By Morf Morford“You’ve got to think of people first,” he said in defense of yet another blatant assault on the environment in the name of creature comforts. I was stunned to hear…
-
How to Practice Radical Generosity
By Julie LongIn one scene in the Richard Bach novel Illusions: Adventures of the Reluctant Messiah, the main character cracks open The Messiah’s Handbook, a book that opens to whatever the reader…
-
Pastoral Letter on the El Paso Shootings
“If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not…
-
The Grace of Red State Christians
As I came to the end of writing Red State Christians, I kept remembering something an editor of a Christian magazine had written to me, after reading a story I’d…
-
Hurricane Maria’s Victims Have Been Mocked All Along
We had to fly my aunt to Buffalo, New York, to undergo emergency surgery. Which shouldn’t be newsworthy but it very much is because she is diabetic and was unable…
-
When There Are No Words Left
By Molly SmerkoOn Saturday night, I went to bed with the knowledge of two things: another mass shooting just occurred in the United States, and I still needed to write the prayers…
-
The First Letters in Red
Matt 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13 Ever wonder “what are the first letters in red”? “What was Jesus’ first teachings or sayings”? “Who was his first audience”? What did he say?…
-
Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton, and the Normalization of Violence
By Thomas ReeseVia RNS — As a bad Catholic, I need to make a confession. I no longer pay attention to mass shootings. If I see a headline in the newspaper or…
-
What Did Church Teach White Students Posing with Guns in Front of Emmett Till Marker?
By Jemar TisbyThe investigative news agency ProPublica last week released a photo showing three white students from the University of Mississippi posing with guns in front of a bullet-riddled marker dedicated to Emmett Till. White…
-
Uncivil War: Gilroy, Guns, & White Anger
What is there left to say after two children and a young man the age of my youngest child are murdered? Their killer, at a Garlic Festival in Gilroy, Calif.,…
-
America Doesn’t Need More Death
We should all be deeply troubled by this week’s announcement by Attorney General William Barr that the federal government plans to resume executions. Not only did he announce his intention,…
-
Who Will America Be?
My organization, Repairers of the Breach, joined major denominational and faith leaders recently to launch Moral Monday at the Borderlands. The purpose of the event was to highlight the crisis…
-
A Revolution of Love with RLC UK
Last month, the Red Letter Christians movement went international. It was ambitious to pull off 27 events in 10 days in half a dozen cities across the UK. But we…
-
Why I’m No Longer Listening to Complementarians
I recently heard about a campaign organized by many Christians to get the Amazon Prime Show, “Good Omens,” taken off the platform. Jokes on them for not doing their research…
-
It’s Time to Revive Religious Civil Disobedience
By John GehringVia RNS — The Catholic nuns who occupied a revered place of awe and fear in my childhood psyche never talked about the the holy tradition of civil disobedience. But…
-
Belief Is Easy
By Chris EblingAs we move further into the 21st century, I am confronted more and more by Christians demanding that I believe a certain way. They say, “If you believe in the…
-
How Being Unaffected Is a Sign of Privilege
I once worked for an organization whose executive roundtable was comprised of all older, white men. At some point in time, these people had to be hired. A position would…
-
What It Feels Like to Be Told ‘Go Back Where You Came From’
Via RNS — Over the past few days, the president of the United States has publicly announced his racism through a series of tweets targeting four women of color who…
-
Facing the Church’s Complicity in Racism
How many prophets will it take to repent of the United States’ original sin? For white Christians in the U.S. to acknowledge and turn away from our complicity in racism,…
-
Why One Cannot Follow Jesus and Support Trump
Throughout the Gospel narratives, the Jesus we most often encounter is one of kind and encouraging words delivered with a divinely-inspired and gentle grace, purposeful poise, radical hospitality, and an…
-
Churches Don’t Need Unflappable CEOs. They Need Non-Anxious Parents.
By Eric MintonWhen I was an impressionable college student exploring “the ministry,” a well-intentioned someone gave me Good to Great by Jim Collins in hopes of helping me increase “my reach” as…
-
Nuns & Nones Helps Millennials Find Surprise Soulmates in Catholic Sisters
Via RNS — The Dominican sisters sat in silence, eyes closed, palms upturned, couches and chairs pushed together into a circle in the room at the Dominican Center at Marywood…
-
“Which Church Is True?” Isn’t the Right Question Anymore
By Jana RiessVia RNS — I’m going to the Hill Cumorah pageant this weekend for the first time. The cast-of-hundreds pageant is going away after next summer, the victim of a 2018…
-
Awaiting Trial for Breaking into a Nuclear Base, 7 Catholic Activists Are Unrepentant
Via RNS — In April of last year, on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a group of seven aging Catholic activists assembled…
-
The Jesus Truth + The Jesus Way
Modern American evangelicals have made salvation something altogether different than discipleship. This was true of the kind of evangelicalism that nurtured my faith in my teens and twenties. Billy Graham–style…
-
Results Not Typical
Have you ever watched a TV commercial or read a print advertisement that made something look deceivingly easy? I’m thinking about those weight loss companies that put out their most…
-
The ‘Imaginary God’ of Rev. Robert Jeffress
Who is God? Any human answers fall far short. God is beyond our comprehension and formulation. Anything we say of God is little more than stuttering and mumbling. But that…
-
Onward Christian Soldiers
By Chris EblingAttending church services around the 4th of July always makes me uneasy. As I walked up the steps to the sanctuary at my church this year, I knew what to expect.…
-
Hispanic Evangelical Group Offers to House Migrant Children in Churches
Via RNS — The head of the largest Hispanic evangelical Christian network in the United States announced it will offer to work with the Trump administration to provide resources and shelter to…
-
Let’s Talk About Reparations
We aren’t the first civilization to debate reparations. In an excerpt from an ancient Jewish scroll known as “The Scroll of Fasting,” Egyptians lodged a complaint about how the Jewish…