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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…
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Why God Can’t Take Away Suffering
By Michael RansIn his book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, Thomas Jay Oord delves into the heart of one of the most…
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The 10 Most Dangerous Places to Be a Christian
By Open DoorsThe Christian persecution we read about in scripture is not a thing of the past. It still exists. And today, in the 21st century, we are living in a time…
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Are Churches Willing to Love Their Young People More Than Their Politics?
Change is part of the journey into young adulthood, the years in which Americans are most likely to move, attend college and change jobs. For the past 12 years, LifeWay…
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On Taking Up Space
By Lily DunnA few weeks ago, a friend mentioned offhand that he was headed to the gym. He jokingly added that his mantra is, “Must get bigger.” I laughed and told him…
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We Are Not All There Is
We went to see the volcanoes, but all the parking lots, the chain of craters, and hiking trails were blocked off. We saw the steam vents, because they are on…
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Do This — All of This
EDITOR’S NOTE: This excerpt is from Steve Daugherty’s book Experiments in Honesty: Meditations on Love, Fear and the Honest to God Naked Truth (Worthy Publishing, 2018). All rights reserved. Used…
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Jewish Lending Groups Step in to Help Their Furloughed Kin
Jewish groups are pitching in to help the estimated 50,000 Jewish furloughed federal workers across the country who will lose their paychecks if the government shutdown continues until Friday (Jan.…
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The Power & Privilege of the Pulpit
By Molly SmerkoI recently returned from a four-day preaching festival of young preachers from all over the country. Over those four days, I had the privilege of hearing sermons from many diverse…
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How to Write for Red Letter Christians
By RLC EditorInterested in writing for Red Letter Christians? We’d be delighted to consider your work! Take a look at the content on our site to familiarize yourself with our voice and…
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Red Letter Christians Gear up for UK Launch
By Rosie DawsonThe evangelical movement known as Red Letter Christians, still a relatively little-known, left-leaning counter to the Christian right in the United States, is breaking new ground at the invitation of…
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Pope to Church: Bring Abusers to Justice
By Thomas ReeseShortly before Christmas, Pope Francis declared in response to the sexual abuse crisis that “the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice…
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What’s Coming for Religion in 2019? Here’s What the Experts Predict
By Aysha KhanVia RNS — 2018 saw wave after wave of new revelations about the extent of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis. It saw deadly hate crimes, the explosion of state-sponsored…
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2018 in Review: A Year of Reckoning for Powerful Religious Figures
By Bob SmietanaA year ago Bill Hybels was the well-respected pastor of one of the most influential megachurches in the nation. Theodore McCarrick was a prince of the Catholic Church, and Michael…
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From the Manger to the Cross: Mourning the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents
In December, Christians delight in lifting from the gospels the most iconic moments of the Christmas story: the angelic visits, shepherds flooded in glory light, Mary and Joseph silhouetted beside…
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What Have We Been Waiting For?
By Bill CayleyWas Christmas all that you hoped for? Did you get all the presents you wanted? Did you get to sing all your favorite carols? Did you get to feast, without…
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Yes, Donald Trump, There Is A Santa Claus
Call him the Grinch in Chief. Or, the Killjoy of the Free World. In a Christmas Eve call, Trump asked a 7-year-old named Collman Lloyd whether the child still believes in Santa…
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Advent 4: Incarnating God’s Strength
By Cory DriverEditor’s Note: A reflection for the fourth Sunday of Advent, according to the lectionary. Many post-Enlightenment biblical scholars have been embarrassed by the anthropomorphization of God in the Bible. They reasoned…
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Embrace the Work of Christmas
Across the globe, from small communities in southern India to the splendor of the Vatican in Rome to homes across Oregon, people will gather Christmas Day to celebrate the birth…
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In the Name of the Christ Child Refugee
In the “refugee” camp just outside of Tijuana, it is beginning to rain. For the hundreds of women and children inside the building, the rain is a minor annoyance. For…
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Converting the Missionaries Among Us: Lessons from Jesus in Luke 4
“Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah…
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What Keeps Us Safe?
I’m sitting here at my neighborhood coffee shop, thousands of miles away from all the ostensibly dangerous Central American migrants and their families threatening to cross the southern border, bringing…
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Advent 3: Turning Aside from Fear & Abusive Systems
By Cory DriverEditor’s Note: A reflection for the third Sunday of Advent, according to the lectionary. How often does it happen that we are afraid to get out of a bad system or…
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Holiday Grief: An Unwelcome Guest Deserving of Radical Hospitality
We humans are incredibly vulnerable. We are all susceptible to tragedy and loss and the grief that follows. The holidays can be a time of intensified grief for many of…
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Your Middle Class Church Is Shrinking Because the American Middle Class Is Shrinking
By Eric MintonSTANDARD DISCLAIMER: Let me begin by saying that nothing you’re going to read in this piece is terribly radical. However, it will feel radical for almost all of us reading…
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Ending the Year #MeToo Went to Church, Wheaton Summit to Discuss Evangelical Response
For years, Nancy Beach had no idea there were women with stories similar to hers. Beach, the first woman to serve as a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, said…
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Love Knows No Borders: At Least 30 Faith Leaders Arrested in Border Protest
By Jack JenkinsAfter a tense standoff with officials at the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday (Dec. 10), at least 30 American clergy were taken into custody over the objections of demonstrators, who had…
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Advent 2: Is This Good News?
By Cory DriverEditor’s Note: A reflection for the second Sunday of Advent, according to the lectionary. John the Baptizer would have been a stumbling block for me. Initially, I feel attracted to…
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The Opposite of Christianity
By Morf MorfordMost people might think that atheism is the opposite of Christianity. It isn’t. Atheism is the opposite of theism — the belief in a divine being, or many of them,…
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Good News in a Difficult World
By Tony CampoloIn the midst of all the discouraging news that come our way from print and online media, I have some good news to report. In the words of the early…
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It’s Time for a Grand Compromise on Religious Freedom and Contraceptives
By Thomas ReeseThose who felt that the Obama administration was heavy-handed in its promotion of reproductive rights are pleased with the Trump administration’s support of religious freedom in these areas. Not only…
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Missions & the Mythology of Western Christian Supremacy
By Ryan KujaThe Washington Post piece by missiologist Ed Stetzer presents John Chau as an extremely well prepared missionary who did nearly everything right in his quest to convert the Sentinelese to…
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Getting Through A Christmas of Grief
By Jana Riess“Christmas can be a time of joy but also of tears, memory and prayer. Celebration does not always come easily.” So describes Wounded in Spirit: Advent Art and Meditations, a gorgeous…
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ICE’s War on Christmas
The day after Thanksgiving, while many families were still enjoying their holiday together, Samuel Oliver-Bruno went with his wife, son, and fellow church members to an appointment at the U.S.…
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Tear Gassing Children is Not Christian
As Americans finished up Thanksgiving celebrations, immigrant children fleeing violence in their home countries were tear gassed at the border. President Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and racist, fear-mongering rhetoric are to…
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Missions: Is It Love or Colonization?
John Allen Chau’s life could be summed up in two sentences, according to his family. He loved God. And he had “nothing but love for the Sentinelese people.” Chau, a…
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After Arrest of Protected Immigrant, Sanctuary Church Members Cry out for Justice
Two days after government agents had forcibly detained Samuel Oliver-Bruno, an undocumented immigrant who had taken sanctuary at the CityWell Church, congregants stood up one after another at a Sunday…
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When Jesus Doesn’t Meet Our Expectations
As the saying goes, expectations are premeditated resentments. Yet expectations accumulate like stains on a white couch, appearing without us knowing when or from where they originated. As a teenager,…
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After Synagogue Shooting, Fresh Thoughts on Giving Thanks
David Feldstein knew seven of the 11 people killed in the synagogue. For Augie Siriano, they all were friends. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers was leading Shabbat services when the gunshots rang out.…
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What Does Having A Meal Mean for Our Souls?
By Andrew GreerMy childhood was rather idyllic, at least as my memory serves me. My father’s profession was in the marriage and family counseling field, and my mother’s work was in music. My…
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To Build Up or To Tear Down?
By Bill CayleyMany who live in the U.S. feel proud to be part of a “developed” country, and it is not unusual to hear “third world” countries used disparagingly as examples of…
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#RubyWooPilgrimage18: White-Washed Walls and Halls
EDITOR’S NOTE: A reflection on the 2018 Ruby Woo Pilgrimage, a sacred journey through the intersectional story of the struggle of women for equality in the U.S. We sat in…
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Don’t Sleep Through the Revolution
EDITOR’S NOTE: A word from RLC co-founder Shane Claiborne as the #DallasRevival kicks off (November 16-17, 2018). Christianity in America is in a funk. The latest evidence of that is…
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#DALLASREVIVAL LIVESTREAM
By RLC EditorEDITOR’S NOTE: The livestream has now ended. To view recorded videos, click on the “event posts” button in the video menu above. Scroll down to view the “Red Letter Revival Saturday…
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Can America Be Great Again?
By Tony CampoloAfter surveying America, the brilliant French journalist, Alexis de Tocqueville declared: “America is great because America is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, it will cease to…
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Finding Lutheran Theology in ‘The Good Place’
By Ross MurrayTheology is not often portrayed in popular culture. Morality may appear, often in the form of a good vs. evil battle (which is often more of a physical battle than…
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This is the Year of the Faithful Widow in Politics
In a rebuke of President Trump and the Republican party’s racism, attacks on health care, the separation immigrant children from their parents, and failure to confront sexual abuse, women turned…
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As Evangelicals Win with Trump, Little ‘Good News’ Is Left in the Religious Right
By Jacob LupferThe story of the 2018 midterms for me came not on Election Day but at a Republican campaign rally in Missouri Monday night (Nov. 5), when President Trump’s speech was…
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Vote for Life & Love
About 20 years ago, some pranksters in Philadelphia set up an election-day voting station… only they used porta-potties instead of voting booths. There are elections when you feel like you…
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Trump’s Nativism Harks Back to the Antebellum Slavery Struggle
By Mark SilkThe Wall got Donald Trump elected in 2016, so we shouldn’t be surprised that he has focused on immigration in the final days before the midterms. It serves as a useful reminder…
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When the Bible Gets in the Way of Following Jesus
By Jon HuckinsAs the migrant caravan moves through Central America and Mexico toward our border, my heart is heavy and saddened as I watch so many compassionate people talk about this group…
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Christians Can’t Allow the Bible Belt to Be the ‘Death Belt’
I’ll never forget the first time I visited Tennessee’s death row. On my way to visit the men in Unit 2 at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, I…
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‘Who We Vote for Matters’: A Message from Nuns on the Bus
As I stood alongside members of Congress, economic experts, and faith leaders, it was a mom and her nine-year-old daughter in matching t-shirts who stole the show and our hearts.…
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Stand in the Name of Love
It is times such as these when the twin specters of hate and violence rise once again to remind us that they can still wound us. They can still reach…
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Why Nationalism is Dangerous and Incompatible with Christianity
Speaking at a recent election rally for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Trump admitted to being a nationalist: “You know, they have a word. It sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called…
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How Biology (and the Bible) Breaks the Binary of Human Sexuality
By Erin LaneIn a misguided move for clarity, President Trump, along with the Health and Human Services Department, is suggesting that sex be defined as an immutable, biological fact, determined at birth…
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We Are Not Meant to Be Silent
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout October, we have been engaging in an online book study of Kathy Khang’s Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How We Speak Up. Read this closing reflection based…
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Why Vote?
I know many of us are feeling discouraged, if not downright depressed. The onslaught of corruption, unprecedented violations of process, and absence of adherence to basic values of democracy are…
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7 Thoughts on Christian Living from Eugene Peterson
By Jana RiessEugene Peterson died yesterday (Monday). I wasn’t surprised at his death — RNS reported last week that he had entered hospice care — but I was surprised by my reaction to it. I…
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The Church’s Oppression of Women
American Christianity has been a horrible place for women. It ignores them, abuses them, assaults them, objectifies them, oppresses them, and then attempts to theologically rationalize it all as being…
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In Pursuit of Biblical Christianity
By Bill CayleyWhen questions relating to the common good arise, especially in relation to issues such as poverty, health care, immigration, and equity in general, discussion sooner or later casts the issue…
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Politics as a Substitute for Religion Will Inevitably Let You Down
They pore over Nate Silver’s political data analyses with the rapt attention of day traders sizing up the stock market. Every day brings emotional peaks and valleys with each up…
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Breaking the Bonds of White Silence
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout October, we’re engaging in an online book study of Kathy Khang’s Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How We Speak Up. Along the way, we’ll offer a reflection…
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How Howard Thurman Can Help Christians Heal Their Political Divides
By Jemar TisbyIn his timeless book “Jesus and the Disinherited,” Black minister and theologian Howard Thurman wrote, “There is one overmastering problem that the socially and politically disinherited always face: Under what…
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Where Have All the Sad Songs Gone?
By Marty DurenHurricanes, fires and floods leave dozens dead. Mass shootings devastate schools, churches and public spaces. Leaders reel under accusations of corruption and misconduct. And congregations sing songs of joy. Though…
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On God’s Side?
Right along party lines, Brett Kavanaugh was finally confirmed to the Supreme Court. Those same party lines, unfortunately, also divide us in our communities and drive us far apart. Some…
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Finding Your Voice
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout October, we’re engaging in an online book study of Kathy Khang’s Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How We Speak Up. Along the way, we’ll offer a reflection…
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Man Enough to Ask for Help
From the time I was a kid, I had been taught that being strong meant that you handle things, that you deal with things on your own, that you fix…
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The Wounds of Evangelical Purity Culture
As a teenager, I went to the sandbox in the empty playground beside my church when I wanted to be alone. I dug my bare feet down deep, cooling them…
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Just Keep Walking
By Morf MorfordOne of my favorite parables of Jesus is the story about “The Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37). This story is simple, direct, and familiar — and usually dissected and analyzed into…
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Just Keep Walking
By Morf MorfordOne of my favorite parables of Jesus is story about “The Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37). This story is simple, direct, and familiar — and usually dissected and analyzed into vaporous…
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Beloved, Take Up Space
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout October, we’re engaging in an online book study of Kathy Khang’s Raise Your Voice: Why We Stay Silent and How We Speak Up. Along the way, we’ll offer a reflection…
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How Christians Should Respond to Refugees and Immigrants
All of us in the United States arrived here as immigrants, refugees, or slaves. The only exception is Native Americans. This land was originally their land. For the immigrant, the…
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Red Letter Christians Go to Court with Judge Wendell Griffen
By Tony CampoloIn our struggle against capital punishment, Judge Wendell Griffen stands out as a hero. On April 14, 2017 — as a citizen of the state of Arkansas — he attended…
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Who Among Us? What the Kavanaugh Hearings Can Teach Us About Forgiveness
After credible allegations of sexual assault against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh were made public two weeks ago — allegations that Christine Blasey Ford recounted in a live Senate…
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Living with Terror
By Elrena Evans“Three babies and two adults were injured after being stabbed in a private day care facility in Queens early Friday, officials said.” ~ New York Post, 9/21/2018 “An employee…fatally shot three…
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The Scandalous Love of God
Some books want to be born into this world. That Jacqueline Bussie’s latest work, Love Without Limits, almost wasn’t is a testament to why we so need it. Written during…
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Father Brett Kavanaugh Would Be Suspended and Investigated
By Thomas ReeseIf Brett Kavanaugh were a Catholic priest, how would we now expect the church to deal with him? Kavanaugh is not just any judge, of course. He’s been nominated to…
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Called to Respond: Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery
By Will O’BrienMany Christians are actively seeking to address many of the deep social ills in our world today — only to realize that our own tradition has contributed (and continues to…
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In Pursuit of Real Wisdom
By Cory DriverReal wisdom is displayed not in being coldly intelligent, but in acting out loving righteousness. This week the revised common lectionary strings together passages (Psalms 1, James 3:13-18, Mark 9:30-37)…
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Speak Love: #RaiseYourVoice Online Book Study
In the summer of 2016, I was passionately (and I thought strategically) using social media to lay my small brick in the building of a just society by affirming that…
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The World’s Hidden Health Crisis
Mentioned in the Bible no fewer than 722 times, water blesses, sanctifies, and purifies in religion. Yet far too often in healthcare settings, it does not do so because medical staff…
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Why #MeToo Is an American Yom Kippur
When you hear the blast of the shofar, what should you really be hearing? According to the Talmud, you should hear howling. The howling, the crying, the screams of women.…
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Social Justice Is Central to the Gospel
EDITOR’S NOTE: The background research for this article is from John D. Barry’s new book, Jesus’ Economy: A Biblical View of Poverty, the Currency of Love, and a Pattern for…
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Dallas Revival, Fall Book Study, & More
By RLC EditorAt Red Letter Christians, we seek to amplify the voices of leaders and movements committed to Jesus and justice. We are honored to partner with a variety of organizations and…
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A Counter-Cultural Church Grows in Brooklyn
By Tony CampoloEvery Monday night at 10:30 p.m., more than 150 young people squeeze into a backroom theatre connected to a bar in Brooklyn, New York. They would never call their gathering…
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Death in September
The title of this blog is a reference to an Ernest Hemingway book about bullfighting, a gruesome and violent sport made somehow beautiful in Hemingway’s spare prose. Hemingway, I know…
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Crafting a Better World
Making It, which NBC has renewed for a second season, is teaching us how to use our hands to scratch a digital age itch. Airing its season one finale this…
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Marching for a Culture of Nonviolence
By RLC EditorOn Saturday, September 22 at 9 a.m., hundreds will rally and march from the Dr. King Statue (on the Southside of the Lincoln Memorial), to the White House for a vigil…
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For Black Women at Church, It’s More Than the Aretha Eulogy
A black pastor’s controversial eulogy at Aretha Franklin’s funeral laid bare before the world what black women say they have experienced for generations: sexism and inequality in their houses of…
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Battle Lines Form over Social Justice: Is It Gospel or Heresy?
By Jemar TisbyAn old question has recently found new energy among Christians. “What does the gospel have to do with justice, particularly social justice?” Justice has been a frequent topic these days…
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A Transgender Priest Finds A New Life Helping Others on the Margins
By Jane RobertsIn the makeshift chapel at Constance Abbey, an Episcopal way station for the homeless here, Mother Gillian Klee celebrated the Eucharist one morning for a small group of guests and…
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Swords, Plowshares, and Global Firearm Deaths
By Bill CayleyWith recent events in Jacksonville putting gun violence front and center in the headlines once again, a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association gives us some…
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Bread and Justice: Lessons in Prayer
By Will O’BrienPrayer is a central aspect of the Christian life. A key element in our belief is that God answers the faithful prayer of believers. The Lord himself asserts that if…
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Responding to Suicide with Faith
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Creator, is this: to care for the vulnerable among us in their distress, and to keep oneself apart from the fears of the…
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When Christians Sell Out Christians for Political Power
There’s a story in the Old Testament about the king of Babylon, Belshazzar, who hosted a dinner for his religious leaders and royal elites. The blindingly arrogant king, surrounded by…
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This Is Not Normal
From mass shootings to suicides, gun violence has become so common that it’s become far too easy to normalize it. Mass shootings and other forms of gun violence ARE NOT…
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The Catholic Church Needs a Reboot
By Mike RegsThe recent disturbing revelations by the Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania are having the effect of shaking the faith of even the staunchest followers. How such disgusting travesties were allowed to…
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How the Democratic Party Lost Its Soul—and Can Regain It in the Age of Trump
By Jana RiessRecently I wrote a column outlining several reasons Republicans should be worried for the long-term health of their political party. In a nutshell, demographics are not on their side. For example, religious…
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Why in the World Would Anyone Get Ordained Today?
Last night, on a random Tuesday night at the end of summer, I attended an ordination. Actually I didn’t just attend, I participated in an ordination. Ordination, the act of consecrating someone…
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#ChurchToo Supporter Karen Swallow Prior Builds Bridges Between the Extremes
Karen Swallow Prior is an evangelical English professor in rural Virginia who can claim something most others who fit that description can’t: more than 25,000 Twitter followers. A native of…