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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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Jesus’ Radical Redefinition of Family: #LoveWithoutLimits
When Jesus says we have to hate our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, he means that we have to live in a way that shows the world: your true…
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An Open Letter to My Roman Catholic Friends
When I read the accounts of the grand jury report, accusing three hundred Roman Catholic priests in western Pennsylvania of abusing a thousand children, I felt nauseous. Let me tell you…
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Jesus’ Strong Words for Pedophile Priests
The Christian world is still shaking from the tremors of the grand jury report released on August 14th regarding the abuse and cover-ups of over 1,000 children by more than…
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How to Get Ready to Die
By Tony CampoloOne of the most remarkable sermons I ever heard was delivered by Norman Vincent Peale, at the Ocean City Tabernacle in Ocean City, New Jersey. At the age of 98,…
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Why Native Americans Struggle to Protect Their Sacred Places
Forty years ago, the U.S. Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act so that Native Americans could practice their faith freely and that access to their sacred sites would be protected.…
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The Truth of Jesus and the Lies of Trump
Remember the old fundamentalist bumper sticker, “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it!”? Just replace “the Bible” with the word “Trump” and you have the mindset of…
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‘The Word Became Flesh’: Sanctuary for Immigrants & Refugees
By Jamie RyeHe was 18 years old when he crawled through the hatch of a tanker truck bound for a new country — a land that coined itself as a place of…
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Willow Creek Offers Lessons in Accountability
By Jacob LupferChurch leaders do not need standing ovations. That was my first thought as I read in March about how congregants of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago rose to their…
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Christians Are Why the Death Penalty Lives On
With America’s next executions scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 9) in Tennessee and next week (Aug. 14) in Nebraska, there couldn’t have been a better time for Pope Francis to wholeheartedly…
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‘We Want A King Over Us’: From King Saul to Donald Trump
By Bill Cayley“Be careful what you pray for, you might get it.” There are a number of biblical lenses through which to see the presidency of Donald Trump, but ever since the…
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Don’t You Dare Tell Me I’m Not Evangelical
I’m a 33-year-old woman, a wife and a mom of two, and I’ve given five years of my life to working in ordained ministry as a Lutheran pastor, following a…
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Protecting Religious Liberty Requires Opposing Kavanaugh
Conservatives are praising President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, calling him “a religious liberty warrior” and praising his refusal “to banish religion from the public…
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The Culture Wars Need to Make A Safe Space for Conscience
By Jacob LupferAt a women’s professional soccer game in Portland, Ore., in May, two groups were making noise from the seats: locals rooting on the hometown Portland Thorns, and another set of…
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#RaiseYourVoice: Moving Beyond the ‘Impostor Syndrome Wilderness’
By Kathy KhangEDITOR’S NOTE: In the spirit of prophetic wisdom and resistance, we are proud to offer this book excerpt from Red Letter Christian Kathy Khang. Her new book, Raise Your Voice:…
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What Would A Pharisee Do?
By Morf MorfordWhen the history of early 21st century faith is written, like every era, it will be filled will tales of persecution, courage, and betrayals. Forced migrations, racial profiling, and caged…
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Repentance & Reconstruction: How to Unlearn Slaveholder Religion
By Dan HarrisonEDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout July, we’re engaging in an online book study of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Each Friday, we’ll offer a guest reflection based on our readings…
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Trump Christianity and the Abandonment of Jesus
I know that the name “Jesus” is often heard in many of the churches whose members overwhelmingly support President Trump. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that the Jesus of the Gospels is…
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Six Ways Church Communities Can Be CreatureKind
I have always loved animals. And thanks to my parents, I began my formation as a Jesus-follower from a very early age. I vividly remember walking into my bedroom as…
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We Challenge Trump’s Evangelical Defenders To Live TV Debate About Faith & Public Policy
Dear Jerry Falwell, Jr., Robert Jeffress, Paula White and Franklin Graham, We write in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to invite you to join us for a round…
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6 Gifts of Aging from Parker Palmer
By Jana RiessThere’s no shortage of advice these days about aging — though in our culture, most of that advice seems to be about how to deny that it’s happening. Dye your…
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Evangelical Women & Men Call for A Pause on Culture War
Last week a rising chorus of leading evangelical women called America to stop the Senate from rushing to confirm a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court. They…
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Confronting Complacency & Complicity: How to Unlearn Slaveholder Religion
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout July, we’re engaging in an online book study of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Each Friday, we’ll offer a guest reflection based on our readings…
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For Many Muslims, Family Border Protections Are Personal
By Aysha KhanWhen Imam Arjan Abu Sa’ad turned on the news to see reports of toddlers being pulled from their families and detained in cages after crossing the U.S. border, he was shocked.…
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Why It’s Good for Girls to See Clergywomen
I was ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church [in 2003]. When the service concluded I was greeting people in the shaking hands line and a family of four…
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The War on Poverty Is Not Over
President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers declared last week that America’s war on poverty “is largely over and a success.” In their opinion, this now makes a case for them to establish…
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The Surprising Success & Faith of ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’
There’s a moment near the beginning of the documentary film “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” — as the trolley that transported millions of children to the Neighborhood of Make Believe…
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Living an Embodied Faith: How to Unlearn Slaveholder Religion
EDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout July, we’re engaging in an online book study of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Each Friday, we’ll offer a guest reflection based…
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Refusing to Compromise for Power
By Cory DriverI teach American students at a study abroad center in Morocco. Each year, for Fall and Spring breaks, almost all my students go to Europe for a week-long vacation. Upon…
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5 Faith Facts About Brett Kavanaugh
President Trump announced last night that Brett Kavanaugh, 53, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy,…
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Heeding Evidence & Wisdom for Immigration Justice
By Bill CayleyFollowing the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed President Trump’s “Travel Ban” to stand, the president made his “Strong Borders, No Crime!” views unequivocally clear once again through both…
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The Power of Disillusionment: How to Unlearn Slaveholder Religion
By Abby StevensEDITOR’S NOTE: Throughout July, we’re engaging in an online book study of Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. Each Friday, we’ll offer a guest reflection based…
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The Lie of American Freedom: A Theology of Glory
A couple of days ago, I was flying back to Minneapolis after three days in Dallas, visiting large Southern Baptist churches for Fourth of July weekend and learning how American…
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A Conflicted Allegiance
By Jon HuckinsThis past Sunday, our community spent some time wrestling with the implications of “allegiance” in light of the 4th of July holiday. It was good, hard, and so, so important.…
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Why White Evangelicals Voted for Trump: Fear, Power, and Nostalgia
By Jana RiessIt’s now a famous (infamous?) truism that 81 percent of white evangelicals supported Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. In doing so, evangelical leaders cast aside their past and…
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Evangelical Leaders Downplay Potential Roe v. Wade Reversal
For evangelical Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell Jr., this is their political holy grail. Like many religious conservatives in a position to know, the Liberty University president with close ties…
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Why God Is Not in Control
By Tony CampoloAll too often when there is news of a tragedy, such as a mass shooting or a child suffering from bone cancer, there will be someone who will say something…
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Faith Leaders Lament the Muslim Travel Ban
By RLC EditorRev. Dr. Jacqui J. Lewis (Senior Minister of Middle Collegiate Church, Manhattan) My rabbi, Jesus, once encouraged his crestfallen followers, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted.”…
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We Will Not Cooperate
EDITOR’S NOTE: 11 faith leaders — including Don Golden (RLC Executive Director) and Shane Claiborne (RLC co-founder) — were arrested at the White House yesterday. We offer Shane’s reflection on…
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Why Won’t Most of Trump’s ‘Court Evangelicals’ Publicly Condemn His Border Policy?
By John FeaThe United States is facing a crisis in “family values.” This, however, is not the kind of crisis we often hear talked about by the evangelical wing of the Republican…
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A Call For Mass Noncooperation With the Racist Policies of “America First”
For the past six weeks, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has organized nonviolent moral fusion direct actions in 39 states and the District of Columbia,…
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Healing the Divide: ‘Reconstructing the Gospel’ Online Book Study
Back in the ‘90s, I entered the river of grace through an evangelical tributary lined with impassioned altar calls and communion bread so sweet one could only hope for crumbs…
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‘This is A Normal I’d Like to Remember’
June 21, 2008 – Day 19 Complete, 25 km A Journal Entry from my pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. “It’s normal.” For my friends along the Camino,…
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Exodus 16: Everybody’s Got a Right to Live
By Cory DriverEDITOR’S NOTE: As the Poor People’s Campaign proclaims, it is immoral and unjust that so many people in the U.S. — from Puerto Rico to Flint, Michigan — live without access…
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Separated on Father’s Day
They were given 24 hours to leave, or they would be killed. Tragically, they had to abandon their 13-year-old son who had been brainwashed and integrated into the gang. That’s…
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Why is Jeff Sessions Quoting Romans 13 and Why is It So Often Invoked?
Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the border this week by citing a passage from the Apostle Paul’s epistle…
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God, Our Parent, Would Never Treat Children Like This
God, known by many as our Father, would never sanction the punitive traumatizing of children, by separating them from their parents at a national border. As a parent, it is…
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RLC Partner Updates
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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Separating Immigrant Children from Their Families is Torture
The Trump Administration is taking children away to punish immigrants and asylum seekers. When conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the morality of separating…
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In Gratitude to Our Supporters
By Don GoldenIt’s been two months since the #LynchburgRevival, but the media coverage continues to roll in! Most recently, a New York Times article about the revival introduced thousands of new folks…
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A Confession of Faith & Love
By Tony CampoloWe Red Letter Christians have strong allies, and none is more prominent and significant than our kinship with a movement called Reclaiming Jesus, initiated by a group of well-established Christian…
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Exodus Economics & Equity for All
By RLC EditorEDITOR’S NOTE: This excerpt is from Practicing the King’s Economy: Honoring Jesus in How We Work, Earn, Spend, Save, and Give, by Michael Rhodes, Robby Holt, and Brian Fikkert. Used…
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Michael Curry v. Robert Jeffress on the Biblical View of Government
By Mark SilkAh, celebrity! Thanks to his star turn preaching at the recent royal wedding, Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has become the first Mainline Protestant leader in a generation to…
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Why It’s Not Okay to Call Humans ‘Animals’
I wonder, as I sift articles about “the wall” and separated children and MS-13 gang members, how many writers, commentators, and citizens have spent time at the border. How many…
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Facing Our Addictions to Weapons & White Supremacy
Any of us familiar with the addiction recovery process know that until we overcome our denial, we still haven’t hit bottom. Hitting bottom is, in fact, what happens when the…
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America and the Loss of Collective Memory
Memorial Day is here. That spring holiday where we ostensibly honor fallen soldiers, in addition to barbecuing, sleeping in, and celebrating the fact that the snow has finally melted. It…
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An Imaginative Incarnation: The Carnival de Resistance
By Tim NafzigerRepentance is at the heart of our Christian faith. But how and to what? The Greek word translated as repentance is metanoia. It means turning; a transformative change of heart.…
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‘The Sermon That Stole the Show’
It’s not Meghan Markle’s stunning 16-foot veil or bouquet of forget-me-nots, the favorite flower of the groom’s late mother, Princess Diana. It’s not the romantic words Prince Harry whispered to…
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Standing Up to Church Abuse
By Cory DriverIt is impossible to ignore the news of pastoral abuse of congregants that seems to come to light with increasing frequency. And we should not seek to ignore these stories.…
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Praying with Our Feet
Most of us have now heard about the most recent school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas. It’s the third school shooting this week, the 22nd this year.…
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How Christians Can Protect Endangered Species
By Jim DavidThis is somewhat difficult to grasp or believe. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, right now there is a very real possibility that 41 percent of all…
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To My Fellow Evangelicals: What You’re Cheering in Jerusalem is Shameful
By Richard MouwOf the two evangelical pastors who offered prayers Monday (May 14) at the ceremony for the opening of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, Robert Jeffress received most of the publicity. And…
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King’s Poor People’s Campaign Lives Again
Under sweltering 94-degree heat in front of the General Assembly building, a hardy group of progressive activists gathered to revive the 40-day Poor People’s Campaign, the civil disobedience movement founded…
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Why Paige Patterson’s Apology May Not Be Enough
In just two weeks, Paige Patterson has done what none could have predicted: He’s given America’s largest Protestant denomination two black eyes. The first injury was inflicted when his comments…
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#PoorPeoplesCampaign: 40 Days of Direct Action
EDITOR’S NOTE: On Monday, May 14th, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival will launch nonviolent direct actions at legislative buildings across the country. Organized by grassroots fusion…
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My Mother Did a Very Brave Thing
By Kinga FarkasA person, made in the image of God, is forcibly displaced from their home every 20 minutes due to conflict and persecution. That’s one out of every 113 people on…
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How American Christians Can Break Free from ‘Slaveholder Religion’
It’s been a century and a half since the American Civil War ended, but according to Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, the slaveholder religion of that era has quietly persisted until today. But to understand…
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End the Billy Graham Rule
One unintended consequence of recent male sexual misconduct in America, particularly among well-known pastors and Christian leaders, has been a resurgence of what is known as the “Billy Graham Rule”…
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‘Gratitude is Not a Happy Pill’
By Jana RiessEditor’s Note: An interview with theologian Diana Butler Bass on her new book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks. Thanks for your beautiful new book on gratitude. A few years ago I took…
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Stay at the Table: James Cone, Racism, & American Evangelicalism
I was heartbroken to hear of the passing of Dr. James Cone, a legendary theological professor. Having taken many classes with him at Union Theological Seminary in New York, having…
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‘An Ethic of Resurrection’: Daniel Berrigan & the Kings Bay Plowshares
By Art Laffin“The No to state uttered by the unarmed Christ is vindicated in His resurrection. Of this, the world can never be a witness…This is our glory. From Peter and Paul…
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The Expanding Kingdom: Philip & The Ethiopian Eunuch
By Cory DriverTo me, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch is one of the most heartbreaking and affirming stories in all of scripture. The Holy Spirit’s ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch opened…
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Moment of Decision for Evangelicals
At Wheaton College last week, 50 diverse leaders of evangelical institutions gathered to discuss the future of a movement that has, in its own imagination, tried to hold a spacious…
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Thursday Morning Sabbath
By Elrena EvansThe year my eldest child started middle school, I looked at our family calendar and realized we were going to have a problem. With five children and multiple schools now…
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On Sin and Social Justice
By Ross MurrayI was speaking with a friend and colleague who, like me, is deeply committed to LGBTQ advocacy within the faith community. We had long bonded over our shared experiences of…
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Heeding the Sacred Call to Give Sanctuary to the Vulnerable
Since taking office, the Trump administration has made detention and deportation top priorities of its immigration policy, increasingly targeting immigrant families in communities across the United States through an aggressive…
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‘Sense of Place’: An Earth Day Sunday Resource
Today many churches across the United States will observe Earth Day Sunday. Since 1970, communities have taken one day each year to be especially mindful of the Earth and its…
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Still Evangelical? Literary Festival Panelists Question Label After Trump, #MeToo
The panel of Christian women writers described the night Donald Trump won the presidency as, in the words of one, “a nightmare.” “As the numbers rolled in, (there was) just…
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Bill Hybels: Why Sexual Harassment is Not a ‘Distraction’
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated and includes an author’s note. When Willow Creek founding Pastor Bill Hybels stepped down from ministry last week, he said he was…
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Let’s Change Course Starting This Tax Day
I’m usually proud to pay my taxes, but this year is different. Ordinarily I am glad to contribute to the common good. I’m glad that some of my taxes go…
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Why I Stand with the LGBTQ Community
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you…
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Wakanda Forever: Cultivating Moral Imagination & Beloved Community
Most of my friends and family saw the Black Panther movie two or three times. I saw it twice during the week it was released. I first viewed it on opening night…
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A Glimpse of Heaven
A friend of mine, a pastor, recently shared that he’d gotten some complaints from his church. Apparently, he doesn’t preach about hell enough. I’ve heard a version of this a…
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At ‘Red Letter Revival,’ Leaders Give Voice to Evangelicals on the Margins
By Jack JenkinsWhen Tony Campolo began his altar call in Lynchburg, he embellished his spiritual charge in a way not often heard in evangelical services. “Are you ready to say ‘I’m going…
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Of Pastors and Presidents
By Mark SilkBack in 2007, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour questioned the late Jerry Falwell about inviting confessed adulterer and presidential wannabe Newt Gingrich to give the commencement address at Liberty University. “How do you resolve…
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#LynchburgRevival LIVE STREAM
By RLC EditorAfter a whirlwind time of planning and prayer, the #LynchburgRevival is finally here! Folks are coming from 28 different states (and a few countries) to seek refreshment and renewal. Tune…
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Revival: A Liturgy for Repentance
“He asked me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘Sovereign Lord, you alone know.’” (Ezek. 37:3) As the Red Letter community prepares for its upcoming revival taking…
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Break My Heart, Heal My Heart
“Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like you have loved me. Break my heart for what…
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Don’t Domesticate MLK
Whenever we remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some people inevitably pull out a piece of sandpaper and try to smooth the sharp edges of the great civil rights…
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How Might Easter Be Reinterpreted in Light of Climate Change?
There’s a new hashtag game called #ExplainEasterToAnAlien. Funny stuff. But it got me thinking: How will we explain Easter to an alien? As I recently wrote for the BBC, the discovery of extraterrestrial…
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What If We Heard Each Other This Easter?
This past Sunday I turned 33. Because I work as a Pastor in a church, this past Sunday I also preached twice and led a Bible study. And let me be honest with you,…
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The Power & Legacy of Revivalism
By Tony CampoloThe revival meetings led by Charles Finney, the “Billy Graham” of the 19th century, were a far cry from what they became in the 20th century. Finney’s revivals, as part…
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How Jesus Saves Us from Slaveholder Religion
Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s new book, Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion (InterVarsity Press) – a fitting confession for Holy Week as we remember Jesus…
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Am I Not a Theologian, Too?
When you think about the great theologians, what names come to mind? Those who have profoundly impacted my theological foundation include the Rev. James Cone, philosopher Cornel West, the Rev. Eboni…
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Call It A Family Reunion
By Kate KooymanI got to hold a baby who was less than a day old. I got to watch big sister look with pride and a little suspicion, the first glances of…
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God, Guns, & Gen Z
By C.S. PearceOne week after the Parkland school massacre, Florida’s House of Representatives voted 97-10 to pass a measure requiring every school in the state to display the motto “In God We…
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The Power of Showing Up
From our vantage point, sitting in the car, it looked as if every police officer from Missouri came to give their respects. The procession included ambulances, fire trucks, and police…
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#EnoughIsEnough: My 5-Year-Old is Afraid
Yesterday, I drove my son Jacob to Pre-K at 9:55 a.m., and on our way we drove through the neighborhood streets surrounding our local high school. As we got closer on the…
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The Wall, The People, and The President: Let’s Have the Conversation
By Jon HuckinsYesterday, President Trump made his first visit to California since his inauguration. One of his campaign promises was to build a wall on the southern border, and contractors having been…
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A New World Is Possible: Reviving the Soul of America
By Don GoldenIn case you missed it, Red Letter Christians is holding a revival in Lynchburg, Va., on April 6-7. The idea for this revival took shape at our annual Red Letter retreat…
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Women: “The Devil’s Gateway?”
By Jon HuckinsJimmy Carter recently named the abuse of women “as the primary human rights issue in the world today.” We don’t have to look far into the global plight of women…