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By Kathryn Post
(RNS) — ‘The biggest lesson I had to learn is that God’s lack of an answer to my prayers to change me was an answer, because there was…
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Jarrod McKenna Sits Down With Australia’s Best-Known Comedian
By RLC Editor
It was Wittgenstein who noted the importance of clickbait for the internets. To quote him, “You’ll never believe what happens when you click this.” Wittgenstein also noted the important…
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I Am An Evangelical
I’ve been attempting to both give and receive unmerited grace and unconditional love for years. This journey with Jesus has made me increasingly generous toward others in my self-described ‘orthodoxy’ –…
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Save the Date: Live Webinar on the Politics of Christmas
By RLC Editor
Can we liberate Christmas from its cultural captivity and rediscover the truly prophetic story that speaks to the crises of our world today? Mark you calendar for Saturday…
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Seeing White Privilege
Not a day passes that I don’t notice the subtle benefits afforded to me simply by virtue of being born white. It’s why I don’t need a strategy…
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All Politics Are Local–Especially the Politics of Jesus
To judge from the news shows and Twitter feeds, the political question in America right now is who should be President in 2017. A few weeks ago, we…
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Evangelicals Are Not for Trump or Carson, but for the Gospel
For the first time since CBS/The Times began polling Republicans about their choice for a 2016 presidential candidate, Donald Trump slipped to a close second behind Ben Carson this week.…
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Is Capitalism Compatible With Christianity?
By Micah Bales
When Jesus called the first disciples, he totally disrupted their economic lives. Simon and Andrew, James and John were working for their family business as they were raised to do.…
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This story starts with me being mad at a black man.
By Lenora Rand
This story starts with me being mad at a black man. I am probably not the only middle-class, liberal white woman to get mad at a black man,…
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Unlearning Whiteness
Some days I’m not sure I know exactly what my job is, but one thing I end up doing quite a bit is hearing confessions. Often these confessions…
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Why I Kept My Kids in Public Schools
By Sheli Massie
When we purchased this house over ten years ago, it realistically was the only thing we could afford. As a one income family of a teacher, it was ridiculous that we could not…
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One Small Step for Evangelicals, One Giant Leap for the Abolition of the Death Penalty
This week, the National Association of Evangelicals issued a new resolution on capital punishment recognizing Christians who work to abolish the death penalty. The new statement is not a call…
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Learning Ignorance
By Cindy Brandt
My daughter is in seventh grade, next year she will be in eighth. She tells me this means she will be the King of Middle School. She will go…
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Dear Church, Have You Considered…
By RLC Editor
The Yellow House of Highland is a ministry of Community Renewal International in Shreveport, Louisiana that is working to equip young adults to become faithful change agents in society…
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Bombing Hospitals
On October 3, the US Air Force bombed a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders in the Northern Afghanistan town of Kunduz. Many of us watched as the official…
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World Food Day
By Paul Newnham
“And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food…
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Why America Should Keep Columbus Day
By Mark Charles
There is a movement across the country to re-appropriate Columbus Day as a Native American Heritage Day or Indigenous Peoples Day. Cities like Seattle, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and others…
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![Rod Dreher & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on the Benedict Option [Part 2]](https://redletterchristians.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/benedictoption-1.jpg)
Rod Dreher & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove on the Benedict Option [Part 2]
By RLC Editor
If you missed the beginning of this dialog, you can find it here. Rod Dreher: Well, hang on. I don’t agree that the most important commitment…
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About Guns
I am in the WIC office, there to answer some questions and get my vouchers from the government for free food—the milk, the cheese, the cereal. The woman is…
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Building A #HungerFreeWorld
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: RLC is glad to be able to partner with World Vision to share with you this story of hope from their work in Kenya. This story was…
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The Hypocrisy of Benedict Option
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: RLC has partnered with The American Conservative to co-host a conversation between Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Rod Dreher on the “Benedict Option” and Christian’s response to same-sex marriage in America. Richard Beck, an author and speaker…
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Taking the Benedict Option? A Conversation Between Rod Dreher & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove [Part 1]
By RLC Editor
From The Atlantic to TIME magazine, a 5th century saint is getting mainstream consideration. For some years now, The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher has been holding up Benedict of Nursia’s…
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America’s Gun and Heart Problem
This week tragedy struck Oregon as 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer massacred 9 people at Umpqua Community College. And this week marked the anniversary of the Nickel Mines massacre in Pennsylvania.…
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Rest in Peace and Power, Kelly Gissendaner
By RLC Editor
Guest post by Emily Michelle Ledder I first heard of Kelly Gissendaner as the only woman on Georgia’s Death Row. I met Kelly as a student in a…
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Let’s Talk About Sin
By Cindy Brandt
Because it’s been a while. I have all but ousted the word “sin” from my Christian lexicon, referring instead to the more palatable-sounding, “brokenness, ” or the human…
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#KellyOnMyMind
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today’s guest post is from Melissa Browning. Melissa Browning is a scholar-activist and community-based researcher who teaches at McAfee School of Theology in Atlanta, Ga. She is…
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Address to Moral Action on Climate Change
EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope Francis addresses the US Congress today, faith leaders, environmental activists and pop stars Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Paul will gather on the National Mall for a…
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Welcome to America, Pope Francis
By Micah Bales
Pope Francis arrives in Washington, DC today, and we locals are getting ready for a huge celebration. Public officials have warned us to avoid travel for the next few…
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All Lives (Don’t) Matter
By Morf Morford
Some political slogans have a long shelf-life, but some sink from their own dead weight. There is probably nothing more obvious from the headlines of the news virtually every day,…
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The Church & the Refugee Crisis
By Jon Huckins
Many of us saw the picture of a little, lifeless, three year-old Syrian boy named Aylan washed up on a Mediterranean beach. What we saw broke our hearts. …
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RLC Connects with Feed the Children
By Tony Campolo
Recently, Red Letter Christians has established a symbiotic relationship with Feed the Children. If you don’t know about this program go to www.feedthechildren.org . This is a program that…
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Military Coup, Revolution, and the Way of Jesus
The trust Americans have in armed might to accomplish good ends is distressing. Evidence of this trust has appeared again in the results of YouGov’s latest . The poll…
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Why Philly is the Perfect Place for the Pope to Denounce the Death Penalty
I guess there is no bad place to call for an end to execution. But Philadelphia, the City of Love, is a really divine place for his Holiness to…
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To the Stranger Who Trusted, Thanks
“A man just asked to borrow my big drill to fix his car down the street, ” says my husband Luke as he passes through the dining room headed…
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Marriage, Homosexuality & the Gift of Not Knowing
By Steve Swayne
“It may be that when we no longer know which way to go that we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not…
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Growing in Faith with Our Kids
By Cindy Brandt
Should I let my 12 year old watch this rated R movie? What are some Christian family-friendly songs appropriate for my elementary aged children? Can my 8 year…
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What Beats A Trump Card? Moral Language for a Third Reconstruction
By William Barber and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove While many have expressed genuine astonishment that Donald Trump has emerged as the Republican front-runner in the 2016 Presidential race, those of…
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Letter to a Carter County Jail
Dear Kim Davis, I read about your decision to go to jail rather than issue a marriage license to a gay couple. Having spent some time in jail…
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What It Means to Worship A Refugee
By Shawn Duncan
From the images of Syrian refugees filling our screens to the politicized rhetoric about unauthorized immigration into the US, the direct biblical command to welcome the stranger has never in…
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Letting Go Blows
By Lenora Rand
It’s that time of year again, time to send our kids back to school. And though there’s a certain level of relief involved…yay, we don’t have to take a…
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Who’s Glad to Hear Pope Francis’ Message?
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: In just a few weeks, Pope Francis will make his first visit to the US. As millions prepare to greet him and his vision for the church,…
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Redefining the Messiah Complex
Those of us who work in the world of faith based non-government organizations (NGO´s) are well accustomed to the snubs of our “secular” peers. Often we´re seen as little…
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Red Letter Christians Think the Pope is a Protestant
By Tony Campolo
Someone has said that Pope Francis is really a Protestant. He is, if Protestant is defined as someone who protests. His recent encyclical Laudato si’ is a protest against…
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Living Like God Is Powerful
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today’s guest post is from Elsbeth Jeanne Elisha who has been inspired by reading some of RLC’s contributors to conduct an experiment in prayer. Below is an…
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Being A Troubled Non-Violent Resister
By Tony Campolo
I want to be a non-violent resister because as a Red Letter Christian I am committed to taking seriously what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. There’s…
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Jesus Valued Social Justice and So Should You
Jesus was a social justice hero. He boldly spoke out against inequality, helped the oppressed, condemned the oppressor, and embraced the alienated. Like today, many were drawn to…
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Julian Bond: American Revolutionary
On August 15, 2015, Julian Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He was 75 years old. One of Julian’s heroes, Frederick Douglass, died at 77 in his Washington,…
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Mommy, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger
Jake and I were driving to preschool/church earlier this week and he said the funniest thing. He’s almost 3 years old, so he says lots of funny things –…
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Shane Claiborne Heads the Red Letter Christians Movement to Abolish Capital Punishment
By Tony Campolo
Shane Claiborne, one of the co-directors of the Red Letter Christians movement, has made abolishing the death penalty a major commitment. He not only has drawn up petitions to…
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If I Were A Pastor
By Morf Morford
If I were a pastor I’d speak of fire – Not the fire of Hell Or condemnation, But the fire of creation, The pure fire of existence, The inevitable,…
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Mike Brown Means…
It’s a call and response chant started on the streets of Ferguson that has spread across the nation. “Mike Brown means” “… we got to fight back!” …
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Coming Together on Climate Change
Climate change is profoundly impacting God’s creation and people, with the poorest and most vulnerable bearing the greatest consequences. The impacts of increasing droughts, floods, wildfires, extreme weather and…
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Hiroshima Day in the Words of George Zabelka
By RLC Editor
Today we remember the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima with the words of George Zabelka, an Air Force chaplain who blessed the men…
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Ferguson and Faith
August 9th marks the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. With the rally cry “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, ” emerging young leaders of today’s…
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Ferguson and Faith
By RLC Editor
August 9th marks the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. With the rally cry “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, ” emerging young leaders of today’s…
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Pruning Withered Petals and Facing Death in July 2015
July is the cruelest month, with apologies to T.S. Eliot. July is when grass and people die, when flowers wither in the afternoon heat and parents secretly count…
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Homosexuality: A Better Approach
By Ron Sider
EDITOR’S NOTE: Recently, Dr. Tony Campolo issued a statement “For the Record” articulating his full support of sexual minorities, affirmation of same-sex unions, and his hopes for full inclusion…
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Why Crucifying Tony Campolo Does Not Serve the Cause of Christ
By Tim Otto
EDITOR’S NOTE: Recently, Dr. Tony Campolo issued a statement “For the Record” articulating his full support of sexual minorities, affirmation of same-sex unions, and his hopes for full inclusion…
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A Lament for Sandra Bland…And for Me
I am going to write. I have deadlines to make. I am not going to think about #SandraBland. I am not going to think about how a 28-year-old African…
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Demythologising Our World: Francis Gets Behind The Causes of Climate Change
By Mick Pope
It’s nearly been a month since Pope Francis released Laudato Si’, and it’s taken me a while to digest it. One of the most profound things that lies behind…
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The Voting Rights Act’s Jubilee: A Necessary Interruption
Despite the gentrification of its core over the past decade, Winston-Salem is still a sleepy Southern town on a summer Sunday evening. I get off the highway at Martin…
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A Moment for History: Why North Carolina is Our Selma
Civil rights history is often remembered in critical moments. Though the work was constant, and the lives of those who organized were complex and multifaceted, the history books mark…
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Stained Glass
By Shawn Duncan
Martin Luther King Jr., in September of 1963, gave the eulogy for the four girls who were killed in the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church. He used his…
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Bryan Stevenson’s Call for a New Conversation
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Eastern University alumnus and Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson was named one of the 100 most influential people by TIME magazine this year. He’s argued persuasively…
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Another Letter to My Nephew: Toy Guns and Terrorists, Part 2
Continued from Part 1: https://kqq4hqwvjl.wpdns.site/?p=16004 • round 3 Your blood seems to be the culprit in all of this. It restricts you. Inadequate blood flow to…
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Another Letter to My Nephew: Toy Guns and Terrorists, Part 1
05/10/15 • round 1 Dear Kai, At four years old, I cannot help but brag on how bright you are. I am the luckiest auntie in the…
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Getting Church Right on the 4th of July
Few Sundays of the year do churches get things more wrong than on the Sunday nearest to the 4th of July. The spirituality expressed in nationalistic holidays is a competing,…
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Drop Your Flag: Redefining Patriotism for the 4th
By Pete Newlove
Bree Newsome, an African American woman, was hoisted over a fence by a white man (a purposely symbolic pairing), which allowed her to scale a flag pole while reciting…
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The 4th of July for Native Americans: It’s Complicated
By Mark Charles
The other day I was eating dinner with my wife in a restaurant located in Gallup, New Mexico, a border town to the Navajo reservation. Gallup was recently named…
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The American Way and The Jesus Way in Conflict
Brian Zahnd is the co-founder and lead pastor of Word of Life Church, a non-denominational Christian congregation in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Brian is known for his focus on embracing…
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Life After SCOTUS
Leading up to – and in the immediate wake of – the SCOTUS decision in support of marriage equality in all 50 states, a number of religious and faith community leaders contacted…
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What To Do With My Confederate Flag?
I own a Confederate flag. I grew up in East Tennessee, and the Confederate flag branded everything we looked at in our high school – even the cheerleaders…
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Lay Her to Rest: On the Confederate Flag After Charleston
By Josina Guess
When my husband and I were considering marriage, he dropped a major surprise on me. No, he hadn’t slept with another woman, but the sense of shock and betrayal…
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A Call to Worship for the Tragedy in Charleston
By RLC Editor
Red Letter Christians join fellow Christians around the world today to mourn with sisters and brothers at Emmanuel AME Church with this litany from One Church Liturgy. [Leader] We…
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A Native American’s Lament for #CharlestonShooting
By Mark Charles
Today I mourn over the life of each and every person that was violently taken in Charleston, South Carolina. I lament that a 5 year old child was…
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Making Sense of the Charleston Shooting
Last night I attended a memorial service for the nine victims of the Mother Emmanuel church shooting in Charleston, SC. Hearing each name, we sat in silence to mourn the…
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Responding to the Cry of the Natural World
By Micah Bales
Pope Francis’ ecological encyclical comes out today, and there are many reasons for hope. It’s encouraging to see a such a high-profile Christian leader taking a strong stand on both ecological issues and those…
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Two Tissues
By Josina Guess
To the woman who was sitting two pews back from me in church on Sunday, June 7, 2015, Thank you for handing me those tissues. By the time…
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Bless the Good: How Red Letter Christians Bear Witness to God’s Love
On June 8, 2015, Red Letter Christian founder, Tony Campolo, released a statement on his personal website challenging the church to be more welcoming by embracing gay and lesbian…
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Still An Angry Christian
By Cindy Brandt
Last year, I wrote a post titled I am An Angry Christian, celebrating the gift of anger. I’m glad I wrote it. It serves as a manifesto for myself,…
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Gay People Are Not An Issue: How Jesus Changes Minds
After decades of “bridge building” between the LGBTQ community and those who identify as Evangelicals in opposition to full LGBTQ inclusion, Tony Campolo spoke out in favor of both full…
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Freeing Men from Patriarchy’s Chains
Carolyn Custis James is president of the Whitby Forum, a ministry dedicated to addressing the deeper needs that confront both men and women as they work together to extend…
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All You Need is (Real) Love
By Morf Morford
I love the pastor of my church, but two Sundays in a row he spoke of the inadequacy of the thought from the Beatles song ‘Love is all you…
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God Will Provide: Hope After Christendom
Hand wringing among religious folks has never been in short supply, but the doomdayers really had their day a couple of weeks ago, when the Pew Research Center confirmed what conventional…
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Learning to See: Which Stories Matter If Black Lives Matter?
By RLC Editor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Nebraska’s legislature voted yesterday to override Governor Ricketts veto and abolish the death penalty. Sen. Ernie Chambers, who sponsored the abolition bill, said, “We are talking about…
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4 Tips for Following Jesus in an Election Season
By Jon Huckins
Well, here we are again. Though the season seems to come around too soon and stick around too long, the candidates are telling us it’s time again. Some of our dinner…
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Josh Duggar & the Bondage of Our Souls
By Kathy Vestal
I never watched 19 Kids and Counting and never knew the Duggars existed until their scandal hit the news this week. But I had my own Josh Duggar.…
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Been Down Into the South: A 21st-Century Freedom Ride (Part 2)
Click here to read Part 1. At the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, we sat together in a former slave warehouse and talked about how our history of…
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Been Down Into the South: A 21st-Century Freedom Ride (Part 1)
In 1961, when the Congress for Racial Equality planned a “freedom ride” through the South to test the integration of interstate transit, they were experimenting in nonviolent direct action—a…
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Death Has Lost Its Sting
It’s hard to have mercy for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It was Jesus who said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” And he certainly demonstrates that…
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Living Faithful Stories
By Cindy Brandt
Myths and stories breathe life into the way we construct our societies. Stories explain our origin, dictate our afterlife, and assign meaning to everything in between: friendship, marriage, and…
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Hospitality and the Language of Knocks
We disabled our doorbell when our daughter was born and we instantly became conservators of a precious resource: baby sleep. Since we live in a hospitality house where many…
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How Moms Are Like Marines
When I think about my mom, I think about the Marines. It’s an unlikely pairing, given that the only uniform my mother has ever worn is a cringe-worthy…
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To Our Critics: We Seek the Christianity of Christ
Last month, Christianity Today published on its website a critical piece on Red Letter Christians. Because we can always learn something from our critics, many of us read Karren…
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Churches Unite to Reverse Foster Care Wait List
In recognition of foster care awareness month, this month’s Red Letter Carpet features Aaron and Amy Graham. Aaron and Amy have a career-long history of helping those in need:…
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The Danger of Not Being Ashamed: A White Mother’s Lament for Freddie Gray
I’m a white suburban mom, and I must speak out for justice for Freddie Gray I’ve written this blog in my head hundreds of times since Sunday night,…
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The Myth of Trickle-Down Change
I’ve heard some buzz in Christian circles that has troubled me. It is the idea that if we reach the most influential people in the world for Jesus… then…
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O Say, Can You See? A Way Forward After Baltimore
After dismissal, high school students in Baltimore went to the new shopping center, built after The Wire made their community—Freddie Gray’s community—famous. Freddie Gray is dead. No one is talking. …
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Finding Hope in Nepal
Today I leave for Kathmandu. This will be my 21st visit to a country and a people that I love. Reports indicate that 40% of the country was affected…
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I’m Needy and Proud of It… Or Trying to Be
By Lenora Rand
I have, for all intents and purposes, purchased the life-time group therapy membership package. But it’s not because I love it. Actually, I hate group therapy. No, I…
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Soccer In Kinshasha & Why We’re So Unhappy
I saw her pink soccer socks first, so daring they were almost more orange than pink, pulled up high to meet black and hot pink Adidas shorts in a…