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A subversive approach to a subversive parable [From Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43] On the surface, the story reads quite clearly—maybe a little too clearly. If you’re a regular church attendee…
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What Kind of Christian Faith Constructed Our Current Reality?
By Jer Swigart
“What kind of faith leads to that?” It’s the question that’s been echoing in my mind since my conversation with Latasha Morrison, Founder and CEO of Be the Bridge, on the Mending…
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Response to Minneapolis Shooting
Originally released on August 27, 2025: https://www.instagram.com/redletterxians/p/DN3dRH-0oTh
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A Pastoral Letter to Donald Trump
By Bishop William J. Barber II, DMin,Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove,Rev. Dr. Della J. Owens-Barber,Rev. Dr. Hanna R. Broome,Shane Claiborne,Jacqui Lewis,Cece Jones-Davis
Editor’s Note: Previously published on “Our Moral Moment w/ Bishop William Barber & Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove” on August 28, 2025. Today is the 70th anniversary of the murder of Emmett Till –…
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Rightly Ordered Love and Recognizing Our Neighbors
We are living in a season of chaos and uncertainty. Regardless of political, social, and particularly spiritual affiliation, our lives have become inundated with dialogue and debate on hot-button topics…
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The Garden is Not the Goal
By Max Harris
“God is a masterful creator. His creation—both humanity and the world—was perfect. Yet through sin, we lost that heavenly world. Still, if we listen well and grow in holiness, perhaps…
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The War on Mercy: Gaza’s Healers and the Sins of Sodom
They came not with weapons, but with stethoscopes. On December 18, 2023, Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at AlShifa Hospital in Gaza City, was arrested by Israeli forces. Weeks…
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The Parable of the Good Samaritan
By David Titus
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?”…
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Trading Matcha for Peace: When Your Sacred Ritual Becomes a Sacred Gift
Trading Matcha for Peace: When Your Sacred Ritual Becomes a Sacred Gift I’ve been drinking matcha regularly for almost 20 years. Started when I was a Starbucks barista in the…
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Who is My Neighbor?
By S.M. Reed
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not…
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Sally Mann is Arrested Under the Prevention of Terrorism Act – and she waited for it to happen
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published on RLC-UK’s blog on August 12, 2025 and is republished here with permission. The full version of the article was published in The…
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Conscience, Religion, and the Axial Age (Part 1)
Conscience and Religion In my psychiatric practice for 41 years, I incorporated spirituality whenever appropriate (which was fairly often). A significant part of my effort was to emphasize the importance…
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Not Just the Fantastic Four: Why the World Needs Collective Resistance
By Josh Olds
*Note: The following article contains spoilers for the Marvel movie, Fantastic Four: First Steps* Last month, I wrote an article about the principles of non-violence as seen in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*…
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The Open Table of Leadership: How Jesus Redefines Power and Influence
By Max Harris
Rethinking Christian Leadership in the Shadow of CEOs and Presidents When the administration changed in January, I was unexpectedly furloughed from my nonprofit job, which relied heavily on government funding.…
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Justice like a River
Yesterday, my twenty one year old daughter got a call from the local WIC office (the nutritional program for Women, Infants and Children) letting her know that due to funding…
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An Ocean of Tears; On The 80th Anniversary of Korea’s Partition
By Dan Yi
There are so many experiences and disappointments that drive sensitive people toward nihilism and resignation. That is why it is good to learn early that suffering and God are not…
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It All Starts with Me . . . Not (excerpted from “Kingdom Racial Change: Overcoming Inequality, Injustice, and Indifference”)
Here are common phrases we hear people say, both outside and inside the church: I’ve got to get my life right, then I can . . . I need to…
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A Very Special Calling
Editor’s Note: Content taken from The Missionary Kids: Unmasking the Myths of White Evangelicalism by Holly Berkley Fletcher (Author), ©2025. Used by permission of Broadleaf Books. Helen is tired. She has…
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“Better Ways to Read the Bible”, an excerpt
“Your son is disruptive, disrespectful, and dishonoring to God. He asks too many questions during Bible study, and it’s causing the other students to doubt their faith. I’m sorry, but…
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Cruelty as National Policy
By Will O’Brien
Editor’s Note: Photo in DC earlier in July (author on right). Previously published on Radical Discipleship on July 22, 2025. The outrages of the Trump Administration are legion, but in…
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Rehumanizing Those We’ve Dehumanized
By Jer Swigart
“You’re a filthy MAGAt!” Her voice was easily heard above the rumble of my city’s life. I’m familiar with this double entendre and derogatory label leveled at a perceived conservative,…
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The Weight of Linked Fate
By Mark Anslem
In May, I spent a couple of days over a weekend at a retreat that marked the end of an 8-month spiritual formation cohort. On the first night, at our…
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I Was a Stranger, And You Deported Me
“Why can you come to my country and stay however long you’d like, but it’s impossible for me to even get a passport or visa to visit yours?” The above…
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When Men Are Absent
By Morf Morford
Stories and themes from the Bible that most of us would rather not hear I have long had an idea for a book that would detail all the ideas and…
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Apology petition to the people of Japan on the 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombings
By Art Laffin
Pax Christi USA has just posted an updated Apology Petition to the People of Japan to commemorate the upcoming 80th anniversary of the US atomic bombings on August 6-9, 2025.…
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The Gospel According to Thunderbolts: When Nonviolence Wins
By Josh Olds
*Note: The following article contains spoilers for the Marvel movie Thunderbolts* For basically my entire adult life, I have been regaled with stories from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These stories,…
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Ready Position
My mom, ever the rebel, was not one for “passing things down” in the traditional sense. But she sure taught us how to play tennis. My mom weighs all of…
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On Floods and Overcoming
The Guadalupe River rose around 30 feet in less than ninety minutes around four o’clock the morning of July 4th sweeping away cars, whole RV parks with people trapped inside,…
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The Gospel at the Doorstep
By Carl Ruby
There are moments when the walls of our sanctuaries feel thin—when the needs outside press so forcefully that they reach us in the pews. Springfield, Ohio is living one of…
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Only Revolution Will Do
By Eric Paul
“I am not interested in reform; I’m interested in revolution.” Leon Waters Traveling with a group of peacebuilders with the Global Immersion Project, Mr. Leon Waters just finished providing a…
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The Silence Between Promises
“The word of the Lord came to Abram…” — Genesis 15:1 We often picture faith as a crescendo—a steady build toward clarity, arrival, reward. But for Abraham, the father of…
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Dylann Roof Killed My Mom and Cousins. But I Still Oppose the Death Penalty.
Editor’s Note: previously published on Religion News Service on July 1, 2025. (RNS) — The death penalty is racist, implemented unfairly and only extends the grief of victims’ families. (RNS)…
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Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech “WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY” Read By Christian Leaders from Around the Country
By RLC Editor
On Monday, July 5, 1852, abolitionist, writer, and statesman Frederick Douglass gave a speech to the 600 members of the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society entitled “What to the Slave is the…
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Patriotic Bible blesses Trump with $1.3 million in royalties
By Bob Smietana
(RNS) — The leather-bound edition includes the King James Version, along with the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution and lyrics to Lee Greenwood’s hit song. Editor’s Note: previously published…
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RawTools 2025 Maker Marathon
By RLC Editor
RAWtools Blacksmiths, woodworkers, and makers across the country working 1 minute for every life lost to gun violence last year. An update from RAWTools: “We reached our goal of working 1…
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The Guys Left Behind
I’ve been visiting Tennessee’s death row for over twelve years. During that time, sixteen men have died—eight by natural causes and eight by execution. I knew them all. Some I…
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We Know the Truth
By Joel Simpson
I grew up on food stamps. My family depended on them even while my dad worked multiple jobs. If someone from work called him while he was sleeping, we knew…
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The Myth of the Purple Church
By Jer Swigart
We love the idea of the “purple church,” don’t we? A spiritual community where the red and blue sit side by side, shoulder to shoulder at the communion table. Where…
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Divided We Fall
By S.M. Reed
Editor’s Note: previously published on Divided We Fall / Blog | The Jaded Evangelical on June 18, 2025. The politically motivated killings of a democratic politician and her husband over…
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When History Rhymes: Northern Ireland and the U.S.
By Jer Swigart
I write these words from Belfast, Northern Ireland, standing shoulder to shoulder with a delegation of U.S. faith leaders and our kin in this land. We’re here listening to the…
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Juneteenth: Celebrating the Ancestors of American Spiritual Resistance
I think it would be fair to assume we are all keenly aware of the vast tidal wave of racism, division, and so-called “Christian” nationalism which has recently arisen in…
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Celebrate JUNETEENTH Like This…
By RLC Editor
The first Juneteenth celebration on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, wasn’t solely a celebration of physical freedom. Juneteenth celebrated economic freedom. The freedom for Black folk to earn money…
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Red Letter Christians launches $47,000 capital campaign to confront authoritarianism with bold faith
Editor’s Note: Previously published on Religion News Service on June 17, 2025. PHILADELPHIA — In response to the growing threat of religious extremism and authoritarianism in the U.S., Red Letter Christians…
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What a 16th Century Soldier-Saint Can Teach Us About Peace Today
A 16th-century soldier-saint may not seem like the first place to look when trying to cultivate a spirituality of peace that can meet the demands of the present moment. But…
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Want a FREE copy of “The Gospel of Trump”?
We are offering a FREE copy of “The Gospel of Trump” – to the first 47 new monthly sustainers of Red Letter Christians… as we confront the brutal, unChristlike policies of this…
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RawTools 2025 Maker Marathon: An Update
RAWtools Blacksmiths, woodworkers, and makers across the country working 1 minute for every life lost to gun violence last year. 13,375 total minutes after day 12 of RawTools’ 2025 Maker Marathon,…
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“Don’t Go Back to Sleep: Remaining Human-Sized”, an excerpt from “Permission to Matter: Reclaiming Women’s Humanity and Authority at the Invitation of Jesus”
Excerpt from Permission to Matter: Reclaiming Women’s Humanity and Authority at the Invitation of Jesus – From chapter 9, “Don’t Go Back to Sleep: Remaining Human-Sized” The Temptation to Hand…
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“Why Some People Think the Bible Is Dangerous”, an excerpt from “Read the Bible like a Mystic”
If you are not familiar with the Bible or if your exposure to the Bible has mostly been filtered through the kind of churches that tend to put Scripture on…
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Good Friday at Lockheed – Turning Toward the Fault Line
“The times are urgent,” philosopher Bayo Akomolafe tells us. “Let us slow down.” He writes of fault lines—those hidden, shifting cracks beneath our feet—and how we are called not to…
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3rd Annual RAWtools Maker Marathon
By Mike Martin
June is national Gun Violence Awareness month and for the 3rd straight year, RAWtools’ national network of Blacksmiths, Woodworkers, Artists, and Makers are working 1 minute for every life lost…
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Do Not Be Like the Hypocrites: Why I Am Fasting for Gaza
As I write this, I am on day two of forty of a fast for Gaza. I, along with colleagues in Mennonite Action and Community Peacemaker Teams, am dedicating this…
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Empathy and Pride Are Blessings and We Need to Bless Extravagantly
Some of the first people I came out to almost 20 years ago were the chaplains on my college campus. I remember our associate chaplain looking across her desk and…
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RAWTOOLS 3rd Annual Makers Marathon
By RLC Editor
RAWTOOLS NATIONAL MAKER MARATHON MAY 31- JUNE 30 Third Annual Livestream Blacksmith Marathon RAWtools Blacksmiths, woodworkers, and makers across the country working 1 minute for every life lost to gun…
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Doing Justice by Providing Sabbath for Others
We often focus on sabbath as a personal practice, which it is. But an equally prominent element of sabbath in Scripture is ensuring it for other people. A core justice…
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Finding God in Unexpected Places: A Spiritual Encounter on the Ganges
I grew up in the stifling heat of the Bible Belt. So when I first stepped into the Varanasi noon sun, I didn’t wilt. Certainly didn’t flush like the European…
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Why we got arrested last week — and why we’d do it again
(RNS) — Not all of us will go to jail. But each of us can ask, what does courage look like right now? Editor’s Note: previously published on Religion News…
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What I Wish You’d Say Instead: Grace, Not Condemnation – A Letter to the Church
To the pastors, preachers, teachers, and leaders — I’m writing this because I need to. Not to fight or argue, but because I’ve sat with this feeling for way too…
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Dear Pope Leo
May 15, 2025 Dear Pope Leo, I am just one of your sheep, one among the 1,400,000,000 on those Baptismal scrolls. Every ancestor I have as far back as I…
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Jesus Was an Ambassador of Love
I was born “other.” Around age five I knew I was different than other people. I cannot tell you how I knew so young. Yet it is not uncommon for…
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The Catonsville Nine: Good Trouble
On May 17, 1968, the Catonsville Nine, which included two Catholic priests, went into the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned several hundred draft records in a direct…
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Dressing For Justice: The transformational power of Isaiah’s fast
Despite her maternal role and appearance, my older friend was into cars. She had long anticipated driving a formula one car. Maybe that was why I didn’t expect that she’d…
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Reclaiming Jesus from Politics: How the Lamb of God Got Tied to an Elephant—and Why It’s Time to Set Him Free
By Susan Parker
“Jesus is my Savior. Trump is my President.” That banner hung proudly less than a mile from our newly purchased home in Arlington, Texas. I remember stopping my car, staring…
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Pope Leo XIV calls for peace in Ukraine and Gaza in symbolically rich Regina Coeli
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Leo offered a novelty by singing the Regina Coeli, a Latin prayer said during the Easter season which recent popes usually just recite. Editor’s Note: previously published…
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Original Mother’s Day Proclamation: Call to Feed Gaza
How can we celebrate Mother’s Day while another woman’s child is being starved? We are reading the Mother’s Day Proclamation, originally called “Appeal to Womanhood” to appeal to all women…
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Mother’s Day Reflections
On June 2, 1872, Julia Ward Howe began the celebration of Mother’s Day as a holiday to honor mothers by working for an end to all war. Psalm 11:1 – 6 In…
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Sympathy for the Addicted
Most in recovery have some understanding of their disease, of disguised self-interest pulling upon their will in the form of good intentions. Within our thinking is the familiar, the easy,…
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Rays of Light in Sorrow
“There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot…
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We Will Not Bow, Be Bought, or Back Down: A Moral Call to Action for Faith and Conscience
I. Why We Have Moral Mondays We gather because silence is not an option. We gather because injustice is not abstract—it is legislated. We gather because faith does not belong…
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Shane Claiborne, four other faith activists arrested while protesting GOP budget bill
By Jack Jenkins
WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘Stir the conscience of our nation. Let justice rise up on these very steps, let truth trouble the chambers of the Capitol,’ Shane Claiborne said as he…
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“A Kind of Shattering”, an excerpt from “Holy Hurt”
Philosopher Michelle Panchuk says the word trauma is “multiply ambiguous.”(1) We use the word to mean what happened to us but also what happened to us because of the trauma— as well…
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Mahmoud Khalil: A Call to Creative Love from the Shadow of Detention
By Jer Swigart
In his most recent letter from a detention center, Mahmoud Khalil—a soon-to-be father, a husband, a beloved community leader—continues to embody a courageous hope that should stop every one of…
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We Must Arrest the Attention of the Nation
After arrest at US Capitol, we have been released. We are OK, but all is not well. In the rotunda of the US Capitol yesterday, while praying in front of…
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Special RLC Podcast: Arrest the Attention of the Nation… Moral Mondays in the Nation’s Capitol
Well, there’s nothing fancy about this recording, but we wanted to get it out there quickly. Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and I jumped on screen today to talk about why he was…
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Rev. William Barber arrested in Capitol Rotunda after praying against Republican-led budget
By Jack Jenkins
(RNS) — While arrests of protesters at the Capitol is not unusual, the response to Barber’s prayer was unusually dramatic: After issuing verbal warnings, dozens of officers expelled everyone in…
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Liberation Makes Reconciliation Possible
By Mark Anslem
In a recent article in Christianity Today, Justin Giboney, cofounder and president of the AND Campaign, writes: “Our divisions rob the church of credibility.” He continues: “Not everyone is ready…
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We must now say, “I am Pope Francis”
To honor a prophet, continue his unfinished work Today the world pauses to celebrate the life and mourn the loss of Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday at 88…
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“The Good Mother”, an excerpt from “Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling”
So many of the stories we hear today are about a world falling out of being. Falling away. Falling from grace. The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposes declaring twenty-three…
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“The Red and the Black”, an excerpt from “Pilgrim: a Theological Memoir”
The Red and the Black I guess you could say I have been a red-letter guy since I was ten years old. That’s when my mother gave me my own…
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Good Trouble on Good Friday 2025
We got into good trouble on Good Friday. Twenty-six people were arrested for a nonviolent direct action at the headquarters of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons contractor, where the…
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For the Emo at Easter: Stages of Grief when ‘Losing’ a Savior
Two Easters ago, my Dad, in his favorite pastel-striped bow tie, was surrounded in prayer and anointed in hugs for an hour after service. The ‘love mob’ around his wheelchair…
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When ‘If’ Comes Calling: The Voice of Temptation
By Andrea Hug
If. It’s a two-letter word with so many possibilities – so much potential and hope! It’s a dream that provides direction and meaning. And in America, we dream BIG! We…
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The Holy Thursday Revolution
This table is the hinge of history. The table is the point. Thursday is the Last Supper and the First Feast. The Holy Thursday Revolution.
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Your Kin-dom Come
I’m not sure when I first genuinely encountered the kingdom of God. Perhaps it was in that moment during eighth grade when I first audibly heard God speak to me,…
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Efficiency’s Insufficiencies
Efficiency’s Insufficiencies: Holy Week lessons from Judas and Mary When the president gave Elon Musk the floor to share about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the oval office press…
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Isn’t the World Lent-y Enough Already?
Just before Lent this year, I sat down to think about what I might engage as a Lenten practice to no avail. When people asked me about what I was…
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Today’s Pharaohs
By Ariel Gold
Photo credit: Freedom Seder Hagadah, on display at the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme in Paris France, Credit: Ariel Gold In 1969, amid the turbulence of the Civil Rights movement…
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Stations of the Cross Illustrated by Men on Tennessee Death Row
May these paintings open our hearts up to the profound depth of God’s love, and may they stir in us a passion for extending that love and grace to others.…
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Suffering as Sacrament: The Book of Job & ‘the Invisible Transcendent Society’
By Dan Yi
God is love. […] You cannot even remotely imagine how He suffers. – Søren Kierkegaard The mystery of the poor is this: That they are Jesus, and what you do…
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Forgiveness Is an Act of Justice
By Nathan Geer
There seems to be a chronology to the work of forgiveness: forgiveness within leads to forgiveness without. According to the patterns of forgiveness we see in Jesus, we first do…
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The Symptoms of a Nation Approaching Spiritual Death
When we recognize that something which impacts anyone of us can quickly impact all of us, we know everyone must learn the signs of what the disease looks like before…
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Jesus & Divine Metamorphosis of Easter
If Easter wasn’t a Debt Payment, then what was it? “He made him who did not know sin to be sin for our sake, so that through him we might…
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Keep Listening and Don’t Give Up – A Sermon on Luke 9:28-36
I wonder if Jesus’ disciples found themselves thinking, sometimes, I don’t know if this is what I signed up for. I wonder this as I read the part of the…
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Survive—together.
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published on the Freedom Road blog on Substack on March 26, 2025 and is reprinted here with permission. We no longer have a federal…
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Waiting With Intention
I love the Japanese artform of Kintsugi, which takes broken pottery and repairs it with golden lacquer. Rather than discarding what is broken or seeking to cover up the cracks,…
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A Christian Argument for Compassionate Politics
By Alasdair Dow
To begin, let me dive into new territory. Usually when you write a political article the aim is to make a grand point with what is wrong with someone else’s…
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“Christ in the Rubble”, an excerpt
Introduction Why would a pastor write a book exposing the horrific realities of Gaza? Is it the role of the church to speak publicly—even urgently and insistently—about politics and warfare?…
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But What Does it Mean To Be Great?
By David Titus
Matthew 20:25-27 – Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not…
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Lenten Reflection on Isaiah 58
By Art Laffin
Greetings of peace to you this Lenten Season. Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, radical conversion and transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire,…
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Community
By Steve Fawver
I often find it easy to overlook the power of community – deep connection with those around us in life. Recently I have been drawn to a new perspective through…
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“Prayer at this Kairos Time” an excerpt from “Arise and Witness”
Introduction to “Prayer at this Kairos Time” (Art Laffin) This undated prayer by Anne is as relevant now as when she wrote it. A dictionary definition for Kairos is: the…
