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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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A White Pastor’s Miracle in Trayvon Martin’s Church
A thousand things ran through my mind when the news broke Saturday night about George Zimmerman’s acquittal. I was in a bar, meeting a few ministry friends for a drink…
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Trayvon and George: A Tale of Two Americas
The recent “not guilty” verdict out of Sanford, FL, reflects the principle of the American legal system that if there is reasonable doubt, courts will err on the side of…
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Finding justice for Trayvon: seven actions steps for our outrage
“I take for granted that I belong wherever I happen to be.” — Joan Haskins Any plausible deniability about the negative bias that black men face in our country was pulled…
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Trayvon Martin and the American Judicial System
By Andrew Marin
A few hours ago the ruling of “not guilty” by a six-women jury permeated the now infamous courtroom in Stanford, Florida, as George Zimmerman will not serve any jail time for killing…
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Stop Comparing my Christianity to Your Christianity!
My translation of the Bible is better than your translation. Hymns are better than choruses. The Contemporary service is better than the Traditional one. My version of baptism is better…
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EXECUTION ALERT: Warren Lee Hill
UPDATE: Warren’s execution has been moved to Friday, July 19 at 7pm. Please continue to pray for a miracle! A mentally-retarded man is scheduled to be executed in Georgia on Monday.…
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It's Desperate in Guantanamo
The situation in Guantanamo is desperate. Over 100 prisoners are on hunger strike, and the strike just passed its 150th day this week (also the beginning of Ramadan). 45 are…
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Masturbation and the Spiritual Life
By T.C. Ryan
There is a growing conversation around masturbation and relationships. It’s a good thing to have this discussion and I suspect the openness of it is a generational thing. Of the…
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I'm Humbled, Probably Not
By Kathy Vestal
“I am humbled to receive this award, ” we say. Or “I was humbled to be offered that position.” Really? What does that mean? Does it just mean “I don’t…
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Getting Dirty with Jesus
By Nancy Sleeth
It’s summer, and once again my fingernails are a wreck. I’ve got a quarter-inch gash hanging slanted off my pointer finger cuticle, like a bloody Q sign. My left thumb…
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Traditional Ignorance
By Morf Morford
Ignorance may not always be bliss, but it can certainly get comfortable. Simplistic assumptions and familiar slogans become so comfortable and comforting that we just cannot let them go. Each…
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My Weirdest Interview Ever with Jim Wallis
We started a new summer social justice lecture series at our church in downtown Portland this last Sunday. Despite some lingering anxieties from those less familiar with the platform, we…
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July 4th – Independence Day: A Day to Weep, Mourn, and Fast
Independence Day is our country’s oldest holiday. On that day, in 1776, Congress passed the Declaration making the United State’s separation with Great Britain legal effecting our autonomy from the…
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Flag Extremism and Christian Practice
I suspect the wonderful fragrance of the product they make is lost on those working every day in a perfume factory. And the stench is eventually not noticed by those…
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Oh, For A Thousand tongues to sing
By Morf Morford
He comes into my class Wearing a T-shirt that says, In big bright letters, “You’re in America – SPEAK ENGLISH”. And I ask the class To write down at least…
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Marriage Damaged by Porn: A Pastor’s Reflections
By T.C. Ryan
Recently I was asked about a very difficult situation. A woman has been married to a man with a long-term addiction to pornography. The last few years he’s been trying…
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Defending Paula Deen: what the national reaction can teach us about race
There has been a lot of press about the recent lawsuit filed against Paula Deen, alleging (among other things) that she tolerated blatant racism towards the staff in her company’s…
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What If Prayer Lists Were Work Lists?
By Yaholo Hoyt
“Ok everyone, time for prayer requests…” I don’t know about you, but those times always unsettle me a bit. Not that I mind praying, but something just always seemed missing…
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What does it mean to forgive someone?
What does it mean to forgive someone? Before you read this blog, I want you to take a stab at answering that question with someone around you (it’ll be like…
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The Danger of Big Surveillance Government
Sweeping, indiscriminate condemnations of Big Government are, I believe, misguided. But some expressions of Big Government certainly do deserve to be resisted. Sweeping surveillance by the government is one of…
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Should Christians Support Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange?
Christians have been passionately debating gay marriage, abortion, evolution, school prayer, immigration and gun control for years, but for a religion that is founded on the virtues of truth, honesty…
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Will Texas’ 500th Execution, Kimberly McCarthy, help victims?
By Marty Troyer
Today we Texans will kill our 500th person who was created in the image of God. 500 families and our communities have lived in grief and fear because of the…
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Response to the SCOTUS
This morning, SCOTUS announced that the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (ironically signed into law by Bill Clinton during his two-term presidency) is ‘unconstitutional as a deprivation of the equal…
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Singing the Virtues of Drones
Let us sing of the virtues of drones! Sure, they can be used to kill and destroy. Still there is a melody in the air inspired by drone warfare. Yes,…
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You Are Not Alone
By RLC Editor
Last week I told you how I met Tony Campolo and how found myself directing Tony’s new initiative, Red Letter Christians. Since that first day 30 months ago Red Letter…
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Parents Just Want their Kids Back
I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting on messaging strategies that engage people to support stricter gun laws. The goal of these changes is to make it harder…
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Are You Agapephobic?
By John Watson
Do you think God loves you most when you’re good, and less when you’re bad? Do you think God loves you lots, and your enemies a bit less? Do you…
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New Testament Anti-smackdown
By Morf Morford
I’ve always been intrigued by the social, political and theological milieu of Jesus. If God could have chosen any culture, any language, any era, in fact any individual, why would…
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Exodus international: bending history's arc
For more than a generation, the gay conversion organization known as Exodus International has been one of the most prominent Christian symbols of LGBT intolerance. They have practiced what is…
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Ex-Gay No More: The End of Exodus International
By Kathy Vestal
The ex-gay myth has crashed. Fallen. Shattered. Exodus International president Alan Chambers announced last night that Exodus is shutting down. Tonight in a televised interview with Lisa Ling (OWN 10pmET),…
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BREAKING: Explosion in Kabul near Afghan Peace Volunteers Home
THIS JUST IN… Yesterday, there was an explosion near the community house in Kabul, where the Afghan Peace Volunteers live and work (and where I visited a few months back).…
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No, We Don’t Worship The Same God. (Do We?)
For Evangelical Christians, there is really no more important question than “Who do we worship?” If you were to ask the average evangelical who they worshipped, we would more than…
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The biblical definition of marriage and its relevance to marriage equality
Earlier this year, as the Supreme Court began the conversation around California’s contested Proposition 8, social media outlets were buzzing with opinion over marriage equality. In an attempt to show…
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God’s Graffiti: Inspiring Stories for Teens
A little over a year ago I started working on a book that would speak to the needs of at-risk youth. I use that term loosely because the truth is…
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Ayn Rand vs. Jesus Christ: FIGHT!
By Yaholo Hoyt
So I’ll admit this article first took seed in my mind due to the entertaining visual of the title. However, I believe the potent philosophy of Ayn Rand has taken…
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We Are the Words…
By Morf Morford
The Bible opens With the Creator Literally speaking the world into being And we imagine, That we human creatures, In a sense, like every other creature, Given life by God’s…
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We are Red Letter Christians
By RLC Editor
I began working for Tony Campolo almost five years ago. I was a student at Eastern University and needed an on-campus job that could help subsidize the food and fun…
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The Disturbing Trend of Christian Self-Deprecation
Christianity is a corporate community that includes thousands of different sects, factions, organizations and denominations—it includes millions of individuals and their nuanced theologies. The problem with the “Christian” label is…
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Nature’s Elegant Geometry: Signs of God?
My wife, Amy, and I try to take Mondays off together. It’s our only time without kids but with each other and few job demands looking over us. Yesterday after…
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The Gift of Receiving
By John Watson
“If there’s anything I can do… Can I help? Just let me know… Anything at all.” My son went into hospital, and for the first time, I was the object…
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Christianity Means Not Knowing All the Answers
By Kathy Vestal
It seems to me it’s unchristian to claim, or even aim, to know all the answers about God. Think a moment with me. We Christians claim to believe in a…
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Why Conflict is Good For Us
By Micah Bales
As a teenager, I always loved a good fight. I got a huge adrenaline rush from hashing out Very Important Issues with peers and elders alike. More importantly, I believed…
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Showdown on a South China ferry – Do we have faith because we were born into it?
By Morf Morford
What religion a man shall have is a historical accident, quite as much as what language he shall speak. ~George Santayana, Reason in Religion Do we have a faith because…
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Mislabeling the Word of God
By Yaholo Hoyt
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1, ESV The Bible is not the “Word of God.” It…
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Entertainment Christianity
A Christian’s worst nightmare isn’t bad theology, hypocrisy or heresy—it’s boredom. Westernized Christianity has become addicted to entertainment, and we expect our sermons, worship and Sunday school classes to be…
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Raising Kids and Radically Following Jesus. Possible?
By Jon Huckins
Before we had kids, we loved to travel, had worldview stretching experiences and were all together creative in how we lived the lives we had been given. For us, having…
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The Damaging Effects of Shame-Based Sex Education: Lessons From Elizabeth Smart
A couple months ago, several Christian bloggers created a conversation about the potentially harmful aspects of idolizing virginity and purity. While I think that abstinence is a great goal for…
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Churches Shouldn't Be Think Tanks
I remember the first time I met someone without papers. They were 12 or 13, like me, and pretty unremarkable and brown. I can still feel the tension between my…
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If we say we have no sin…who are we really calling a liar?
By Morf Morford
One of the many themes of the Bible, expressed on almost every page, but rarely presented from the pulpit or explored in Christian self-help books, or even fiction, is the…
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Honor and Shame: A First Century Lens for Today
This post will be the epitome of a layperson’s understanding of this particular topic, but perhaps it will be new information to some and provide a very general overview. Hopefully…
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Uncool! — Google and Facebook's Human Trafficking Complicity
I was speaking at a on how to end human trafficking. Every single speaker there — from FBI agents, to Pentagon military people, to professors studying the issue and survivors running…
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The False Idol of “Christianity”
Welcome to Christianity! Please complete the following questionnaire: Are you an Armenian or a Calvinist? Do you enjoy contemporary or traditional worship? Do you sing hymns or choruses? Do you…
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Love is Everything
By Matt Young
Over the past year a lot of my beliefs have changed. I went from being a Soldier in the U.S. Army to a Pacifist. I went from having a nationalistic,…
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Refocusing the Great Commission
By Kathy Vestal
“. . . go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey…
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Queer People Have More to Offer the World than What We Are Not
Queer people have more to offer the world than what we are not. There is something liberating and life-saving about the Gospel. Jesus hung out on the margins, with the…
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Give It All Away: Could Jesus Possibly Have Meant What He Said About Money?
By Micah Bales
This week at Capitol Hill Friends, we looked at Luke 12:13-34, where Jesus lays out some of his radical teaching about money. He tells the story of the rich fool…
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Five Questions with Sarah Thebarge, Author of The Invisible Girls
is the author of The Invisible Girls, a new memoir from . I was fortunate to get a few minutes to ask her a few questions about her touching, funny, compelling…
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There Should Be No Poor Among You
By Morf Morford
This is one of the few commands virtually all religious people I know easily – even eagerly – follow. We just do it our own way. The Biblical and cultural…
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Proximity and Relationship: A Personal Story
There’s credibility and power in proximity and relationship. It is impossible to advance the message of reconciliation without being in proximity to and relationship with those who’ve been marginalized. Proximity to and relationship with the marginalized instills in…
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Warfare Kills Nonhuman Animals Too
For nearly a century, anti-war sentiment has been a cultural force with which governments, religions, and economies have had to reckon. Christian pacifists have played important parts in these movements,…
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Certainty, Accuracy and Seeking to Follow Jesus
Recently on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, sports commentator Tim Goldman mentioned a at Washington State University. Those who conducted it found that a sports pundit’s twitter following increased much…
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The Bible Isn’t Perfect And It Says So Itself
By Zack Hunt
If you blog long enough, someone will eventually call you a heretic. Self-appointed orthodoxy watchdogs plague the internet almost as much as porn. Say something outside their particular theological tradition…
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Tornadoes, Butterfly People and Finding the Sacred in Collective Stories
By Rachel Lloyd
After witnessing the profound impact of the Joplin tornado from a nearby community, I learned of an unexpected survival mechanism that became quickly woven through the fabric of the raw…
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Serving Beyond Structures: Ministering Beyond Ministries
There are ministries that revolve around motorcycles, cars, pets, political parties, denominations, books, hiking, cooking, and for people without access to water, shoes, homes, jobs, food and even healthy food.…
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Reformation Takes Decades, but Revolution Draws Blood in a Day
By Yaholo Hoyt
To the Young Revolutionary, Revolution is the cry of the young. It comes, mostly, from a good place. A young man or woman wakes up in this world with fresh…
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Memorial Day and the Sacrificed
No one joins the military to die. No one intends to be a sacrifice, though many soldiers know there is a possibility they will die if sent into conflict. Yet…
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Memorial Day – Mourning Our "Enemies" Deaths
On this Memorial Day, what if we not only remember American soldiers but all the soldiers around the world who have lost their lives? And not only soldiers, but all…
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Jesus and Baptists and Jews – Oy Vey!
Some of my all-time favorite people are Jewish: The Marx Brothers. Mel Brooks. Even my Lord and Savior is a Jew. And then, there’s our local rabbi (sort of), Seth…
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Why I am Actively Supporting the Boy Scouts
A kid no more than thirteen or so came to our door yesterday. We stood tall and was freshly pressed in his scout uniform, his black canvas Chuck Taylors the…
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Why “Evangelical” Is Worth Saving
It was September 2005, only four short years after the devastating terrorist attacks that crippled our nation, and I was sitting right in the middle of a large evangelical church.…
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Arizona atheist's invocation in state legislature raises questions about public 'prayer'
By Kay Campbell
Is it possible to give an invocation for a public group without it becoming a religious prayer? Yes, according to Arizona State Rep. Juan Mendez, who offered a secular invocation…
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The Irrelevance of Jesus to Congressmen and Food Stamps
It is astonishing to me that politicians who are eager to identify themselves as Christians so readily declare the irrelevance of Jesus. Not that they claim he is totally irrelevant.…
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The Pledge of Allegiance: 2 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Say It
By Matt Young
The Pledge of Allegiance was originally composed in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Originally the Pledge was composed of these words: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the republic for…
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The Violence of Peacemaking
By Jon Huckins
Editor’s Note: Today, author Jon Huckins launches the Global Immersion Project! Watch the video below to learn more and scroll beneath it to read Jon’s post! The Global Immersion Project…
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Five Reasons Christian Parents "Lose" Their Children
By Yaholo Hoyt
It is a great anxiety of Christian parents; wondering if their children will grow up Christian, or if they will stay Christians as they move into their own adult lives.…
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Love is the Root of All Evil
By Morf Morford
There is probably nothing considered more mundane, but in reality more dangerous, than the study of words and how we use them. As any gun rights advocate would remind us;…
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Caught in the Act: Reputation and Relationship
By Mal Green
The seemingly relentless litany in recent church history of high-profile and no-profile Christian religious leaders being caught in the act of spectacularly transgressing some aspect of their own Judeo-Christian moral…
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When Revolutions Become Religions
Young and old, rich and poor, and people from every social, economic, political and cultural background are starting to rethink their faith. A fresh movement is happening, and in its…
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The Lie of Gun Right's Advocates
The big lie is being exposed finally. Gun rights advocates continue to say they want their guns for sport, and self defense from all the criminals and mentally ill out…
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Abercrombie And Fitch And Homelessness and You
Recently, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch said in an interview that he only wanted “thin and beautiful” people to wear his clothes, which is why the largest woman’s size…
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Confusion and Certainty about God
I’m not a very deep thinker. When I was growing up in Dallas, there was a D.J. on WRR named Jim Low. One of his tag lines was “even nonconformists…
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Jesus Is Against the 2nd Amendment
By Art Haywood
Six month old Joniyah Watkins was shot and killed while sitting on her father’s lap in Chicago on 11 March in a drive by shooting. A gun is used in…
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I Have Some Bad Habits
By Nikole Lim
I have a bad habit. On lazy mornings after my alarm clock goes off, I get back into bed and check up on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I usually fall…
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The Cost of Being Poor
It’s expensive to be poor. “The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace” says the Washington Post. Most of us wouldn’t be able to…
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Why I’m Not Spending Mother’s Day With My Children
This Mother’s Day will be the first one in fourteen years that I won’t be spending with my children. Assured by my kids that they could do without me on…
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Are You Lonely?
By Micah Bales
I recently read a post by Suzannah Paul, in which she reflects on her own experience of living in a culture of isolation. She describes the present era as one…
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Corrective Strategies and Themes for Understanding the Book of Revelation (Tired of the chaos? Me too!)
By Kurt Willems
After my most popular status update ever affirmed it a few months back, I’ve decided to do some intentional thinking about the book of Revelation. These posts will be scattered…
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“I am a sexual predator. I need help.” Ariel Castro
By Morf Morford
Like everyone else I would guess, I have been horrified, appalled and spiritually and emotionally paralyzed by the news regarding the recent rescue of the three young women in Cleveland.…
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The 6 Best Things About American Christianity
When it comes to American Christianity, we often see the worst in ourselves. We’re cynical, overly critical and depressed about our shortcomings. Apocalyptic sermons warn us that the end is…
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Radical Theology: The New “White” Religion?
I’ve experienced some strange extremes lately. First, I attended – and spoke at – the Subverting the Norm conference in Springfield, MO, where we took some time to consider how,…
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The 6 Worst Things About American Christianity
America is wonderful! We have religious freedom to express our beliefs and worship according to our preferences, but there are also very distinct problems associated with American Christianity. Here are…
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EXECUTION HALTED: Willie Jerome Manning
THIS JUST IN…. Within hours of his scheduled execution, Willie Jerome Manning’s death was stopped. The Mississippi Supreme Court (the same court that denied DNA evidence in a split 5-4…
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The Temple: What Will Be Our Standing Legacy?
By Morf Morford
When I see one of the magnificent historic temples or cathedrals, in all of its opulence and ornate craftsmanship, I am astonished, humbled and even thrilled by its, literally, transcendent…
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Dr. Vincent Harding, MLK & The One’s We’ve Been Waiting For (with AUDIO)
Who are we building into? Who are we teaching what we’ve been taught? I ask this of us as I think of someone who last year had a profound effect…
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Upon the Walls of Palestine
I have walked the length and breadth of many a wall over this past year but there are three that stand out decidedly more than all the others. They are…
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Execution Alert: Willie Jerome Manning
A Mississippi man is scheduled to be killed Tuesday (May 7) at 6pm. In a last minute 5-to-4 vote, the courts denied DNA testing that could prove his innocence. Willie…
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The Demonization of 'Terrorism'
Co-authored by Cyrus McGoldrick The recent explosions at the Boston Marathon and subsequent media coverage exposed yet again a dangerous trend in U.S. culture: rushing to judgment in labeling and…
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When Christians speak of violence in Islam
By Dan Martin
The recent bombing attacks in Boston have once again raised the cry across the internet, rehearsing the perceived violence of Islam. In several recent discussions, Christians have repeated the mantra…
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Why Be Proud of Jason Collins?
By Kathy Vestal
No one is proud of Jason Collins for being gay. Being gay or straight, black or white, male or female, left-handed or right-handed, blue-eyed or brown-eyed, is no reason for…
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NBA Player, Jason Collins, Comes Out
By Andrew Marin
Late Monday morning my Twitter feed started blowing up with news that NBA player Jason Collins became the first active player on a major men’s sports team to come out. You can…