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For years, I have sat in dialogue rooms across from people whose politics, experiences, and understanding of the place we both call home were very different from mine.…
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2011: The Year of the Hell Debate
2011 was a turbulent year for American evangelical Christian identity. A major lightning rod within our identity crisis was the publication of Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. Under the surface…
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Noting a Woman’s Body
By Enuma OkoroGod knows women’s bodies always have a way of getting our attention. This is not breaking news. But in the past two weeks two storylines have been breaking out and…
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Christians, Take Up Your Mats and Walk
There’s an old joke that speaks directly to one of the biggest issues holding back Churches these days: How many Christians does it take to screw in a light bulb?…
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“Class Warfare” in Mary’s Magnificat?
As our call to worship the fourth Sunday in Advent, we read Mary’s Magnificat, a prophetic song that she bursts into in Luke 1:46-55 after her cousin Elizabeth confirms that…
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The Ecstasy of Spirituality on Christmas
By Tony CampoloThe ecstasy of spirituality might be compared to an experience I had when I was seven years old. It was Christmas, and I wanted more than anything to have a…
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The Christian Industrial Complex
I went into a Christian bookstore the other day and was surprised to see some of the most prominent display space given over to military flags for the U.S. Army,…
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The Challenge Of Keeping The Real Christ In Christmas
Like most kids, when I was growing up I looked forward to Christmas with eager anticipation. With each passing day the excitement heightened. I constantly fantasized about how wonderful it…
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The Better Beard at Christmas: Santa or John the Baptist?
By Kent Annanbuy cheap cialis I’ve never donned a beard or red suit for Christmas. So far that’s my personal line. But something happens when you have kids. Categories of cool, kitsch,…
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Chinese Christmas: Always Winter and Never Christmas
By Morf MorfordIn mainland China, at least in 1999, they didn’t celebrate – or even acknowledge – Christmas. The lingering brutal winters fit that line from “The lion, the witch and the…
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Waiting with Mary: “Being” Rather Than “Doing”
Before Leah and I moved to Durham to start Rutba House in the summer of 2003, we spent a long weekend at Mary’s House Catholic Worker, a hospitality house for…
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A Season for Mischief and Conspiracy: A New Take on Christmas Charity
Critiquing the thick irony of the Christmas season is fair. It’s ludicrous that we celebrate the birth of the homeless baby Jesus by indulging in the biggest consumer spending of…
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How to Respond to Our All-American Muslim Neighbors
Lowe’s national retail chain, following a conservative Christian group’s call for businesses to boycott advertising on a new TLC reality show about Muslims, pulled its advertisements from All-American Muslim. The…
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Christmas: The Season of Grieving
Christmas is known for being the season of giving, good cheer and peace with all men. It’s where families come together for food, gifts, fellowship and celebration. It’s sparkling lights,…
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Of Mice And MIN…ISTERS (Ode to Advent and Axl Rose)
I’ve heard it said that Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose was, and still is, an angry, angry man. I have no reason to doubt it. There simply is no…
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Church Leaders Join Fight Against Italian Energy Giant in Rural Guatemala
Tension filled the cramped, block-wall room in the Guatemalan highlands as indigenous leaders sat across from negotiators for ENEL, an Italian-based energy company building a US$228-million hydro-electric dam in the…
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Taking the SEX out of Sex-mas!
By Kurt WillemsThen one foggy Sex-mas Eve, Victoria came to say: Consumer with your eyes so wide, buy this bra and panties tonight. Twenty-year-old young women wearing unmentionables stare into the camera…
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War on Christmas
By Morf MorfordAnd then there are those who rouse our passions about a “War on Christmas”. I found this tedious last year, and the year before, and the year before… But this…
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The New Evangelicals
By Marcia PallyThough public support for both major political parties is very low, one group of voters is usually exempted from this malaise: evangelicals. It’s assumed that at least these “values voters”…
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Tim Tebow: The Mile High Messiah
You don’t have to be from Colorado these days to hear about the so-called “Tebow Mystique.” An adoration for the new Denver Broncos quarterback that borders on hero-worship or even…
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Occupy the Manger: How God Does Revolution
Occupy the manger. I’m sick of phrases that begin with occupy. But that’s what God did. He occupied a manger in the form of a baby born to a poor…
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Santa – Our Imaginary Friend
One of the tough decisions that all Christians have to face when we accept Christ is to embrace truth and reject lies. Many of those lies are society’s lies. They are…
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All I want for Christmas is the Real Christmas story
By Morf MorfordIt doesn’t seem that much to ask. With all the passion, energy and hype around Christmas, you’d think there would be some interest in refining our focus on what we…
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Kinyarwanda: Forgiveness is Freedom
By Andrew HimesKinyarwanda: Forgiveness is Freedom, a new movie from talented African American director Alrick Brown, is not a movie about genocide, though it is set in Rwandan during the 100 days in…
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A Third Way? Beyond the “Affirming / Not Affirming” Dichotomy
By AnonymousI should begin by explaining why I am writing this piece anonymously. It is not because I wish to protect myself from the inevitable criticism that comes with any position…
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Soundgarden, John Mayer, Bowling Alleys and Advent
My eight-year-old son, Mattias, just recently had his eighth birthday, complete with a magician, bunnies, doves, party favors, sugar, balloons, cards, effusive attention and – of course – gifts. Some…
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How To Satisfy Jesus (via the Gospel of Elvis)
I wish I had a nickle for every time God spoke to me through Elvis. Like Elvis’ song “A Little Less Conversation”: A little less conversation, a little more action…
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At The Corner of Injustice, Exploitation and Corruption
Growing up as a product of the system as well as working in the inner city, I experienced and witnessed many things that disturbed and angered me. Things such as…
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The Occupation of the Lord’s Prayer
By Jeremy JohnThe occupation is like Jesus’ parable, where a king invites all of his privileged, first-tier guests to the wedding. But nobody came. So the king takes the invitation out to…
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Problems of the Privileged
By Roy GobleA friend of mine was playing golf at her country club when she began to recognize a disturbing pattern: there were a lot of complaints about meaningless things. I asked…
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Open and Affirming Because of the Bible
I want to start by saying that any time there are two people with opposing views concerning a third group of people, the resulting conversation will involve much audacity, hubris…
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Open? Yes! Affirming? No.
By Dan MartinI’ve been running into a lot of comments from friends across the blogosphere lately, revolving around the issue of how the church should respond to homosexuality today. I write this…
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A Visit To Occupy Washington D.C.: Some Thoughts on Violence and Nonviolence
My son and I were in Washington, D.C. on November 20th to attend the “Super Vigil” for a just and fair budget. Afterward, when we had finished visiting with a…
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Preacher or False Prophet
My first job in a church was as a music minister. I loved the senior pastor I served with, as did the congregation we faced every Sunday morning. He taught…
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Prophetic Pepper Spray, Suffering, and the Revolutionary Kingdom: UC Davis and #OccupyWallStreet
By Kurt WillemsSuffering. Not something that is glorified in itself in Scripture, but the glory is in the cause suffered for. Suffering, most often, is the result of circumstances uncontrollable to the…
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I’m Thankful for My Government
It might seem strange to say, but I’m thankful for my government. I’m not necessarily talking about the politicians in Congress whose commitment to ideology over reality is driving our…
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The Girl Who Cried Wolf, and Other Myths
You can’t go online lately without hearing about hearing about Herman Cain and the allegations of sexual harassment haunting his campaign. Those posts inevitably make me wince—not the articles themselves,…
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Individualism, Desire and the Christian Self
By Matt AnslowIt is frequently said that we live in an individualistic society. This is not all bad. The fact that individualist philosophy values the individual’s worth is fantastic. Not so fantastic…
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Politics, Prejudices, and Hungry Dogs
It was a cold and drizzling Easter Sunday morning, early just before the sun rises, in rural northern Kentucky. I was assisting the local Methodist pastor in leading the community…
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Emmett Till to Herman Cain: It’s No Longer About Civil Rights
In August, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till, and African-American, was killed for reportedly flirting with a white woman. He was beaten, his eyes cut out of his head, and his lifeless…
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Racism, Moral Law and the Penn State Abuse Scandal
By Leroy Barber“A time comes when silence is betrayal.” — Martin Luther King My heart is very heavy today as I read about the eight boys who were sexually assaulted by Gerald…
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The Walker: An Anonymous Blur on the Horizon
By Morf MorfordEven though virtually all of us have seen him as he wanders relentlessly, day and night, across and beyond his home town, few know his name. Those of us who…
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Muslims in the Military – A Case of Envy
I envy the distrust that Muslims in America face. There are loud voices claiming that they can’t be counted on to be totally dependable citizens. In particular, we are being…
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Failure of Personhood (in Mississippi and Elsewhere)
I was honestly surprised last Tuesday when Mississippi rejected the referendum that would have legally defined “personhood” as beginning at conception. I figured the personhood movement targeted Mississippi because it…
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Jesus, Forgiving Economic Debts and Personal Sins
By Jeremy JohnIn the Lord’s prayer, our daily prayer, we pray, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” As we forgive our debtors. Forgive us our debts. In Aramaic, debt…
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Naked Greed Day: Give Them Your Underwear, Too
“When someone sues you for your outer garment, give them your undergarment as well” (Matt. 5:40). Jesus said that when someone sues you for your clothes off your back (presumably…
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When Soldiers Become Saints (WITH VIDEO)
Today the United States celebrates Veteran’s Day… and the Church celebrates Martin of Tours, … a conscientious objector to war whose Feast Day is recognized by Christians around the world…
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Nevermind the Nonsense (Ode to Jesus & Johnny Rotten)
The notorious, belligerent, somewhat anti-social punk rocker Johnny Rotten, at the end of his final live show with his band the Sex Pistols, yelled out to the audience, “ever get…
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Homosexuality, Democrats & War – My Interview with Tony Campolo
By Marcia PallyI met Tony Campolo at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, between a performance of Rigoletto, which he and his wife had attended at the Metropolitan Opera. I sat down…
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When You Say “Sin, ” What Do You Mean?
I wrote a piece recently that appeared here on the Red Letter Christians site, and the discussion that followed in the comments section was particularly interesting to me. The article…
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TGIF (Trash Goes Into Flight): The Bastardization of Creativity
By Matt AnslowTurn on the radio and you’ll find yourself bathing in the cesspool that is popular music. Whoa, slow down there cowboy! That’s a pretty harsh way to start, you can’t…
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On the Death of My Mother and the Nature of Love
By Andrew HimesOn Tuesday afternoon, October 4, 2011, my sister Faith called from Chattanooga and said, “Mom’s gone.” I heard a rushing sound in my ears and my heart thumped and I…
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Was Jesus a Bigot? He Did Call a Woman a Dog
One of the biggest barriers to helpful, healthy conversation about the Christian faith seems to revolve around fear. What if I don’t know something I should and others find out?…
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Foreclosure Tourism
By Morf MorfordIf you think driving by a series of For Sale signs in your neighborhood is sobering, consider what a closer look might hold. I took a real estate sponsored tour…
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Military Christianity and the Way of Jesus
As I write these words my Dad’s dog tags are lying in front of me. He was in the Army during World War 2, serving in North Africa and Italy.…
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Women of Winter: The Outcasts
By Greg DillAbout a month ago, I finished reading a book by one of my favorite Christian authors, Max Lucado. The title of this book is “God Came Near”, arguably his best…
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Occupy Wall Street, the Church, and the Apocalypse
By Jeremy JohnHow long have we been comfortable in the 1st world church? Nourishing ourselves on the warm broth of prayer and fellowship, resting and gathering strength, singing worship songs that seek…
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The Biblical Version of Occupy Wall Street
As I followed the media coverage on the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and now even America with Occupy Wall Street and the “99%” Movement, I knew that it sounded…
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Honky-Tonk Hymns in the God Pod
By Morf Morford“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 (NIV) As I walked down the narrow concrete hallways,…
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October’s BEST Reading
By RLC EditorDue to frequent request, each month Red Letter Christians will provide you with the latest list of most popular and talked about books on our site. This list is derived…
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I Want To Be In The 1% Who Get God’s Grace
There have been a number of photos circulating the Internet in which people hold posters that say why they are or are not part of “the 99%” represented by the…
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To What KIND of Sinners Was Jesus a Friend?
It’s no secret that Christians, of various flavors and stripes, are all over the board on how we deal with sin and Sinners. Though most of us have all sort…
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Are Evangelical Republicans Really Pro-Life?
By Tony CampoloOver the past decade, my Evangelical friends regularly ask me how I can be a Democrat and a Christian at the same time. I understood why that asked the question. …
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Would Jesus Occupy Wall Street?
By Dan MartinThe other day, a Facebook friend of mine posted a big caption on his profile: “JESUS Is With the 99%.” Predictably, he got a bunch of “likes” from his liberal…
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From Prosperity Gospel to Disparity Gospel?
I’m not going to spend too much time or energy expressing my disdain for Prosperity Gospel, the kind of ministry by the likes of Joel Osteen that preaches about how…
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He Has A Name
By Morf MorfordI can’t remember his name now, it was one of those not very unusual names, Tom, or Ron or Mike, but the man holding the “Will work for Food” sign…
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Am I Part of the 99% or the 1%? (Scattered Thoughts on #OccupyWallStreet and Global Poverty)
By Kurt WillemsFor the past several weeks, many of us who believe that the economic values of the United States are broken, have watched Occupy Wall Street on the news with awe.…
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Superheroes inspired by Quran: Nothing to fear
By Kay CampbellBuy levitra onlineth=”270″ height=”149″ />The contested reputation of Muslim leader Fethullan Gulen is a case study in the vexations faced by Muslims who are working for peace in a world…
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Moving Money: Investing in a New World
Nearly a decade ago, we threw a party on Wall Street where we gave away $10, 000 outside the Stock Exchange. The money had formerly been invested in stocks but…
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Sci-Fi Theology: Just Passin’ Through
By Joe PerdueOne of the earliest and fondest memories of my childhood involves getting up at four in the morning on Saturdays to watch black and white science fiction movies with my…
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A Woman’s Plea for Peace
“100 years ago, almost all casualties in war were men in uniform. Today, the majority are women and children.” So began the PBS documentary “Women, War & Peace.” I steeled…
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Al Mohler, Mullets and Gay Marriage
I admit it. I used to listen to country music. We all make mistakes. I saw the error of my ways about the same time Billy Ray Cyrus came on…
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A Devotion for Wall Street
A reporter recently asked me, “As a Christian leader, does your faith have anything to say about Wall Street?” I said, “How much time do you have?” The Christian message…
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Following Francis: The Veneration of (Imperfect) Saints
When people find out that I am 3rd Order Franciscan and that I have written a book that reflects on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, it is not…
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Waiting For St. Benedict: Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?
A couple of weeks ago, the Occupy Wall Street protests looked like a typical gathering of disgruntled young people, not unlike protests outside WTO or World Bank gatherings over the…
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Thanking God for R.E.M.
As soon as the news hit a few weeks back that rock band R.E.M. was retiring after over 30 years together, a call went out to writers to compose tributes…
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Questions for God from Behind Bars
By Morf MorfordLive your questions now, and perhaps even without knowing it, you will live along some distant day into your answers. -Rainer Maria Rilke What question would you ask God? I…
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Beware, Or You Too May Be – Left Below! (When the Simpsons and Harold Camping Collide)
By Kurt WillemsLeave it to Homer Simpson to help us understand the “end times” better. Beware, or you too may be – Left Below! This warning filled our TV screens, our newspapers,…
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Hope for Despairing Christians In A World That is Getting Worse and Worse
By Tony CampoloBuy cialis softg” alt=”” width=”169″ height=”170″ />For many Evangelical Christians, the normative attitude is to view world history with despair. Most have been led to believe that forces of darkness…
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What Would Jesus Occupy? Faith & #Occupy Wall Street
It might sound like a set up for a punchline; two God’s Politics contributors, a Muslim professor, an economist, a theologian and translator of Zizek’s work, and an Benedictine Abbott…
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Anwar Al-Awlaki: Eye For an Eye, or a Third Way?
I’ve been reflecting on the recent killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, an Al Qaida leader operating from Yemen, by American forces. A friend asked me if the fact that al-Awlaki was…
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“If you’re not rich, blame yourself” (Herman Cain vs. John Wesley)
“If you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself.” Thus says Herman Cain to the unemployed Wall Street protestors. I understand why he said it. He wants…
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Mustard Seeds of Hope: Israeli’s and Palestinian’s Standing Under the Banner of Non-Violence
By Jon HuckinsMy 1 year old daughter is at the stage in her development where she is captivated by anything around her. Whether a shoe, toy or even her own foot, she…
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Evangelical School Cancels Breakfast with Bush
By Will BraunAfter news leaked that Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto, Ontario was planning an invitation-only fundraising breakfast with George W. Bush last month, it only took two days for…
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Liberia, the Nobel Peace Prize, and Me
Last Friday, three women were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their commitment to women’s rights. Two of those women, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, were from Liberia, the…
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Why Jesus might be a Republi-demo-liber-green-peace and freed-O-crat
By Kurt WillemsA few months ago there was a provocative article written by Phil Zuckerman and Dan Cady called: Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus. It would be easy for many to be up…
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Living Into a New Story
My wife, Amy, and I just got back from a quick trip to Las Vegas for my 40th birthday. I jumped off a 109-story building, we did the zip line…
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In and Out of the Zoo
By Morf MorfordWhere no gods are, spectres rule. Novalis One time I took a group of people in the drug rehab program to the local zoo. Most of our group had been…
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The Growing Impossibility of Interfaith Dialogue
By Tony CampoloI just returned from the 2011 meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. It is an amazing gathering that brings together heads of state, some of the richest people in the…
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Why Do People In Your Country Think I'm a Terrorist?
By Jon HuckinsAlthough we had only met each other a few days before, my friend looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes and said, “I am a Christian. I…
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Listening to the Dead
In the fall of 1980, when I was 12 years old, I went with my dad into downtown New Orleans to his office on Magazine Street. Driving down Canal Street,…
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Steve Jobs, God’s Vision & Here I Stand: #OccupyWallStreet NOT Afghanistan
This week marks ten years since the occupation of Afghanistan started. I’ve just sat down to throw some thoughts on paper in between speaking engagements in New Zealand. The news…
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Whose Side Does God Take?
I have a problem that perhaps you can relate to. I’m very good at taking sides according to the lines that the world draws for me rather than taking Jesus’…
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Researching My Sundown Town: What white people can do about racism…
By Chris LahrThe next step on the path towards reconciliation is an important one. It is at this point that we reach a critical juncture of either rejection or repentance. Racial justice…
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Trolls, Avatars and the Convertible Effect
I remember when I first learned about the atrocities of the Holocaust in school. I could not imagine the type of person who could do such things to another person.…
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St. Francis, Pray for Us
Today (October 4) Christians around the world celebrate the life of St. Francis of Assisi, one of the bright lights of the Church and one of the most venerated religious…
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The History & Modern Manifestation of Christian Zionism
By Jon HuckinsSeries Note: This post is the first in a three part series on the topic of Christian Zionism and its implications in Israel and Palestine. There are few topics more…
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I Believe in the “Here and Now” But Live Like I Trust in Escapism
By Kurt WillemsI’ve noticed a trend in my life. When it comes to my worldview, the way I see reality, the way I see the Scriptures… I believe in a faith that…