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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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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 Pally
I 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 Anslow
Turn 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 Himes
On 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 Morford
If 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 Dill
About 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 John
How 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 Editor
Due 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 Campolo
Over 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 Martin
The 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 Morford
I 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 Willems
For 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 Campbell
Buy 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 Perdue
One 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 Morford
Live 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 Willems
Leave 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 Campolo
Buy 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 Huckins
My 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 Braun
After 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 Willems
A 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 Morford
Where 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 Campolo
I 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 Huckins
Although 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 Lahr
The 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 Huckins
Series 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 Willems
I’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…
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Of Politics, Religion, and Gynecological Rockers (Ode to Ted Nugent)
Quickly now, name the first three things that come to your mind when you hear the name Ted Nugent. Wait – make that the first three things that come to…
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Becoming a Fool for Gabriela
“Motion pictures aren’t called that simply because they are pictures in motion, but because they have the power to profoundly move people.” Last week I had breakfast with 14 year-old Gabriela.…
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Constructing an Identity of Lacking to Find God
By Noah Echols
Jesus presented a message that is largely ignored today: the more one lacks, the more likely he/she is to seek God. Jacques Lacan, a French theorist, proposed the idea of…
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Creating a Culture of Life Against Ideology and Capital
I heard a sermon recently on the need to create a “culture of life” instead of the “culture of death” that we currently have in our society. Not only do…
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Southern Baptists, Women and the NIV Bible: This, Too, Shall Pass
The Southern Baptist Convention‘s (SBC) resolution in opposition to the most recent New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible is not surprising to many. By a more than a…
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Simplicity: Relationships Work
By Greg Dill
Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimal means. In the digital and information age we live, things are to be more simple. And, practically speaking perhaps they are.…
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I Am Lawrence Brewer
By Sarah Howell
Two nights ago, the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis, a man widely believed to be innocent. A last-minute delay went to the Supreme Court, where a stay of execution…
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Troy Davis and the Biblical Case(s) for Violence
By Matt Rindge
As I write this article, it appears that Troy Davis will be executed within a few hours. He will join countless others, including Osama bin Laden, who have been killed…
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Judgment's Triumph: The Unjust Death of Troy Davis
By Joe Perdue
On W reading teacher ednesday, September 21 the US Supreme Court chose to deny Troy Davis’ final appeal for a stay of execution. In spite of his claim of innocence,…
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Choose Life for Troy Davis
Despite 650, 000 signatures, a letter from over 50 members of the US Congress, and a personal plea from former Georgia governor and US President Jimmy Carter, the Georgia State…
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End the Silence of the Good People – What White People Can Do About Racism
By Chris Lahr
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of bad people, but the appalling silence of the good…
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Is Postmodern Christianity Dead?
Some people find great pleasure in being the first to claim the death of the latest thing to capture our collective imagination. You can see it everywhere in the worlds…
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God's Middle Finger – When the Divine Says "Up Yours"
By Kurt Willems
When we cling to the sword, we flip the cross upside down to use it as our tool of death instead of God’s tool for bringing life. And so the…
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Celebrating the Interruption of Death
Editor’s Update: Duane’s story is one of redemption – he has devoted himself to God since his arrival on death row, and he’s even called “Preacher Buck” because he ministers…
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Bible Translation Debates: The Challenge of Changing Language
By Mimi Haddad
Have you ever noticed how every day language is used to manipulate and shape rather than describe reality? Here is one example. I used to swim several mornings a week,…
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Oh Crap I'm White. . .What White People Can Do About Racism
By Chris Lahr
One of the privileges of being white is that you do not have to think about race. On TV if a black person does something illegal you often hear about…
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Requisite Reading for the Squeamish Lightweight
If you don’t know me, or my reading habits, you have no reason to be surprised by the two newest titles on my nightstand. The requisite info is simply that…
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How 9/11 has Shaped our Collective Struggle
The events of 9/11 retain a powerful grip on our collective consciousness. Nearly every American adult can answer “what were you doing during the attacks?” Personally and collectively, we’ve been…
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Letter from a Young Evangelical to the Muslim World
By Aaron Graham
Salaam aleikum, shalom, and peace be with you at the end of your holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of a reflective and solemn moment for Americans on…
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The New “War” on Terror: 9/11 and Jesus’ Approach to Enemies of the State
By Kurt Willems
This past week I was invited to speak at a youth event, which had servanthood and commissioning as its focus. It was organized by three youth pastors that are all…
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Moving on the Block: What White People Can Do About Racism
By Chris Lahr
“What white people can do about racism” as a blog series is not so much a “how to” manual to end racism, as much as it is a reflection on…
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Take A Walk on 9/11
By Bart Campolo
As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, many of us are wondering how best to honor the many victims of that tragedy and its aftermath. Here in Cincinnati, my wife…
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What Does Hip-Hop Tell Us About Faith and Society?
Last week, Rev. Michael Waters wrote a post entitled “An Odd Future for Faith In Hip-Hip.” In the piece Rev. Waters asserts that “I am increasingly troubled by certain contemporary…
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What My Muslim Friend Taught Me About Jesus
By Jon Huckins
Ali is my good friend and one of my hero’s. He has taught me so much. Let me tell you about him. Ali grew up a Shi’ite Muslim in Iran.…
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"Grace"less Christianity
A church called Point of Grace in Iowa that was renting off-site office space to a day care center has taken a rather radical turn. Ironically, it appears they’re offering…
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Is Salvation Through Faith the Core of the Gospel?
By Noah Echols
Many will argue the core of the gospel is found in Jesus claiming that we can only attain salvation through faith in him. After all, Jesus did say that he…
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Joy's Shadow As New School Year Begins
By Kent Annan
My daughter attended her first day of kindergarten today. A poignant milestone dressed up in an exceptionally cute plaid jumper. My wife and I thought we were pretty cool with…
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Anti-Gay?
I was sitting at the edge of my seat, anxiously waiting for Hybels to make his announcement. As a former Starbucks partner (the internal terminology used for employees) and manager, the…
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Hurricane Irene and the Wrath of God
“Do you think God sent Hurricane Irene?” a young man asked me with a curious look in his eyes that was as innocent as it was pensive. My mind flashed…
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The "God" of the Gut: Animals, Faith & Gluttony
By Kurt Willems
Jesus fished with his disciples. Jesus multiplied a few fish into enough to feed a village. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, fell into a trance in which God said:…
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Confessions of a Failing Radical: Challenges of Walking the Way
By Matt Anslow
This post was inspired by an amicable challenge set forth by my friend Simon Moyle, a peace activist and worthy Twitter followee, in the comments section of a recent post of…
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We Are All Illegal
We are all illegal aliens in the kingdom of God granted entry only by the amnesty of Christ’s blood. That is the strange foundational truth of Christianity. There is nothing…
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The Great White Hope? What White People Can Do About Racism
By Chris Lahr
I attend a congregation called, Iglesia del Barrio (IDB), which translated into English means “church of the neighborhood.” The congregation is made up of predominantly Puerto Rican folks who have…
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With Morbid Silence: Christian Denial in an Age of Economic Disparity
By Erin Echols
Whether it is in our passionate recitation from the one line of the one Martin Luther King speech we’ve actually read or the long clap that followed our now President’s suggestion…
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The Face of Privilege in Hard Times
Every industry is getting hammered by the recession, but small nonprofits are getting hit especially hard. I’ve been working mostly by contract for nonprofits for the last eight years, and…
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Hell on Earth and the Kingdom of God
By Greg Dill
In 2008 I had the opportunity to serve the poorest of poor. There is a people group in Honduras known as, “the people of the dump” who literally live, eat,…
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Coming Out of the Theological Closet
By Kurt Willems
I’m told that coming out of the closet involves risk on the part of someone who identifies with the LGBTIQ community. How will my family and friends respond? Will I…
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Jesus the Breadmaker
“Look daddy, ” my two-year-old daughter said on Sunday, pointing to the communion table, “Jesus gave us more food again.” I don’t write nearly as much about little Zoe as…
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"A Trumpet Now Sounds" & "An Unspoken Leap"
A TRUMPET NOW SOUNDS A trumpet now sounds A horn now beckons For all to break free From Babylon The word has been sent From the most holy mountain And…
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The Majority Needs Diversity More Than The Minority
By Chris Lahr
A couple months ago I was at a one-day conference on raising money and sustaining your sport’s club. Working with Timoteo, a flag football ministry in Philly that mentors young…