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You never know the day your life will change—or the person who will change it. For me, her name was Om Hassan. I was 23, an American soldier…
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Is the Quran Divinely Inspired?
Here’s the Q: I will keep this short and to the point. I am a devout Christian and will stay that way. But, I am also exploring Islam and trying…
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A Question of Civility: Why We Can’t Resist the Urge to Compare someone to Adolf Hitler?
I recently read in Mental Floss magazine (a mag for the hard core trivia lover) of an attorney and writer named Mike Godwin who noticed a disturbing trend in online…
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Celebrating 1, 000 When One Matters
If I asked you to think about 384 million people, would you be able to find an image in your minds eye? If I tried to get you to visualize…
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Loving Muslims in a Fear-Filled World
By Tony CampoloMore and more we are going to have to deal with Muslims and it becomes increasingly difficult to know just what to do and what to think, given the ongoing…
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The Emerging Church Brand: The Good, the Bad, and the Messy
First, I want to say I do not want to discourage those who have found renewed hope in Jesus and the Church through “emerging church” conversations and circles. And I…
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A Possible Compromise on the Gay Marriage Controversy
By Tony CampoloPresident Bush once said that marriage is a sacred institution and should be reserved for the union of one man and one woman. If this is the case — and…
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Beer at Church?
By Tony CampoloI found a church in England, not far outside of London, in a very densely urban community, a congregation that took up every seat in the sanctuary. What’s more, they…
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The Natural Disaster of Empathy Overload
By Kurt WillemsI once heard Pastor Shane Hipps (an expert on media technology and marketing) describe a consequence of globalized media. He talked about how as humans, we are designed to empathize…
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Betrayal on Capitol Hill
By Tony CampoloAs Congress struggles to create a budget, I have a need to cite an instance where both the Democrats and the Republicans betray their constituents. The Democrats have claimed to…
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Greater fairness for one group means greater fairness and opportunities for all (Fear Not)
By Kay CampbellThis spring, I have been studying, really studying the U.S. Constitution, a document that I cannot help but see as fundamentally inspired. My guide for this is Richard Beeman’s excellent…
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The Gift of Tears
Several years ago, I was speaking at an event. It was a large secular audience, so I gave my mostly secular talk (you can see a version of that here).…
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Dumpster Divers on a Mission to Stop Waste
[Editor’s Note: This article is provided by Jarrod McKenna but in fact was written by Malcolm Quekett of the Western Australia] It is just past 9pm and Geoff Bice emerges…
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The R-word, The N-Word and The Book That Should be Burned
“Can someone say the word out loud, so that we all know what we’re talking about?” I asked. A hand slowly went up. Then another. “Retard?” one ventured hesitantly, as…
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Rapture Rebel
With the recent headlines, is it any wonder why the world may think that Christians seem to always want to run or hide or take the easy way out? When the “rapture” prediction,…
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The Rapture IS Coming TOMORROW: May 21, 2011
By Kurt WillemsI grew up in church. Not a typical middle class, white picket fence, awkwardly perfect church goin’ family situation, but in church nonetheless. Most of what I recall from those…
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My Thoughts on Sojourners, Coalition Building, and LGBTQ Rights
On my personal blog, I traced my journey on the issue of homosexuality and explored the challenges of coalition-building. It’s from this place that I’ve been reading about the recent critique…
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Actualizing the Kingdom on Earth
By Tony CampoloThe church today is enthralled in a movement that believes in a commitment to create a just and loving society in which we can fully actualize the Kingdom of God…
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A Real 'Senior' Prom
By Tony CampoloI have a friend who’s one of the great speakers of our time. His name is Guy Dowd. Several years back he was awarded the honor, by the President of…
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Osama bin Laden and the Lamb Who Was Slain
Like just about every other American, I can tell you where I was, what I was doing, and how I heard the news on that September day. But that’s not…
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PAPA Fest 2011 is Happening!
Some of you are aware and some are not… another summer gathering is in the works – PAPA Festival 2011 on June 16-19th. Past gatherings in 2006 and 2008 went…
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Save the Date: The Return of Christ?
By Tony CampoloAlthough the Second Coming is a certainty – Christ will return, and the kingdoms of this world will then become the kingdom of our God – Jesus himself said that…
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Sweet Revenge & Bitter Sounds of Calvary Love: West & Smiley on Obama & Osama
“You and I are legatees of Martin Luther King, and really we need to say quite explicitly, as Christians, we are going to be viewed as anti-American, anti-patriotic. Martin Luther…
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Who Will Be Our Next Monster to Fear?
On the death of Osama bin Laden, theologian Miroslav Volf expresses my sentiments when he writes: “We are right to feel a sense of relief that a major source of…
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A Humble Obituary for Osama bin Laden
By John HarrisOsama bin Laden, organizer, crusader, defender, soldier, terrorist, son, husband, and father has died last night at the young age of fifty-four. He was assassinated by the US military at…
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When Jesus Quoted the OT. . .And Why It Matters
By Andrew MarinEver Wonder What Old Testament Verses Jesus Quoted More Than Any Other? I take Jesus’ words very seriously. Very seriously. My understanding of Scripture tells me that those red letters…
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A Post-bin Laden Reflection on Violence
[Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on the Q Ideas Blog and has been re-posted with their permission] In the spring of 1999, during NATO’s bombing of Serbia, I was…
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Osama bin Laden is in All of Us
This is a strange blog for me to write because I am sharing my immediate feelings about something I am experiencing right now. I know that good bloggers shouldn’t immediately…
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Christians and the Common Good
For the longest time, when Christians have thought about political engagement, they have often begun the discussion with the question: what is the biblical role of government? This is not…
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The Cross Destroys Evil (Not Killing Osama)
My favorite t-shirt (a gift from my mates at “On Earth Peace” ) simply reads “When Jesus said, “Love your enemies, ” I think he probably meant, don’t kill them.”…
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Whose Death Does God Cheer?
I’m not a pacifist—but I do not celebrate the death of another human. Even Osama bin Laden. I remember watching the riots and flag burning in parts of the MIddle…
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When Good People Do Nothing
By Tony CampoloCynicism says, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Faith says, “You’ll see it when you believe it.” In Obadiah, verse 11 (the book only has one chapter), we read…
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Violence in the Name of Faith
I received a question from a reader recently that asked: You write a lot about the plight of the Palestinians. Do you have anything to say about the murder of…
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The Worship is Over but the Service is About to Begin
By Tony CampoloThere are people who go to the symphony and clap because they know that’s what they are supposed to do at the end of the concert, but the music has…
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Good for Goodness Sake. . .Not Conversions
By Tony CampoloWe should do good for goodness sake, not to achieve some other goal. A good act is good in and of itself. There are some people who believe that the…
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Substituting the Offense of the Gospel for Just Being Offensive
I know Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that “Christians should give more offense, ” but, to be completely honest, I’m getting really tired of Christians who are offensive for all the wrong…
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Three Cups of Truth
By Kent AnnanLast week I watched the “60 Minutes” expose on Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. It felt like a punch in the gut, even if it’s of the…
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Jubilee on Wall Street: Reimagining God's Vision in Action
All the ruckus on Wall Street has created an incredible moment for the kingdom of God. Across the planet folks are asking questions like: “Can the world afford the American…
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Celebrating Easter Reconciliation: Alive & One in Christ
By Mimi HaddadAs we celebrate Easter and Christ’s empty tomb, we recognize that Calvary changes everything! Through Christ’s victory over death we not only receive forgiveness for sin, but if that were…
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It's Friday. . .But Sunday's Coming! (VIDEO)
By Tony CampoloOnce a year in our church, we have a preach off. Folks, for the most part, don’t even know what that is. That’s when you get about five, six, seven…
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Death Be Not Proud: The Easter Gospel of Non-Violence
Tomorrow is “Good” Friday, the day Christians around the world remember Jesus’ crucifixion. Last year on Good Friday one of my neighbors said to me, “I thought it’s supposed to…
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Sexual Assault, Cold Nights and God's Plan
At 23, most people her age are very conscious of their appearance, but Stephanie’s wardrobe consisted of thrift store finds and cast offs, leaning heavily toward stretch pants and sweatshirts…
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The Future of College Ministry: Credibility Over Credentials
By Andrew MarinMore than any other type of life and faith in culture, there is no doubt in my mind that college ministry is consistently the most rapidly changing population of believers.…
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UnChristian: Who Do I Emulate?
I have been doing some thinking about the book UnChristian in which non – Christians had the opportunity to share their views of Evangelical Christians. Not surprisingly they are not too…
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Ride the Donkey: Love Over Power
By Tony CampoloI sometimes think that many Evangelical Christians tend toward becoming modern counterparts of the ancient Gnostics. While the theologically liberal doubt the deity of Jesus, we have a tendency to…
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Changing America and the World for the Common Good
By Tony CampoloThere was a time when I thought that a handful of committed persons, wholly dedicated to their cause, could change the world. After all, Margaret Mead had said we could. …
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Turning Again: Tax Day
This year, Tax Day (April 15) happened to be the Friday before Good Friday. For those of us on the Lenten journey, this puts the question of whether we should…
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The Ryan Plan: A Declaration of War on the Poor
I’ve been fasting for 18 days in solidarity with the hunger fast for a moral budget because something incredible is happening in our country, and we haven’t seen anything like…
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Jesus is My Koan
By Tony CampoloRecently, at a public forum, I was asked to address the question as to whether or not America is having a spiritual revival. It was an easy question to address…
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Do I Deny the Resurrection?
Occasionally I get emails demanding to know my stance on a particular piece of “historic orthodoxy”. People wonder about my view of hell, or who I think Jesus was or…
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Hunger Fast: The Call for Justice
By RLC Editor“When I walked outside people, thinking I was a doctor, began handing me their dead children. Within minutes I watched 25 children die.” These were the opening words of Ambassador…
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My Letter to the IRS
As a Christian, Easter marks the most stunning act of grace and enemy-love in human history – Jesus’ death and resurrection. As Jesus was being tortured and executed, he cried…
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A Proposal for "Illegal Aliens"
By Tony CampoloThe Hebrew Scriptures clearly call for the children of Israel to make room for the alien. The Israelites are reminded that they, too, were once aliens in a strange and…
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Religionless Spirituality
By Tony CampoloDietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian martyr, once prophesied from a Nazi concentration camp that there would come a day when there would be a religion-less Christianity. With ambivalence he looked into…
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Digging Deeper: The Coming Evangelical Split
I wrote a short article a few weeks back on the split of Evangelical Christianity. It started out as simply a Facebook note and went viral at online hubs such…
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Faithful Christianity Means a Walking Hypocrite?
By Andrew MarinA couple months back my good friend Adam McLane posted these profoundly truthful words on feeling like a hypocrite. When I read it I quickly remembered a series of conversations…
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Lose Yourself
By Tony CampoloAs a college professor, I could always count on someone coming into my office around the beginning of May and telling me he wasn’t coming back net semester. (It was…
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What Do You Mean by Sin?
By Tony CampoloFrom time to time, I have been asked in the academic classrooms where I have taught to define what I mean by sin. I always respond by saying, “Sin is…
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Dear Rob. . .An Open Letter to Rob Bell
Cheap viagra softb-Bell.jpg” alt=”” width=”153″ height=”211″ />Dear Rob, It was great being with you a couple of weeks ago – before the entire media stir. If it is not too…
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Resurrection City: For a Living Wage
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the world stopped for a moment. Shaken, confused but searching for a way to continue the fight, civil rights…
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Mona Lisa and Jesus
Fe cialis online without prescription w paintings throughout the world are as well known as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (or La Gioconda, as the Italians refer to her). The image…
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Why Christians Don't Like Jesus
By Tony CampoloAs the Red Letter Christian movement came to be known, I realized it would never be accepted. This is because many Christians don’t really like the God that is revealed…
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Faith in a Time of Cholera
By Kent AnnanThe litany of horrors somehow won’t end: an earthquake kills 230, 000; 80 percent of people already living on less than $2 a day; cholera spreading with help from a…
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Are Evangelicals Fixated on Homosexuality?
By Tony CampoloSigmund Freud would have something to say about the ways in which we Evangelicals seem to be fixated on homosexuality. That fixation became abundantly clear to me a few years…
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Will 'Love Wins' Win? We're Early in the First Inning …
Because of my own experience as a writer, I’ve been anticipating the baptism in hot water (or worse) that Rob Bell was about to experience with the publication Love Wins.…
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Remember the Widow
By Tony CampoloMost of us concentrate our ministries on reaching young people with the Gospel. However, sociological studies make it clear that, in the churches of America, the elderly are the most…
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A Prayer for Japan
It is too soon for meaning-making with the ongoing crisis in Japan. There will be time later to determine its ramifications for the world economy, for the future of the…
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"What a Saviour" vs. "What a Preacher"
By Tony CampoloWhen I was in Seminary, I took a course in homiletics. During that semester, each of the students was required to preach a sermon to the rest of the class.…
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Give to Uncle Sam What Is Uncle Sams: Tax Season War Resistance
Image Courtesy of Paul Soupiset Imagine what would happen if a massive popular movement of ordinary Americans decided to voice their concern about military spending – by withholding $10.40 from…
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Stone Throwing at a Glass House
By Tony CampoloAs the news of the financial woes of the Crystal Cathedral is heralded across the country and around the world, a host of critical voices have been raised, at times…
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Does it Pay to Pray for Healing?
By Tony CampoloA widowed mother of six dies of breast cancer. In the months preceding her death, the members of her church held weekly prayer meetings, begging God to heal her. Twice,…
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The Callousing of Morality
purchase cialis onlinealt=”” width=”149″ height=”225″ />A few years ago, a series of commercials for a shampoo product saturated television programming. Each ad portrayed a woman experiencing sexual ecstasy as she…
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10 More Reasons The Gospel That's Good News for the Poor is Good News for the Rich
Today’s RLC Blog Challenge: It would be super-easy to skim this Top 10 list and then leave a snarky comment at the end about all the ways the author is…
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The Perils of Well-Meaning But Short-Sighted Generosity
By Tony CampoloRick Warren, the most prominent evangelical pastor of our day, has established a highly successful program arranging teams from his church to help specific villages in Africa. Given the effectiveness…
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Jesus in Japan (Libya & Bahrain): “I was hungry, thirsty…” and you fought about Rob Bell on Twitter?
I’m not one of these people who thinks doctrine isn’t important. I think it’s incredibly important. I think part of the huge popularity of the New Reformed movement is that…
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Is Christianity a Casualty of War?
By Tony CampoloRecently, I sat in dismay as I watched a television show that featured a prominent Christian author defending the use of torture in the war against terrorism. I was outraged…
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Radiation Leaks, Creation Care, and Much Prayer
By Tony CampoloThe latest reports say that over 140, 000 people are devastatingly positioned in Japan to be affected by potential radiation leaks from the nearby Nuclear Plant. Japanese officials have ordered…
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Naked Spirituality: An Interview with Brian McLaren
By RLC EditorRLC Editor (R): Brian, this book is written for what type of reader – a church-going person of faith, one who has fallen away from organized religion or someone who…
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Love Wins: A New Split in Protestant Evangelicalism
There has been an inordinate amount of craziness around this book. Everyone I know seems to have weighed in on this topic. Everyone is watching… Is this really about Rob…
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America's Greatest Deficit is Spiritual, Not Merely Financial
With all the angst about the economy, the deficit, and a looming government shut-down, I’m still concerned that we’re treating symptoms rather than diagnosing the underlying disease. I know something…
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Trusting God in a Consumerist Society
By Tony CampoloConsider what Jesus said about wealth and how he told us that we cannot love both God and money (i.e. material things) at the same time (Matt 6:24). Danish religious philosopher…
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The New Scarlet Letters Christian Women Are Wearing These Days? R. L. C.
When I had the happy fortune of sharing breakfast with Tony last year, I asked him if there was a particular way to inspire and equip women whose basic needs…
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Remember You Will Die (It Helps You to be Alive)
By Kent AnnanJust before the earthquake, Père, the grandfather of the Woshdlo family I first lived with in Haiti, pulled me aside to tell me about the latest project he was starting.…
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Choose Love Not Power
By Tony CampoloOne of my recently published books is entitled Choose Love Not Power. It may be the most important book I have ever written. It’s an updated version of a book…
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Caffeine, Workout Routines, and Sweets
By Tony Campolo“So. . .what are you giving up?” It’s the question of the day as people everywhere embark on the Lenten journey. Answers include everything from soda to chocolate and fast…
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Compassion Towards the LGBT Community
By Tony CampoloEric Hoffer, in his book The True Believer, makes an incredibly profound statement. He declares that a movement can exist without a god, but never without a devil! Hitler understood…
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The Myth of Busyness
By Tony CampoloBusyness is a futile attempt to convey to yourself and to others that you are a person of great importance. The overwhelming thought process is that a very busy life…
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Spoiled Witches, Puerile Vanity, and Compassion International
“I do get tired with rich western women complaining that they are being forced to be thin. If you don’t like it, don’t buy the magazines…So blame yourselves and shut…
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Growing Where We’re Planted
By Tony CampoloTo make a difference for good in this world a person has to have a sense of place. But few of us have such a sense. We are a people…
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While the Blood Dries: Loving Our Enemies
Tonight I drove my close friend Michelle to the airport for an unexpected trip home to Denver. Hours earlier she had received a phone call from her mother share news…
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Love Wins: Rob Bell and the New Calvinists
What Slavoj Zizek is to cultural theory, and what Radiohead is to … (insert genres that are now transcending), Rob Bell is to the art of preaching. To borrow a…
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Budgets Are Still Moral Documents
The What Would Jesus Cut? campaign, launched by assumes that massive budget cuts are coming, but raises the question of where we start. As Shane Claiborne expounded on yesterday, there…