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By Kathryn Post
(RNS) — ‘The biggest lesson I had to learn is that God’s lack of an answer to my prayers to change me was an answer, because there was…
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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 Campolo
The 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 Campolo
Dietrich 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 Marin
A 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 Campolo
As 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 Campolo
From 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 Campolo
As 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 Annan
The 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 Campolo
Sigmund 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 Campolo
Most 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 Campolo
When 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 Campolo
As 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 Campolo
A 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 Campolo
Rick 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 Campolo
Recently, 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 Campolo
The 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 Editor
RLC 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 Campolo
Consider 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 Annan
Just 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 Campolo
One 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 Campolo
Eric 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 Campolo
Busyness 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 Campolo
To 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…
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What Would Jesus Cut? Bread vs. Bombs
Growing up in the Bible belt in East Tennessee, I can remember an entire campaign built around – “What Would Jesus Do?” There were WWJD bracelets, stickers, and t-shirts. Today…
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Deeper Meanings for Sabbath Keeping
By Tony Campolo
I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and I knew that Orthodox Jews make a big thing out of observing the Sabbath. Having a day off from the hectic activities…
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What You and Frodo Might Just Have in Common
I can’t be trusted with Christian fiction. It’s not that can’t be trusted to write it. I can’t even be trusted to read it. When my fifth grade teacher, Mrs.…
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Destructive Donations?
By Tony Campolo
Henry Thoreau once said, “When people come and say, ‘I want to help you’, I flee.” I think that what Thoreau was trying to tell us is that sometimes those…
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The Myopic Nature of Greed
We have all heard before that money can’t buy happiness. We have all heard before that it doesn’t matter how much money we attain we will always want more. We…
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National Debt as a Biblical Issue
By Tony Campolo
Two days ago I was interviewed by abcnews.com for a piece the journalist was writing entitled, “National Debt as a Biblical Issue: Did Selfishness Lead to Giant Deficit?” In preparation…
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Tired Exhausted Ministry
By Tony Campolo
Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” All around me, I see people who are weary. They are…
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Let Us Pray. . .Together
A few years ago, a bunch of activist-types and a bunch of prayer-warriors got together to create a prayer book with the goal of bringing together the bible and the…
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Should Churches Hire Youth or Elderly Care Pastors?
By Tony Campolo
It seems strange to me that churches should show such favoritism to the youth and do little, if anything, for the elderly. When a church adds a new staff member,…
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Adopted Girl Found Dead in Truck, I May Be at Fault
As an adopted person and adoptive mother, I pay attention when adoption hits the news. Early this week authorities in West Palm Beach Florida found Jorge Barahona and his adopted…
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The Egyptian Revolution and Theological Reformation
It’s risky to make historical comparisons. If we say, “This event is exactly the same as that event, ” our comparison blinds us to the uniqueness of a historical moment.…
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When Goodness and Evil Grow Together
By Tony Campolo
Those who would discourage us in our attempts to work for social justice and end poverty and oppression claim that “the world is getting worse and worse every day, and…
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Chocolate Lovers: Help Stop the Bloodshed in the Ivory Coast
By Tony Campolo
Could Valentine’s Day chocolates seriously be contributing to the Ivory Coast’s potentiality of entering a Civil War? Many activist organizations believe so. Most recently I was reading my friend Ron…
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Daydreamers
All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, that they may act their dreams…
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Leaving Auschwitz with Love
By Tony Campolo
“Where there is hatred, let me sow love” This line from the famous prayer by St. Francis has permeated my thoughts for years. Upon it rest many decisions I have…
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Q Ideas: A Hidden Mural, A Reminder of God's Resources
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) is a trend that doesn’t seem to fading in the United States or overseas thanks to the economy, but one couple from across the pond is upping the…
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Staying Alive to do Justice
By Tony Campolo
I try to start each day by setting aside about twenty minutes for centering prayer. I empty my mind of the hundred-and-one things that are apt to start spinning in…
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Entrepreneurs for Biblical Justice
By Tony Campolo
In a garage turned into a mini-factory located in a slum on the edge of Santo Domingo, a half-dozen women are singing hymns as they work alongside each other. These…
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Confusing Our Kids
I catch up on my news in the airport. Yesterday I watched this obscure story about a second grader in Rhode Island who wore a baseball cap to school with…
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Excuse #947 To Not Live Out God’s Love For a World in Need: “I’m Not That Bad”
When it comes to making excuses for why I am not living out God’s love the way I really want to be, I’m a real genius. One of my favorites…
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Can Civil Disobedience be Christian?
By Tony Campolo
The time may be at hand when we will see an outbreak of civil disobedience being practiced by Christians on a scale that has not been witnessed for decades. Already…
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Commercialization of Ministry
By Tony Campolo
buy cialis online uk.jpg” alt=”” width=”250″ height=”250″ />This blog post is in response to a tweet comment based on Margot Starbuck’s recent post, “” The tweet went something like this:…
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Defending 'Red Letter Christians': Answers to the Most Common Critiques
By Tony Campolo
Today’s blog post is in response to a comment I received from my post “Why the Religious Right Will Dominate”: “How sad that the depth of the ‘new and improved…
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Post-Colonial Theology
Call me cynical, but here’s my suspicion: Adjectives in front of theology are deceptive. Yes, they’re needed; no, I’m not against them, but still, they’re deceptive. Here’s how. By distinguishing…
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Why the Religious Right Will Dominate
By Tony Campolo
There are reasons why Religious Right Evangelicals will continue to dominate religious discourse, not only in their own sector of the Christian community, but also in what transpires in mainline…
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A Senior Devil’s Strategy to Disable Red Letter Christians
A very high-ranking devil is training his minions to thwart Red Letter Christians… “If we’re going to effectively persuade him of his impotency at impacting a world in need, be…
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Today's Matchup: Family vs. Judgment Day Preaching (It's a Toss Up)
By Tony Campolo
May 21, 2011 — Judgment Day! Does wrongly predicting the end of the world ever get old? Seriously. The latest prediction, which has been swirling around for a bit now,…
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VIDEO: It's Friday but Sunday's Coming
By Tony Campolo
Years ago I was at one of those preach offs that are held in mainly African American churches. Of course it is labeled as a time for pastors to preach…
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Embrace Your Crisis of Faith
By Kent Annan
A crisis of faith — when you seriously question whether what you believe/how you see/what you’re committed to is actually true — is a good thing. It’s not pleasant. It…
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That Car is Going to Hit Us!
By Tony Campolo
“Tony, that car is getting closer, ” said my travel companion to me. “Tony, Tony, TONY!” I swerve to miss the cars bumper as it catapults off its owner and…
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Meet Me at Fred Phelps Funeral
I know I should not let this guy get to me. The first time I heard of Fred Phelps was during media coverage of the 1998 funeral for Matthew Shepard,…
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The Health Care Debate Once Again. . .
By Tony Campolo
Few things generate more controversy among Christians than political differences (though doctrinal differences are a close second!). With last nights repeal of the “Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” by a…
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When Love Trumps Right Belief
Each of us has directives we live by. The directive to love is at the very heart of most faith traditions, along with being the first and foremost standard to…
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Responding to Gandhi
By Tony Campolo
Gandhi once told Rufus Jones, the Quaker theologian and missionary to India, that Christians were “so unlike” their Christ. The good news is that there is a growing movement emerging…
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What Would Martin Luther King Jr. Do? Christians and Climate Change
The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr and the reality of climate change are both victims of western culture’s remarkable capacity to accommodate and neutralize that which is most critical…
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We All Love Him Now: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
By Tony Campolo
I remember the 1950s and 60s well. For me the Civil Rights era took place when I was in college and slightly after I graduated. In my small apartment I…
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Safety or Vulnerability? …and Strippers
By Kerry Dixon
Several years ago a man who lived nearby lost his son in a tragic car crash. Although he wasn’t a Christian he approached me, as the local minister, to take…
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Meeting Jesus in the Poor
By Tony Campolo
In Luke 16:19-31, we read the story that Jesus told about a certain rich man and a poor man named Lazarus who had lain suffering with hunger and a diseased…
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Christian Leaders Becoming Atheists
By Tony Campolo
Lately, I have been reading and hearing many stories of pastors and leaders of the faith going public about their doubts and unbelief with regards to the faith they have…
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Rays of Hope for the Valuing of Life
By Rich Nathan
Here is a quiz question: Regarding which social issue are young people decidedly more conservative than their parents and grandparents? The surprising answer, according to a magisterial new book titled…
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A Year Later – Haiti Earthquake
January 12 marks the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed more than 230, 000 people. In addition to that initial loss of life, there has…
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One Year Later: A Prayer for Haiti
By Kent Annan
A Kindergarten Classroom Currently Being Rebuilt: Photo Courtesy of Haiti Partners Haiti Partners Prayer Loving God, We come to you, first, in silence. We mourn those who died one year…
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Making Matters Worse in Haiti
By Tony Campolo
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake. An event that brought devastation and chaos to a nation that seemingly cannon catch a break. At last count there…
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Stuck at the Airport. . .
By Tony Campolo
So. . .I’m currently stuck at the airport. It has been one of those mornings where you show up for the flight on time, you’re all ready to go and…
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What's Wrong with Darwinism
By Tony Campolo
Darwin was a racist, and his racist theories have had an enormous impact on American thinking. In terms of science, Darwin’s account may be solid indeed. But value free? Nothing…
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Excuse #283 To Not Live Out God’s Love For a World in Need: “I’m Not That Good”
Those of us who purpose to act as agents of God’s love for a world in need aren’t saints. I would hope that that would go without saying, but I’m…
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Epiphany's Counter-cultural Breakthrough: From Wise Men to Prostitutes
By Tony Campolo
January 6 has long been celebrated as the traditional day of Epiphany, the day the wise men came to worship Jesus. Need I say more? We all know the story,…