Free Republic

There’s a kind of unique club in the world called “friends of Tony and Peggy Campolo.” I’m a grateful member of that group.... I prayed about it and said yes, which led to my meeting Randy Eddy-McCain and the beautiful church he served. What neither Randy, Peggy, nor I knew was that about four months later, one of my sons would be coming out. When he did, I kept thinking, “Thank God my son didn’t have to worry that his coming out would in any way hurt my work and reputation. Thank God Randy and Peggy invited me and I...

Recently a Community Column writer for a local paper wrote an opinion piece denouncing conservative politicians for not complying with the "Red-Letter" teachings of Jesus. Among other things, he was referring more specifically to Ted Cruz's call for evangelical Christians to help his political bloc to defund Obamacare. This claim is worthy of careful examination. Emphasizing the authority of one portion of scripture while ignoring all others isn't a principle of historical normative Christian theology. As the Bible declares of itself "...All scripture is given by inspiration of God..." Red-lettering was first conceived in 1899, and it first appeared in...

The Problem with Red Letter Christianity by Mitch Lewis There is a move among some self-described “progressive evangelicals” to identify themselves as “red-letter Christians” - describing themselves as Christians particularly devoted to the words of Jesus (which are printed in red in many editions of the Bible). Here are a few samples and I’ll let them speak for themselves.Red Letter Christians home page at Sojourners.netRed Letter Christians by Jim WallisWhat’s a ‘Red-Letter Christian’? by Tony CampoloBirth of the Red-Letter Christian Movement at Sojourners.netRed Letter Christian BloggersOn Being a Red Letter Christian at MainstreamBaptistCount Me In as a Red Letter Christian...

With the first few presidential primaries and caucuses only months away, Christians considering the relationship of faith, politics, patriotism and nationalism may find Campolo’s new book instructive. Many members of Churches of Christ have aligned with the religious right followers of Falwell, Robertson and Dobson on faith-related issues and conservative politics. Yet, our people have rarely joined them in evangelistic or benevolent efforts for fear of fellowshipping error or being yoked with “unbelievers.” Historically, we have eschewed even being grouped with Protestants, fundamentalists or evangelicals. Of further irony is that libraries of our preachers and churches would be sparse, indeed,...