Red Letter Christians

So I had to come home for the weekend a bit early in order to attend a graduate school interview and spend time with my grandmother who just flew in from England. While at home, I got into a rather in depth discussion with my father partly about politics, partly about religion, partly about the general state of the world- ya know, the usual lighthearted chat with Dad! Anyway, as we were talking about the political state of the country and actually this class quite a bit, he was reminded of a guy that he saw interviewed on The Colbert Report who has just written a book entitled, "Red Letter Christians: A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics." I was unfamiliar with this title, but the little bits that my father remembered got me intrigued...so I did some research.

It turns out this guy who was interviewed is named Tony Campolo and he is the man behind the movement entitled Red Letter Christians. His book, by the same title, which I believe just came out in February, outlines his new direction for the Evangelical Christian church. His philosophy on the Christian religion reminded me in some ways of Yoder's writings in that he bases his beliefs directly off of Bible passages which he feels display Jesus in a political light. Similar to Yoder, he looks in the Gospels for guidance on how a true Christian should conduct himself in the political realm. The name comes from reading the red letter sections of the Bible, those words in the New Testament that are spoken directly by Jesus, and seeing those sections as the most important for Christian guidance. The guiding principle for the Red Letter Christians, or at least the starting point for this movement, is the idea that God is neither republican nor democrat. The movement seeks to show why partisan politics is wrong, and how it does not lead to true Christianity informed political action. In an article by Tony Campolo he writes,

"The purpose of this gathering was not to create a religious left movement to challenge the religious right, but to jump-start a religious movement that will transcend partisan politics. Believing that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, we want to unite Christians who are concerned about what is happening in America. We are evangelicals who are troubled by what is happening to poor people in America; who are disturbed over environmental policies that are contributing to global warming; who are dismayed over the increasing arrogance of power shown in our country’s militarism; who are outraged because government funding is being reduced for schools where students, often from impoverished and dysfunctional homes, are testing poorly; who are upset with the fact that of the 22 industrialized nations America is next to last in the proportion of its national budget (less than two-tenths of 1 percent) that is designated to help the poor of third-world countries; and who are broken-hearted over discrimination against women, people of color, and those who suffer because of their sexual orientation."

The Red Letter Christians look at all sorts of issues in the political realm, and particularly focus on ending poverty and injustices worldwide. While dissolving political lines, Campolo hopes to inform Christians on how to not only vote on these important issues but also how to be politically active. In another article I found four goals were enumerated for the Red Letter Christians:

"In Red Letter Christians, readers will discover:

• Why Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat
• A Red Letter Christian's voting guide
• The problem of partisan politics
• The importance of being politically active"

The Red Letter Christians focus on dissolving two prejudices that follow them in today's world. Firstly, they hope to show that being an evangelical Christian does not mean that you must be republican. Secondly, that being an evangelical Christian does not mean simply talking about preventing gay marriages and the importance of overthrowing Court rulings on abortion. Campolo writes,

"Some leading evangelical spokespersons focus almost all their attention on preventing gay marriages and overturning past Court rulings on abortion. While these are biblically important issues, there are more than 2,000 verses of Scripture that call us to express love and justice for those who are poor and oppressed," Campolo states. Red Letter Christians, while recognizing the great importance of the "hot-button issues," embrace a broad range of social concerns, giving special attention to legislation that alleviates poverty and injustice and provides hope for the oppressed."

I found a lot of really interesting information about this movement just by googling it..which I recommend. This site includes a little segment from his book- Who are Red Letter Christians?
For a quick summary of the movement you can check it out on your friend and mine, wikipedia. I think it is really interesting, and maybe we could even read a segment from it for class. It is definitely a new look at how faith and politics are mixed and a real modernization of a highly criticized branch of Christianity.

I will include the clip of Tony Campolo on the Colbert Report so that you can watch his interview. I think it is really intriguing.

I think what he says in this video is really important for the current election and for anyone who is interested in how faith informs politics. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic party is right about all of the issues and neither of them support Christian values one hundred percent of the time. That is the basis of the Red Letter Christians and I think it is something that we all have a hard time understanding, and maybe we can all learn something from this movement about keeping an open mind, an open soul, and an open heart to what Jesus really said throughout the gospels and how it relates to our modern society.