Tony Campolo

“Haitians do not need development programs imposed on them by expatriates. Instead, they need help in developing as self-assured persons.”

“If marriage really is a sacred institution, then why is the government controlling it, especially in a nation that affirms separation of church and state?”

“If a guy is intimidated by a woman in leadership, he has real problems with his own concepts of masculinity. That's a harsh statement, but I believe it to be true.”

“If four years of university can increase your effectiveness of what you can do for others in the name of Christ, it is the best investment that you can make. But if the education is simply to get a job to make a lot of money, you have to raise the question of why you're doing it.”

“Because I am not yet living up to what Jesus expects me to be in those red letters in the Bible, I always define myself as somebody who is saved by God's grace and is on his way to becoming a Christian. (...) Being saved is trusting in what Christ did for us, but being Christian is dependent on the way we respond to what he did for us.”

“It has been said that people never do evil with more enthusiasm than when they do it in the name of God.”

“A strong case can be made for religious leaders to speak out on political issues.”

“I am relatively sure, from conversations that I had with former president Bill Clinton, that George Bush seldom called upon him for advice.”

“I contend that it's impossible to read the Sermon on the Mount and not come out against capital punishment.”

“The first reason for the preponderant influence of those Evangelicals who define themselves as advocates of Religious Right theological and political ideologies is that they have both the financial means and technological know-how to make widespread use of modern electronic forms of communication.”

“Women have the same privileges and opportunities as men, given the New Testament.”

“So I really would like to see both parties respond to the poor with greater commitment. But I've got to tell you, the Democrats, I feel, are doing a better job in that respect than Republicans are.”

“To prevent discussion of any other explanations of human origins is hardly what I would expect from open-minded educators.”

“What we need to affirm is that Jesus is neither a Democrat nor a Republican. Whenever we marry Jesus to a political party, we are committing the sin of idolatry. We are making Jesus into the image of our political party.”

“While I can see how the government has, at times, wasted taxpayers' money, and I can admit that too often its programs are ineffective, I also can see the good that government does.”

“Like most Christians, I believe the Genesis account of creation is a description of six different stages of creation, each of which may have taken eons of time.”

“My theology is such that the God who loves Israel and will not forsake Israel - which is why I want to see Israel have a secure nation with secure borders - also loves the Palestinians.”

“When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this - when you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?”

“Perhaps we would do well to listen to the likes of Rabbi Harold Kushner, who contends that God is not really as powerful as we have claimed.”

“Through the ages, God has used the church to keep alive and pass down the story of what Christ has done for us.”