Recently in Evangelicals Category

The former head of the Christian Coalition has a new startup, the Faith and Freedom Coalition, which Reed hopes to use social media to capture a broader, younger and more diverse audience, the AP reports. He's got a feed on Twitter, too.

In the most recent Sightings column, Joseph Laycock discusses the theology behind a Kentucky church's recent Open Carry Celebration. Read more at the jump.

Geneva is celebrating the "Calvin 2009 year," which marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of this formative figure of the Reformation. Calvin was born July 10, 1509.

Check out's an RNS story about evangelical Christians' interest in Calvin (Full disclosure: My husband wrote it). An excerpt:

Young evangelicals are scooping up books by neo-Calvinist authors, packing churches and conventions led by Calvinist preachers and studying at staunchly Calvinist seminaries. They're blogging their way through Calvin's behemoth "Institutes of the Christian Religion," setting up Facebook fan clubs and opening Twitter feeds.

This article in the latest issue of Religion in the News looks at America's fascination with super-sized Christian families and how TV producers tend to avoid the religious underpinnings that inspire these reality TV parents to reproduce in big numbers:

Of these eight families who opened their homes to TLC cameras, six are conservative evangelical (four specifically identifying with the Quiverfull movement), one is Catholic, and one Mormon. Most instantly became celebrities in the conservative religious world, where they go on lucrative speaking tours, sell books, and appear on Christian talk shows. Yet this celebrity status is just one more aspect of the families' religious identity never mentioned on shows purporting to show us the reality of their daily lives.

A Tennessean article looks at a trend among some young Christians called the Virgin Lips Movement.

Some teens and young adults are redefining what's referred to as a purity pledge. Usually, that means someone who's made a promise to God to save their virginity for their wedding night. The Virgin Lips Movement saves the lips for the wedding ceremony.

"The way I see it, if you kiss before you're married, you could be kissing someone else's husband or wife," said one bride.

What was the biggest grossing independent film in 2008? If you guessed "Slumdog Millionaire," you're wrong.

It's a Christian film that's been playing at several local churches recently -- "Fireproof," starring Kirk Cameron. According to this NPR story, it was all the talk of some 2,000 Christian movie fans gathering at the San Antonio (Texas) Independent Christian Film Festival in January.

Tony Campolo, a liberal evangelical author and commentator, plans to speak 7 p.m. Feb. 9, at York College's Collegiate Performing Arts Center during the school's Spiritual Life Week.