Daily Inspiration Quote by Tony Campolo

Campolo’s sentence swings less like a theological argument than a rebuke delivered from inside the house. By naming “leading evangelicals,” he targets status and influence, not random hotheads. The point isn’t that prejudice exists; it’s that it’s being laundered through authority, broadcast as piety, and treated as a legitimate extension of Christian witness.

The triple repetition - “terrible… evil… terrible” - does two jobs. It mimics the breathless escalation of outrage culture while also refusing to dignify the claims with a point-by-point refutation. He isn’t debating Islam; he’s judging the moral character of the speech itself. Notice the shift from Islam (a religion) to Muhammad (a person, revered by Muslims): Campolo recognizes that the rhetoric often moves from critique to desecration, from disagreement to humiliation. That move is the tell.

“Ought to be ashamed of themselves” is old-school pastoral language, but it’s also strategic. Shame is communal; it implies standards the speaker and the audience are supposed to share. Campolo is invoking a specifically Christian ethic - restraint, humility, love of neighbor - and implying that anti-Muslim vitriol isn’t just politically ugly, it’s spiritually disqualifying.

The context is post-9/11 American evangelical politics, where Islam is frequently cast as civilizational threat and where culture-war incentives reward bluntness. Campolo’s intent is to sever that feedback loop: to deny religious cover to cruelty, and to remind evangelicals that you don’t get to call it “truth-telling” when it’s really contempt with a microphone.