Roland Martin on Religion

I really have no problem with Roland Martin over at CNN. I read his articles on their website fairly often (as well as the drivel that Ruben Navarette writes) and feel that he is a good writer with a thoughtful pen. However, as a Christian and a Latino first generation American, I find that usually his writing is right in my wheelhouse. The problem is that Roland and I usually disagree (the same can be said of Mr. Navarette and I, though Ruben is generally much harsher and less well spoken), and the same can be said about his most recent article on CNN's website.
He paints Evangelical conservative Christians with a very broad brush (and if you read the comments section so do his readers), what he and other talking heads do not realize is that to many of us Christians who are ideologically conservative the problem with abortion is that we believe it is murder. Pure and simple. No gray areas. No room for debate. Many of us believe that life begins at conception and if you choose to end that life then you are committing murder. If I knew someone was seeking to kill someone else, I would do all within my power to stop that from happening. In his article Mr. Martin says "I have always maintained that people of faith who are conservative need to move beyond the issues of abortion and homosexuality and broaden what are deemed faith issues..." what he fails to realize is that to many of us this is not a "political issue", it is an issue of faith, morality, and what we see as a modern day holocaust.
The other aspect of faith he touches on is the issue of homosexuality. The problem here is that there are hateful bigots out there who hate homosexuals because of their lifestyle. I think that homosexuality is wrong (and the Scripture has taught that for over 5,000 years), but that someone who lives that lifestyle is still a creation of the Lord's and someone who deserves to be loved and cherished as such. It's cliche but true, we should "hate the sin and love the sinner". There are others of us who stand against people who choose to hate just to hate (and the late Dr. Falwell was one such man ... if you can't believe that, look at his work with Soul Force a group of practicing homosexuals who called themselves Christians), I know there will be people on both sides of the issue who hate me for my stance, but marriage is not a right it is a privilege and a religious institution and should be kept that way. Roland, there must be things that you are not willing to compromise on, while abortion and homosexuality may not be issues that you are zealous about, there must be issues that burn within you. These are those issues for many conservative Christians.

* Here is a great article by Mr. Clenard Childress , about the inherent racism and hatred in Barrack Obama's message.
* Brilliant writing from the exuberant Ann Coulter.
* An excellent if not unnerving article from the great Pat Buchanan. While I like to consider myself more of an idealist, if not an optimist, I cannot argue with Mr. Buchanan's arguments.
* I wonder if this article is something that the main-stream media finds unnerving?

Mets beat the Phillies tonight. It was nice to see, I was getting tired of the losing. Mr. Minaya if you ever happen to read this, I would love a job opportunity with your team!
Mike Pelfrey