What would Jesus really do?

Let's raise some hackles.

I just read a very earnest and bright op-ed piece by Roland Martin on CNN.com, entitled " What Would Jesus Really Do? and thought I should add my voice.

Yes, the Christian faith is under attack.

We have met the enemy and he is, in a word, us. Social Conservatives, looking for validation for the hatemongering that embracing the real tenets of the faith should literally drive from their hearts, have instead seized upon the framework of the Christian faith to justify their actions and attitudes and political agenda.

Jesus never spoke on the topic of abortion. Or homosexuality. Or school prayer (He did say not to pray in public, though).

He did say to not kill your enemies, not to take revenge, not to resist evil with violence. Which means every person who supports a war, any war, is a worse Christian than anyone who is pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, anti-school prayer.

Mind boggling, ain't it? And don't come at me with misquotes from Shakespeare or perversely generalized lines of Scripture. Taking a line from a conversation and declaring it applies to everyone in all cases could bastardize just about every element of the Christian tradition and faith.

I wrote an essay a few years ago calling Christianity "the hardest religion" because, in a word, it is. It isn't just doing this ritual or that ritual a few times a day or year, it is living a life under principles that are unnatural to the darkest impulses we find too easy to surrender to. Being a Christian is accepting a brutal regimen of self-control and sacrifice.

It is not "bong hits for Jesus" or picketing funerals or Mardi Gras or questioning a person's faith because they do not have the same political agenda as you do. It is reflecting on the life and teaching of Jesus and seeking to live as He would want you to do, as He would take pleasure in knowing you are trying to do.

Thanks you, CNN, for providing access to this essay by Roland Martin, and to Mr. Martin himself for the courage to speak out in a world full of too much hatred masquerading as righteousness.