To have within our borders 9 million children without health care coverage is a political disaster, an economic divestment and above all, a moral travesty.

Opponents of abortion passionately argue for the right to life of the child in the womb. The argument falls short in the marketplace of ideas if it does not extend itself beyond the womb. Consequently, the same vociferous opponents must become the lead spokespersons for health care coverage for children, or risk losing intellectual and faith based argumentative legitimacy.

As for the recent failure in Congress to pass the State Children’s Health Insurance Plan or SCHIP demonstrates the moral dissonance between the executive and legislative branches as it pertains to health coverage for children. Is it the responsibility of parents to provide the coverage or does the government count with a moral imperative to guarantee that each child is cared for? The answer, as with many similar queries, is both.

Parents carry the primary responsibility of providing the necessities for their children. However, when parents, for economic or other reasons cannot provide, we as citizens committed to a justice ethos and blessed with the moral wherewithal to exercise faith teachings that instruct us to care for the least of them, must come together, and fill the corresponding need. Our society enriches the collective experience of our citizenry when we articulate, embrace, and include within our corporate sphere a commitment to Life.

Health care coverage for children is a natural extension of a Pro-Life agenda that resonates with the same passion and conviction of a platform that addresses life from the womb to the tomb.

The American faith narrative repudiates torture under all circumstances and without exception. To acquiesce our moral underpinning in the name of security renders in the hands of our enemies the very victory they yearn. Our nation's faith community stands committed to a value system authenticated via mores and standards which stand without reproach, unconditionally and in all circumstances.

As a member of the steering committee of Evangelicals for Human Rights, I am troubled by evangelicals who embrace a Pro-Life platform yet refuse to address life issues outside the womb such as torture and cruel punishment. Some argue that water boarding and other techniques applied to non Americans does not violate the aforementioned commitment. Our values do not carry an American centric disclaimer. Application of our ethos must transcend boundaries and cultures.

The great biblical Golden rule and popularly embraced dictate tells us to do unto others what we would want done unto us. Such simplicity should guide us in our domestic, foreign and justice policies. Is torture ever justified? Are there any moral absolutes? Our some of our values beyond compromise?

Let the oracles of righteousness and justice articulate a message that protects our nation from terrorism. Not just physical but spiritual, moral and intellectual.

Nations launch wars, governments persecute, institutions reinforce hatred, but the children of God forgive. It is this very act that removes the grave clothes of bitterness, animosity and remorse while simultaneously exposing the vestiges of hope, faith and a new beginning.

The greatest single action any human can take upon this planet is the act of forgiveness. Nelson Mandela inviting his former captors to the his Presidential inauguration, Gandhi’s call to for Hindus and Muslims to reconcile, alongside many other extensions of this greatest of virtues, remind us that in the 21st Century, when war, terrorism, strife and hatred inundate every crevasse of our narrative, forgivers are scarce participants.

Accordingly, mature and balanced relationships at all levels: personal, corporate, bilateral, geopolitical, economic and ecclesiastical require forgiveness to exercise mercy in the presence of justice. Forgiveness without justice grants evil clemency. From the holocaust to Rwanda, from Darfur to Serbia, justice facilitates forgiveness where jurisprudence speaks on behalf of the innocent without acquitting evil.

Those who stand responsible for atrocities must receive the legal and moral consequences of such actions. Soon thereafter, the victims are called to forgive while the rest of us are admonished never to forget. Atrocities prove we are fallen creatures, imperfect and prone to cruelty. Forgiveness proves we are still children of a righteous God.

As Americans, we are both sexual and spiritual people. We carry the New Testament on Sunday Morning and our Viagra pills on Saturday afternoon. Even the Google searches speak of a nation torn between sex and spirituality as pornography and religion top the search engine queries in both the Red and Blue States.

American 21st Century living proposes a platform where both stand juxtaposed in perfect equilibrium. Although the Europeans claim the patent on sexual liberation and openness, our sexual mores incorporate a cosmic and religious thread that facilitates a healthy discipline in order to prevent what all Americans reject in respect to all activities or philosophies; extremes. Are we as a society sexually oppressed? I would rather speculate that we err on the side of sexual caution.

As we historically contextualize the rise and fall of great empires, one common factor resonates throughout; the lack of self-control particularly in the area of sexual conduct.
Is sex outside of marriage a sin? Yes. Sex outside of marriage speaks of the most intimate of human relationships without institutional and divine framework necessary for efficacy.

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