Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced governor of New York, spent thousands of dollars committing adultery with prostitutes on company time. He resigned, apologized for his scandalous behavior – and went on to anchor a talk show on CNN.

Roland Martin, whose brilliance should have earned him an anchor job on CNN, was suspended and may be fired for tweeting a bad joke during the Super Bowl. His apology just might not be good enough.

He created a firestorm when he tweeted that male fans of an underwear commercial of soccer star David Beckham were not "real bruhs," and people should "smack the -ish" out of them. This led to a call by homosexual activists to fire Martin, who CNN has suspended.

Blasphemed Jesus

HBO’s Bill Maher, in a bigoted tweet, trashed Christ after the Denver Broncos lost 40-14 to the Buffalo Bills on Christmas Eve. He said, "Wow Jesus just f…ed Tim Tebow bad. And on Xmas Eve.. Somewhere in hell Satan is Tebowing, saying to Hitler the Buffalos are killing them."

Christ-bashing Maher gets a free pass. I am one who was hurt by Maher’s vile rant about my God. Martin gets a high-tech lynching. He insulted gays.

Homosexuals, heterosexuals, bikers, Christians, smokers, obese women, gypsies, belly dancers – no one should be bullied, harassed or intimidated.  Martin’s joke about gays was not funny and neither was Maher’s tirade about Jesus.

Note that Martin is Black and Maher and Spitzer are not. Race is always hiding under the carpet.

Gay ‘religion’

Gay ideology is virtually being spun into a religion, so hallowed that genuflection to their viewpoint is expected from journalists, teachers and even preachers. Gay activists have their own bible of rules that others must follow, such as when a gay person comes out of the closet, that is time for celebration. But when a gay person converts back to straight, those who applaud that are called homophobic. Tolerance has come to mean intolerance for any viewpoint that does not affirm homosexual behavior.

During the Super Bowl, the media couldn’t stop drooling over the half-naked Beckham parading around in his underwear and the pop star who used her middle finger to ‘salute’ her adoring fans. Where I live, thug-looking juveniles run around sporting underwear barely covering the crack in their behinds. And here comes one of the world’s highest-paid athletes proving to our kids that "behind-showing" is a good thing. As a Christian, who cares what I think?

Growing trend

Underreported instances of Christians being fired, reprimanded or denied equal rights are numerous on Christian websites.

For example, last September an honor student at a Forth Worth high school was suspended for stating in class that "being a homosexual is wrong." A biology teacher in California was fired for citing research that homosexuality maybe influenced by both genes and the environment. A high-ranking administrator at Toledo University said she was fired after writing an opinion piece that contradicted the theory that Black civil rights and gay human rights are similar issues.

The tragedy that confronts Martin is that gay rights groups have the courage to fight for their beliefs and the right to deny others of theirs, while too many Christian leaders are either afraid to defend the Gospel or no longer believe their faith matters.

Martin told a bad joke. If he were not a Christian, he would be forgiven.

Dr. Barbara Reynolds is a lecturer at universities and seminaries.