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Jesus Likes Government-Run Health Care

By Doug Bandow on 6.13.09 @ 3:08PM

Maybe the problem is that I'm not a biblical scholar. But until now I didn't realize that God was in favor of the government takeover of the medical system. The religious Left is busy attempting to fill in my--and your--gaps of knowledge.

Reports Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy:

In early April, Religious Left groups met with Senator Kennedy's Chief Advisor on Health reform to plot how to exploit religion for imposing socialized medicine on America. Evidently, they easily agreed to the June 24 "Interfaith Service of Witness and Prayer for Health Care Reform" in Washington, D.C., supported by "echo" interfaith rallies across the nation.

These staged, ostensibly religious gatherings "will draw attention to the moral message offered by every American faith tradition: affordable, accessible, inclusive, and accountable health care coverage for all." But for the Religious Left, these goals can only be achieved through a federally controlled, centralized health system governed from Washington, D.C. that ultimately squashes private insurance.

Sponsors of the rallies operate under a coalition called "We Believe Together" and include the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Islamic Society of North America, Michael Lerner's Tikkun and Network of Spiritual Progressives, the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church USA lobby office, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Jim Wallis' Sojourners, the School of the Americas Watch, and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Regarding the latter two groups, evidently opposing the U.S. school for Latin American military officers at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and advocacy for unrestricted abortion rights are causes that easily align with socialized medicine.

Speakers at the D.C. rally at Freedom Plaza will include Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Sayyid Syeed, of the Islamic Society of North America, and James A. Forbes Jr., Pastor Emeritus of famously far-Left Riverside Church in New York and now head of the Healing of the Nations Foundation.

Concurrently with the interfaith prayer rally in Washington, a group called People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO) is also rallying religious groups to socialized medicine. PICO was founded by Jesuit priest Fr. John Baumann, who learned Saul Alinsky-style community organizing in Chicago in the 1960's and 1970's and transferred his skills to Oakland, California. PICO and its allies see churches as convenient and susceptible tools for political organizing on the Left's behalf, which nearly always entails expanding the power and control of government, while displacing the private sector. PICO's socialized medicine campaign is working in coalition with Sojourners and Faithful America, which is the political arm of the National Council of Churches.

PICO and friends kicked off their latest national push for socialized medicine with a May 22 conference call between its activist clergy and reporters. Supposedly PICO has recruited nearly 600 clergy to preach the glories of socialized medicine and mobilize their congregations in June and July. It also professes that 10,000 religionists will lobby Congress "to work together to make quality health-care choices affordable for all families," i.e., a federal takeover of the health care industry. PICO likewise will air radio ads called "Abundant Life" in key congressional districts. According to a PICO news release, the ads will stress "every person, created in the image of God, is of limitless value." Listeners are asked to contact their members of Congress to encourage them "to work together to make quality health-care choices affordable for all families."

So God is a socialist when it comes to medicine. And probably most everything else. Imagine that. I've got to get more serious about reading the Bible!

View all comments (15) | Leave a comment

Angel| 6.13.09 @ 4:44PM

Yeah, the 'holy' Religious Left who considers Tiller a martyr.

All those years that I attended Catholic Schools; I guess I missed the lesson that infanticide is okay.

That's right! Jesus Christ supports infanticide--the Fifth Commandment be damned.

gd4u| 6.13.09 @ 5:24PM

Now if you are not young middle class, you will be euthanized, by not getting the meds you need nor care. Disgusting

mt| 6.13.09 @ 5:32PM

who do they think they are trying to impose their religion on us? Haven't they heard of the sacred wall 'tween church and state?

Smitty| 6.13.09 @ 5:51PM

I see the Left's got us covered: Abortion at the beginning and Euthanasia at the end. The Democrat party of death.

BD57| 6.13.09 @ 5:58PM

It's sad to see how many churches have become nothing more than political/social clubs.

Rebecca| 6.13.09 @ 7:05PM

BD57--agreed; drove me away.

Your Majesty| 6.14.09 @ 12:05AM

Any time people -- left or right -- ask that inane question, "What would Jesus do?", they're really asking, "What would Satan do?"

Get ready for the holier-than-thou to tell us how personal responsibility is the work of the devil.

E.Patrick Mosman| 6.14.09 @ 6:47AM

Those who claim that Jesus was a big-government socialist provider with regard to helping those in need and reducing individuals personal responsibility to "Love the Neighbor' and replacing it with government programs is a misreading of His message. Jesus Christ made the point "to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" with no guidelines as to how the Romans were to spend the tax monies.
"For you will have the poor always with you" Matthew 26.11 and nowhere in the New
Testament does Jesus Christ lay the responsibility for caring for the poor, the sick the hungry or thirsty, the homeless or any oppressed people on any governmental body. He did not cite King Herod, the priests of the temple, the local mayor or the Roman powers as the source of Charity. He made it an individual responsibility time after time in His sermons, in His parables and in His own acts. The Good Samaritan was not an example of "Love thy neighbor" because he stopped at the nearest inn and asked that a 911 call be made but because he acted, providing aid,comfort and financial assistance to his neighbor.
Many seem to be as historically challenged about the Bible as Obama is about American history and the Constitution

Don L| 6.14.09 @ 7:28AM

And where in the New Testament does it call for Caesar to take over the moral obligations of individuals? The Nannystate is not charity, but is co-0pting of the obligations of the individual to be charitable (Why else did Obama try to take away the tax break for charitable giving?). Property rights are largely based upon that equation -you can't give what you don't have because the state has taken it away. When the state pays -the state decides -so the Godless state supports infanticide(Obamacide) and involuntary euthanasia (as in Holland etc) Perhaps, the pope knows less than the leftist secularists about Jesus, but he has condemned the Culture of Death they so love, beyond arguement, and that includes those complicite in the Notre Dame fiasco as well as the prominant leftist so--called Catholic politicians.
Satan loves to co-opt God for his evil -remember the temptation of Christ in the desert? He's just using liberalism as his means this time. Liberalism, like Satan, always talks nice (it's for the children)while doing evil (killing them)

ferv888| 6.14.09 @ 7:35AM

Take a look at the LDS Churh's welfare system and see if that is not what we as citizens of the this great country ought to be doing.

The LDS doctirne is first you, then family, then the church in it's welfare system. A lot of church members have a "years" supply of food stored in their homes, give to what is called a fast ofering at the beginning of each month to sustain the poor amongst us.

The Lord did not call for government to provide for the poor, but only for us.

FERV888

Don L| 6.14.09 @ 7:37AM

Paula Nietert| 6.14.09 @ 9:33AM

Strangely, no one seems to remember that Christ Jesus healed spiritually and call on his followers to heal the sick. If everyone practices spiritual healing, there would be little need for expensive health care.