Download the Politics Daily Toolbar
Our new toolbar integrates the latest news and analysis into your Web browser and installs in seconds. Download it now!

Politics DailyPolitics Daily

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • COLUMNISTS
  • TOPICS
  • THE CAPITOLIST
  • WOMAN UP
  • DAILY FLOTUS
  • JUST IN
  • THE CRAM
  • CONTACT
  • Inside Politics Daily

    A Pastor on Health Care: What Would Jesus Do?

    Posted:
    09/7/09
    It has amazed me that the Obama administration took so long to invoke the "moral" option. As my colleague David Gibson reported, it wasn't until Aug. 19 -- pretty far into the health care debate -- that President Obama participated in a call-in rally with sympathetic religious leaders to make the scriptural case for his proposal. The president cast health care reform as "a core ethical and moral obligation: that is that we look out for one another, that I am my brother's keeper, that I am my sister's keeper." Of course, it's not so simple when the religious and the political have become entwined. Several large conservative Christian churches say the current health care system "is working," and oppose changes.

    The Catholic Church, for years supportive of the principle of health care for all, is hesitating because of questions over coverage for abortions, concerns the administration has tried to allay. In truth, the church, though officially a political bystander, has been cool to Obama from the start because of his pro-choice views. During the 2008 presidential race, some bishops and priests stopped just short of equating a vote for Obama with mortal sin.

    Yet, acknowledging the social justice concerns that have long guided the church, Bishop William F. Murphy on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in July sent a letter to members of Congress that endorsed "affordable and quality health care that protects and respects the life and dignity of all people from conception until natural death."

    Still, I was a little surprised on Sunday when my pastor took his customary sermon spot in front of the altar, holding the Scripture in one hand and a newspaper in the other. In that day's Gospel, Jesus healed a deaf and mute man (Mark 7: 31-37), and in that day's paper, how to best heal the sick was a headline issue.

    My pastor tried not to be political but spiritual, he told me after Mass. "At the banquet of heaven, all stand equally in the grace of the Lord," he said. We were charged to "open our hearts and ears in care and compassion." In today's contentious climate, even that simple statement, I'm afraid, is sure to be politicized.
    Get the new
    PD toolbar!



    Follow PoliticsDaily On Facebook and Twitter,
    and download the new Politics Daily toolbar!

    Mary C. Curtis

    Mary C. Curtis, an NPR contributor based in Charlotte, N.C., was previously a writer and editor for The New York Times and the Charlotte Observer... more

    Contact Mary C. Curtis

    subscribe to: RSS email: Mary C. Curtis

    Related Articles

    Related Articles

    Add your comments

    Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

    When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

    To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

    Avoid hate speech, foul language or a disrespectful tone in your comments. Unwanted comments will be deleted at the discretion of the moderator.

    • Happening Right Now

       
    Woman Up on Facebook

    Other News