At the funeral of Ted Kennedy last Saturday, the senator’s grandson, Max Allen, led the dignitaries and family members in responsive prayer.
“For what my grandpa called the cause of his life as he said so often and in every part of this land,” young Max led, “that ‘every American will have universal health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.’”
“Lord hear our prayers” the congregation responded.
I don’t know which congressmen and women present spoke these prayers of support, but President Obama’s recent efforts to engage religious leaders in health care reform are leading to similar prayers, coupled with actions, by progressive religious men and women across traditions.
Many of these efforts are being led by the progressive 40 Days for Health Reform, an umbrella organization led by PICO National Network, Sojourners, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Faith in Public Life, and Faithful America.
As they explain, their intention is to “make clear to Congress that quality, affordable health care for every American family is a moral priority for millions of people of faith.” Their Web site includes a petition to be signed by members of the public, and details of a conference call with President Obama and 140,000 people of faith that took place on August 19.
An email from the Association for Muslim Health Professionals (one of the organizations that participated in the call) reported that it began with introductory comments about the need for health reform followed by prayers by religious leaders, comments by clergy, and personal remarks from several citizens. The director of the White House Domestic Policy Council led a question and answer session before President Obama spoke. The president thanked everyone for participating, expressed appreciation for religious communities’ efforts at reform, and then corrected myths about the health care proposals on the table. He encouraged people, and religious communities at large, to talk with each other about health care reform, aiming to correct misinformation and to frame health care as a moral issue.
“The one thing that you all share is a moral conviction,” Obama is reported to have said. “This debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as American people… This is part of an ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another.”
Obama used some traditional Christian language on this call saying that some people are bearing “false witness” and referring to biblical teachings about being “my brother’s keeper and my sister’s keeper.”
In addition to this call, the president held a conference call with one thousand rabbis from across the theological spectrum, urging them to make a case for health care reform in upcoming holiday sermons. Participants reported that the president recited one of the main prayers of the Jewish New Year on the call, and connected the reflection that traditionally takes place during the Jewish New Year with the kind of taking stock needed around health care. A White House spokesman cited the Jewish ideal of tikkun olam—the commitment to repairing the world—connecting it to the moral imperative for health care reform.
President Obama’s efforts to frame health care as a moral issue and to work with religious progressive are in marked contrast his predecessor’s work with religious conservatives. Such efforts are remarkably public, according to political scientist John Green (who explains that most of this sort of work is usually done “below the radar”) and shows progressive religious groups working together at a pace not seen since the 2004 elections.
Whether these efforts (which also include a television ad) were part of the rally for health care that began in New York’s Times Square shortly after Senator Kennedy’s funeral, or if they will help President Obama pass a set of reforms, remains to be seen. Their underlying political strategy—to connect moral arguments for health care reform to the core beliefs of many religious traditions—is clear, as was Senator Kennedy’s work, outlined in his letter to the Pope: “to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.”
Religious progressives are helping make this connection in record numbers, potentially signaling new possibilities for religion in the Obama White House.
Tags: health care, obama, progressive, religion
The real force behind faith organizing around health reform is Faithful Reform in Health Care based in Ohio. It is the only group in which the participants, nationwide, bring their own insights and understanding into formal statements. The Vision Statement was developed by many people working in concert, not just leaders who impose it from above. Our work is individual at state and local levels, but Faithful Reform offers all of us an amazing array of resources and forums for discussion. I use the Vision Statement in all of the trainings my organization does - I never leave home without it. The sheer diversity of Faithful Reform makes it an outstanding "people-driven" location to learn faith values. Visit the web site at www.faithfulreform.org. You will be glad you did.
Ah. So mixing politics with religion to achieve a desired political goal is okay--but only if you're a liberal. Hypocrite, thy name is Obama.
(Mat 25:35-37 NKJV) 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?
(Mat 25:40 NKJV) "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
(Mat 25:44-46 NKJV) "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me."And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Hypocrite, is thy name Ruby?
If the findings of CBO over inaction had been released earlier, Ted Kennedy could've seen his lifetime wish come true.
Inaction cost, $9trillion over the next decade, can not be compared to the balance between estimate and outcome in a worst case of scenario, and this balance could be adjusted each year. ((Some of CBO analysis : While the costs of the financial bailouts and economic stimulus bills are staggering, they are only a fraction of the coming costs from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that each year Medicaid will expand by 7 percent, Medicare by 6 percent, and Social Security by 5 percent. These programs face a 75-year shortfall of $43 trillion--60 times greater than the gross cost of the $700 billion TARP financial bailout)). Time does not fix endless greed and energy depletion.
When the public health is also one of commodity like a house, we come to a tragic and unthinkable conclusion : As to for-profit business, the more and longer ills patients get, the more profits they make, and it will debilitate the overall economy involving education for the future, not to mention continued bankruptcy of middle class.
Of young adults ages 19 to 29, 13.2 million, or 29 percent, lacked coverage in 2007, and that implies the total of this promising reform will be cheaper than expected, I guess.
In case of an unexpected injury or ill, they might give up their learning or aspiration, in this regard, this reform means liberty, job opportunity, competitiveness for them and future.
When some part of our body is ailing seriously, we are going to lose competitiveness, equally, when some part of a nation is ailing servery, it is going to loose competitiveness, too.
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