Religion and Healthcare, Mormon Chest-beating, and more…
Who knew that the health care debate and religion were closer related? Well, Chuck Colson does. I have been concerned about the social engineering aspects of the proposals from the beginning, but Colson, nails it:
When will this end? The more serious question is, however, when does the next round of government regulation against religious freedom begin? We’ll see soon enough in the current health care debate, and we need to be ready to do as William Thierfelder has done.
Congress, after all, has rejected every attempt to include language to protect the consciences of medical professionals in the health care debate. Pro-life groups have warned about the very real possibility of religiously based hospitals shutting down before being forced to provide services that violate their religious principles.
And back to insurance, current legislation being considered could also hand over to a “Health Choices Commissioner” the ability to regulate “basically all health insurance in America.”
Now, imagine a bureaucracy—completely unaccountable to voters—deciding what medical procedures must be covered by the insurance plans of a small Baptist day care center or a Christian high school. Frankly, I don’t even want to imagine it.
Scary stuff….
Closing The Primaries
We have discussed here that modifying the primary system is necessary to maintaining GOP viability. Next week, the California GOP meets and they will be discussing some of the issues. Flash Report has some of the debate here and here. If you are a California Republican, contact your delegate and let them know what you think on the subject. It matters a great deal.
Things That Do NOT Help
This blog post shows a video, condemning it, that is wrong on so many levels, one would have to write a book to discuss it. The guy is nobody and of course MSNBC is tilting him up as an example of how religious people think. He may call himself a Baptist pastor, but I have much more in common with my Mormon friends than I do this idiot. In fact, this guy has somehow missed the Christian message pretty much altogether.
Speaking of Mormons, I don’t think this helps much either:
Call me paranoid. I can’t help but feeling that we latter day saints are being set up for something. The Obama Administration is pushing forward with its agenda, which appears to include nationalization of banks, nationalization of the major players in the manufacturing sector, nationalization of health care, and the further liberalization of laws on abortion, gay rights, families, etc. They are proving to be experts at diversion. Getting the media’s attention on bogeymen, like the AIG executives, is a useful smokescreen for what might be otherwise unpopular actions.
Radio and television personality Glenn Beck is rapidly becoming a lightning rod. His willingness to take on corruption in both political parties is based in his love for truth and the Constitution. Nevertheless, those who dismiss him often point to his Mormon religion as an excuse to dismiss the uncomfortable truths he has uncovered. They accuse him of being racist, homophobic, and encouraging violent revolution, none of which are true. Glenn Beck makes a wonderful LDS bogeyman.
Latter-day Saints, as a group, are being cultivated as bogeymen for future use.
OK – YOU’RE PARANOID, up to a point. People that take their religion and its ethical practice seriously are being demonized as he suggests, and lately, largely due to the Prop 8 aftermath, Mormons have been the tip of the spear. But to single out the LDS in his worries is to miss one of the primary points. We’re in this mess together. Also, exploring church teaching as resolution is ineffective, for Mormons or the more orthodox. Our opponents don’t care what we teach, they care how we act, and most importantly vote.
Lowell adds: Latter-day Saints are all over the map, politically, even though most are at the center or center-right. This particular writer seems to be at the far right. Of course, I don’t know him, but the themes he stresses are recognizable to Mormons who follow politics as pretty popular among a certain sub-group in our faith. Wonderful folks, but a minority within the faith, in my experience.
At The Core
Maggie Gallagher reminds us of what we share in common.
My friend Matt Anderson continues his discussion on the “young Evangelical.” He seems to be tying message and medium into a pretty tight ball. Only problem is, “Ours is a nation of laws, not men.” It is not up to the government to establish culture – it is up to the church. That’s the core of the issue from my perspective, the church has given up its rightful place in society and attempts to rely on government. That said, that cultural change is necessary for real conservatism to take hold cannot be denied.
Romney News
He’s going to Michigan. Smart move.
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K.G. on 27 Aug 2009 at 1:42 pm #
I tried to read the Mormon Bogeyman article. (It was pretty long.) Yes, “we are in this together” (w/other people of faith) in some ways. But it’s disingenuous to say that LDS might not be seen as having a rougher time of it.
It’s not paranoia to say that Mormons are a smaller, less amorphous group than evangelicals or Catholics. We are a more well-defined target–and tend to take hits from all sides, both from the religious right and non-religious left.
Apparently there are many LDS who work for the CIA. If indeed those accused of tortue happen to be Mormons (as the author fears), their religion will be made an issue.
And if Romney makes another run (and it appears he is), Mormonism will become an issue front and center once again. Romney’s faith will be used against him by all competitors.
Remember, it wasn’t just Huckabee who used anti-Mo sentiment to win Ohio. It appeared McCain tried to do the same in SC. And Mack’s aged but outspoken mother was quick to dismiss Romney’s turnaround of the 2002 Olympics. She claimed in a TV interview “that Mormons made the mess so it was no big deal that Romney cleaned it up.”
I too doubt that it’s “helpful” to point at the obvious, but I’m still of the opinion that when it comes to the election of the POTUS or VP, LDS need not apply.
If John Huntsman or Jeff Flake or any other LDS Republican were to attempt to run for POTUS, they would receive the same smack down for their religious beliefs no matter what attributes or abilities they might bring to the office.
If a Mormon Dem were to run, I don’t believe it would be such a problem. The religious right wouldn’t vote for a Dem in any case and the left only cares if you’re a proud Progressive.
coltakashi on 27 Aug 2009 at 8:04 pm #
President Obama’s statements to religious leaders have made it clear that he sees health care reform more as a religious crusade than an effort to provide financial support to those needing health care. That being so, it is perfectly consistent with the larger “moral enforcement” objective of the bill to use it as a club to enforce the Obama Vision of a More Worthy America onto people whose moral viewpoint diverges from his own.
One thing I wish we could clear up in the debate over the health care bill: This is NOT “reform”, as if government were already running health care and we are trying to make it more efficient. For example, we can talk properly about “reforming” the public schools, or the armed forces, or Veterans’ medical services, or Social Security, or Medicare.
But this is different! Obamacare is a government takeover, a nationalization, an intervention, an invasion into territory that has been mostly under the control of private choices made by workers, their employers, their chosen health insurance companies, and their physicians.
If any private company were acquiring the kind of power over the market for health care services that Obama wants the government to take, the Justice Department would be attacking it in court as an attempted monopoly in restraint of trade in violation of the anti-trust laws. If it was important for the government to protect us against a creeping monopoly on computer hardware by IBM, and an incipient monopoly on computer software by Microsoft, why shouldn’t we be protected from domination of the health services market by Obamacare Inc.?