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THE QUESTION
Is Health-Care Reform a Moral Imperative?
Health-care reform is an economic, political and medical issue. But On Faith panelist and evangelical leader Jim Wallis says it's also a "deeply theological issue, a Biblical issue and a moral issue." Do you agree? Why or why not?
Posted by
Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham on August 18, 2009 1:24 PM
FROM THE PANEL
Health Care: Commodity, Necessity or Responsibility?
Each human being has a moral responsibility for the health needs of the class of persons Jesus defined as "the neighbor," namely, the person in need.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on August 24, 2009 2:19 PM
Politics Without Principles?
If a government is unable to take care of the poorest and weakest among their citizenry then that government is not true to its moral obligations.
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on August 19, 2009 3:10 PM
God is Concerned with Life's Trivialities
Not only is the question of health care a moral concern, but the way that we conduct our conversation about it is as well. The bedrock of our country is healthy and vigorous debate over the issues that matter most. And yet it is deeply disturbing to watch respectful debate degenerate into name-calling and accusations.
Posted by Sharon Brous, on August 19, 2009 2:20 PM
Health Care and Goddess-based Morality
In the Goddess tradition, healing is sacred. That means it is an area of life that has a value that cannot simply be measured by profit-and-loss sheets, akin to the value of life itself.
Posted by Starhawk, on August 19, 2009 12:56 PM
Heal the Sick, Jesus Told Us
Jesus didn't exclude those with pre-existing conditions or low income or unemployment.
Posted by Leith Anderson, on August 19, 2009 12:52 PM
Healing America's Sick Soul
The creation of a better health care system that guarantees full access to affordable quality health care for every American family, all of God's children in this country, would be the moral achievement that could repair, and even heal, our damaged national soul.
Posted by Jim Wallis, on August 19, 2009 11:55 AM
God Expects Us to Take Care of Each Other
Study of the scriptures shows God always admonishing the "haves" to take care of the "have-nots."
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on August 19, 2009 11:34 AM
Whose Responsibility is My Health?
Does the U.S. need health care reform? Absolutely. But first our nation needs to reform our definition of health.
Posted by Ramdas Lamb, on August 19, 2009 2:12 AM
Looking for a Higher Authority on Health Care
In the search to make health care affordable and available to all Americans, the theological component should be considered if for no other reason than to raise the topic higher than the limitations necessarily contained by conventional, secular thinking.
Posted by Phil Davis, on August 18, 2009 5:41 PM
Don't Use God to Inflame an Already Overwrought Debate
As a Jew, rooted in a system which is far more concerned with obligations than it is with rights, but always aware of both, I want to see a real conversation about the balance between health care as a human right and the obligations that should be born by all people who get that care.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on August 18, 2009 2:49 PM
The Dharma of Health-Care Reform
As a Hindu, I do not subscribe to a Biblical injunction in rendering care to my patients, but I must abide by my dharma, my duty, to help others.
Posted by Aseem Shukla, on August 18, 2009 1:15 PM
Heal the Sick and the System
Justice for the weak, the vulnerable and the stranger in the land is never heard at the anti-reform rallies, where the judgment of God is announced against reform-minded legislators.
Posted by Robert Parham, on August 18, 2009 10:10 AM
Health Care a Priority, not a Product
We generally accept that people with more money can afford more things, and I don't have a problem with this, except when we treat a necessity like quality health care as if it were just a consumer product. I wish all Americans would recognize the need to make health care both a moral and financial priority.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on August 18, 2009 8:12 AM
God is Not in the Details
God no more prescribes the form of health care than God endorses Notre Dame's football team over USC's. Sometimes we have to realize that the intricacies of the decision are with us.
Posted by David Wolpe, on August 17, 2009 5:28 PM
Jesus Healed the Sick
As a Christian, I believe the biblical truth of the matter is that if you don't take care of the sick and the poor, you are rejecting Jesus himself.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on August 17, 2009 4:17 PM
Health Care: A Moral Imperative For Any Decent American
The truth is that neither liberal secular nor liberal religious forces in our society have stepped up and fought for health care as a moral imperative in a way that has effectively countered the irrational right-wingers, like Sarah Palin.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on August 17, 2009 1:35 PM
Save & Share:
larry36: of course health care is a moral issue. i would ask any senior who thinks otherwise to voluntarily surrender his Medicare coverage and wish ...
coloradodog: True Christians are trembling in their boots, just as afraid of the 23% Huckabee "Christian" conservatives who have been bullying us as the ...
listen2me: Health care reform is not about money but immorality. Opponents of health care reform are against underwriting the healthy future of the poo...
