Saturday, March 20, 2010

A Christian Nation? Really?!

One of the most befuddling aspects of the Health Care Reform battle being waged in the U.S. right now is that many of the loudest opponents of the reform bill also claim to be among the most religious. While it's easy to dismiss the looniest of the bunch - Glenn Beck's call for people to abandon any churches that preach "social justice" makes the Howard Beale character in the film Network seem positively rational by comparison - there are obviously some earnest and well-intentioned folks on that side of the argument. Which makes no sense to me at all. What kind of a Christian wants people to die because they can't afford skyrocketing health care premiums once they become sick? What follower of Christ would ever possibly favour the interests of big business - the health insurance industry, in this case - over the welfare of individual citizens?

I can't think of another hypocrisy of this scale within the heart of the religious-minded American since he or she was working feverishly to keep fellow men and women (or "Negroes", as they were called at the time) in chains on the plantations. And sure enough, there was someone in Virginia today, warning that there will be "Civil War" if Health Care Reform is passed tomorrow. How does it feel, I wonder, to be that screwed up inside? To spend every hour of every day having to hold two such contradictory principles in one's head: "Love thy neighbour, and do unto him as you would have him do unto you" right there alongside "Screw over the other guy!"? I guess it's no wonder they all go crazy after a while. And only an American could possibly believe that something every other developed country has already institutionalized - universal health care - could possibly be wrong for them.

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