JESUS, CHRISTIANS AND HEALTH CARE

BY TONEY ATKINS

My patriotism to my Southern heritage has been questioned several times since I moved back to northwest Georgia. One of the biggest criticisms that I have encountered thus far has related to my observations about conservative Southern Christianity and the plight of many in our country who need good Christian examples in this day and age.

Before I continue, let me state that I have been a Christian, although not always a "good" one, since the mid-1960s. I became a believer after listening to the passionate preachings of the late Rev. Edwin Smith, who pastored an Assembly of God church near Chickamauga, GA. The teachings of Jesus became very important in my life, and ever since those days of active participation in the church, I still relate far more to the gospels than I do the historical, yet meaningful, teachings in the Old Testament, which were prophetic as to the coming of a Savior.

I always felt comfortable in any denominational church when Christ was at the center of the spiritual education. When the preachings were even subtly political in nature and not related to the alleged goal of salvation of souls, I became disturbed or, at least, uncomfortable. There were many lessons to be learned from the entire Bible, but the words of Jesus and his history in the New Testament resonated the most with me.

Although I became less active in the church community in the early 1970s, I never forgot those wonderful, Bible-believing genuine Christian people who were in that church to guide me in my early days and to be a friend as several years went by. Christian men and women of this calibre are not the ones who frustrate me. In my older age, I'm simply more skeptical about those who praise God to high heaven inside the church building but seem to forget important spiritual precepts after the services end.

While many folks indeed follow the teachings of Jesus to the best of their abilities and even go over and beyond what is expected in Christian actions when others are in need, I find a certain disappointment in those who don't always apply the principles to make their lives and the lives of others better on this earth. I'm guilty of this, and when I see it in others, I feel even more guilty.

I've been thinking about this for a while, particularly since the nation's first Black president, Barrack Obama was elected in 2008. No one expected this historic transition to be without some stumbling blocks, and a whole slew of them apparently fell in the South. Before and after Obama took office, I would get headaches listening to my Southern neighbors say that they hoped he and his policies would fail and then they would go off on tangents about how he was going to do this and how he was going to do that, with not a single bit of evidence that would prove what they spoke. Occasionally, someone will be honest and say what is really on the collective minds: "I don't like him as president because he's Black."

These particular groups admittedly got most of their news from Fox News, an alleged conservative Republican outlet which rarely has anything good to say about members of other political parties. Therefore, these good Christian folks almost too quickly latch onto a rumor or downright lie that someone passed along to them after getting it from right-wing conservatives and newsmen and cement that information into their brains, rarely listening to reason when something is absolutely absurd.

Such has been the case with many of the positive actions President Obama has tried to take -- actions which stand a chance of helping millions of people. I have never heard such ignorance, foolishness and outright lies from some religious folk about the proposed, controversial health care plan. The Republican Party fuels their flames with misinformation and fear tactics -- actions which can only be defined as non-Christian. I'll be honest: This type of environment makes me want to scream.

Fortunately for my sanity, I came across a piece on the www.CommonDreams.org web site that sent my hands and arms into the air to praise the Lord. In a transcript of a speech that the Rev. Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, delivered before a crowd of 2,000, titled "Why is Universal Health Care 'Un-American'?"

He wondered why anyone else there believed the topic was really controversial.
"Here's one way to frame such a discussion," he began. "If an infant is born to poor parents, would we be more ethical to give medicine to that child so he or she does not die prematurely of preventable diseases, or would we be more ethical if we let the child die screaming in his or her parent's arms so we can keep more of our money?

"Or, let's say someone who worked for Enron, and now is penniless, contracted bone cancer. I've been asked to discuss whether we are more ethical if we provide such people medicine that lessens their pain. Or would we be more ethical to let them scream through the night in unbearable agony so we can pay lower taxes?"

Rev. Rigby then asserted, "I can't believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor as prey for the rich. I cannot believe there are Christians around this nation who are shouting that message down and waving guns in the air because they don't want to hear it. But I learned a long time ago that churches are strange places; charity is fine, but speaking of justice is heresy in many churches."

He pointed out that the late Brazilian bishop Dom Hélder Câmara said it well: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist."

"Too often today in the United States, if you talk about helping the poor, they call you Christian, but if you actually try to do something to help the poor, they call you a socialist," the reverend said.

He asked the crowd: "How many of you get really excited about tweaking the insurance system so we just get robbed a little less? (silence) How many of you want universal health care? (sustained applause) I realize that insurance reform is all that's on the table right now, and it can be important to choose the lesser of evils when that alone is within our power in the moment. But we also need to remember our dream. I believe the American dream is not about material success, not about being having the strongest military. The American dream is that every person might have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Rigby went on to say: "It's amazing to hear Christians who talk about the right to life as though it ends at birth. They believe every egg has a right to hatch, but as soon as you're born, it's dog eat dog. We may disagree on when life begins, but if the right to life means anything it means that every person (anyone who has finished the gestation period) has a right to life. And if there is a right to life there must be a right to the necessities of life. Like health care. I believe the American dream is not about property rights, but human rights."

"Supporting universal health care does not make you socialist or even a liberal, it makes you a human being. And it makes you an ambassador for the American dream which, in the mind of Thomas Paine, was a dream for every human being, not just Americans," Rigby concluded. "As we struggle to get health care to all people, we may have to settle for the lesser of two evils, but remember your dream -- the true American dream, a human dream. Whatever we win through reform is just first step toward a day when every human being has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Right on, Rev. Rigby. The president's plan, as delivered in a major speech before lawmakers in Washington, DC, was to the point, and many uninsured Americans, Christian and non-Christian, are beginning to get the message. Obama pointed out the falsehoods of much of the misinformation that's been propagated, and amid all the confusion, it would do everyone good to find the speech online and read every word.

This brings me back to personal issues I addressed earlier: What would Jesus do? He healed body and spirit; He made the blind to see, and neither of these people had insurance. He left a lot of messages about our relationships with our neighbors and other things that He wanted to see carried on. Are we helping others when they are down and out? What do we do to help them when they are sick and can't work or go to school? Are we unselfishly Christ-like enough to care that far too many can't afford to buy an insurance policy and would be financially ruined if they became terribly ill?

I urge readers to get the facts about the proposed health care legislation from reliable sources and to not fall for the scare tactics that are being bandied about. We need health care coverage for all, not for just the fortunate folks who can afford it.


-- The Rev. Jim Rigby, used as a source in this story, is pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin. He can be reached at jrigby0000@aol.com.