Where are the church and state watchdogs on healthcare reform?
By Rizzuto

Tue Aug 18, 2009 - The question is rhetorical because we know that they selectively use the separation of church and state to target churches that oppose abortion. But ever since the healthcare debate began, the left has been using faith as an argument to support reform. Ed Schultz of MSNBC even asked the question, wouldn’t Jesus want healthcare reform?

If the watchdog’s lack of interest in Trinity United during the campaign in ’08 taught us anything, it’s that they’re not particularly concerned with churches that support leftist goals and candidates. But just for laughs, let’s take a look at some possible violators who might be due for an inquiry on their Federal tax-exempt status.

Our first candidate hails from Maryland. This from The Maryland Gazette:
Members of a Clinton church took to the Capitol this week adorned in colorful T-shirts and signs reading "Honk for Health Care Reform."

The rally July 30 was the final of three this week that were organized by the Mount Ennon Baptist Church pastor, the Rev. Delman Coates. Coates founded the nonprofit Enough is Enough Campaign for Health Care Reform organization, which is fighting for Congress to pass a comprehensive health care plan.

More than 20 Prince George's County residents, most of whom are parishioners at the church, marched for two hours outside of the Rayburn House Office building on South Capitol Street in Washington, D.C.
Next is the United Church of Christ, whose leaders just recently penned a letter in which:
UCC members are encouraged to contact their elected officials, identify themselves to the lawmaker as members of the United Church of Christ, and register their concerns for a health care plan that includes the seven points agreed to by an interfaith coalition.

…

Additional actions include gathering delegates from congregations to visit the home offices of legislators during their August recess, attending the "Health Care Now!" rally July 30 in Washington, D.C., and organizing a Jericho march in communities around the nation insisting that the walls of inequitable health care come down.
I know pointing these churches out might not make me very popular with some of my religious readers, but if we’re going to try to uphold this standard, shouldn’t it apply to everyone? For example, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, whose stated purpose is to preserve the constitutional principle of church-state separation, state on their website that, “As tax-exempt entities, houses of worship may not intervene in partisan politics…” Yet there is not a single mention of churches advocating on behalf of healthcare reform, while at the same time they decry churches injecting themselves in the abortion or same-sex marriage debates.

With churches openly rallying on behalf of Obama’s proposed reform, and in some cases even inferring that support is a religious duty, shouldn’t the watchdogs be barking?





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