Physician, Heal Thyself!

You knew this was coming. Another attempt at capturing the moral highground on the health care debate. As a Black minister, I am not persuaded by a suddenly evangelical President's emotional plea for "righteousness" in the health care debate. Unfortunately there are too many liberal left preachers for whom the gospel is only a social gospel and far too many fellow conservative Black preachers who've traded their moral birthright for a mess of leftist porridge. Obama only preaches verses the Left likes.

In invoking a type of Good Samaritan or Cain & Abel principle of "I am my brother's keeper and I am my sister's keeper", he's attempting to biblicize the debate, when in fact the debate is solidly political. No one anywhere is against health care reform, Mr. President but a solid majority of folks are against his version of it.

Moreover, since President Obama has framed a political issue in moral terms and brought it to the table of the moral leaders of the nation, he must assume that the pastors agree with him on the role of government tout court. These few pastors may, but the congregations of most churches largely do not. I'd even say the Bible does not. In a cursory search of the scriptures, nowhere does Jesus appeal to Herod or Caesar to be that "brother's keeper" - but His appeal is rather to individuals in their everyday walk. Private people making private decisions to love their neighbors and provide for their needs is what the Saviour was appealing to.

In attempting to appeal to their hearts, Obama seems to have misread the wisdom of the American public, because in the minds of the vast majority of Americans, government cannot be the moral answer to moral problems.

Besides all that, when or if this president ever finds a church - then perhaps I'll listen to his biblical pronoucements. Until then it's "Physician, heal thyself!"