Chapter 5: Healthcare

God is Not a Republican

“No issue in recent political history has fueled as much anger in our political discourse as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: better known as Obamacare. …

Whatever you believe about the poor, we have a Christian duty not only to feed and clothe them, but also to love them. Charity in the spirit of bigotry is still bigotry. Anger causes us to lose ourselves and to forget our faith. It causes us to behave in a manner that Christ would never condone.

All of us are capable of acting out of character when we are filled with anger. In fact, it is safe to say that all of us have been guilty of it. This is the exact reason we must be so very careful not to allow professional rabble-rousers to give us the issue of the week for which we are to be angry. There is a time for righteous indignation; however, this moment is a personal and sacred one, not one to be ignited by political arsonists who sit back and watch as the flames become uncontrollable.

That is what Robert, an Ohioan suffering from Parkinson’s disease, experienced as he sat in the street holding a sign explaining why he needed healthcare. Two opponents of the legislation took turns deriding him, with no sympathy for his condition. The first detractor stood on the corner of the street, talking down to Robert as though he were a child. The second taunted him by throwing…”