I have been struggling at how to respond to the recent Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Healthcare Act. What is clear is that I am not a politician, though I have political views. Nor am I by any stretch of the imagination a legal expert, particularly a constitutional legal expert. So when it comes to politics and legal issues I tend to take the posture of listening rather than speaking.
The issue of government involvement in the life of the citizenry has been a discussion that has been taking place since our very foundations. This discussion has always been tense and resulted in a Civil War that almost divided our country and cost the lives of hundreds of thousands. That discussion continues today and has again divided our country right down the middle between so-called Red States and Blue States. There is also a division being created along economic and racial lines. And, from what I hear, this upcoming Presidential election will be extremely close and will be decided by a small majority of people who call themselves independent.
Though I have a political position, my heart is distressed by the divisions in America and what appears to be a total lack of real leadership from both sides of the divide. Those who make the claim that they want to unite are often the same people who fuel the division. It seems that all agree on the need to reform our health care system and address some very tough issues like the uninsured, pre-existing conditions, removal from health care plans because of serious illness, and affordable insurance for the most vulnerable in our country. Yet, the issue has become so politicized that both sides cannot reason together because they would lose the base that has put them in office. At the heart of the issue is not health care reform, or concern for the citizenry, but re-election.
Where is the Church? The Church is as divided as the nation. Even when Church leaders have made declarations, they have found that the person in the pew isn’t much interested in what they have to say. There are numerous reasons for this, but at the core it is because Church leadership has failed in the past to hold itself accountable and has immersed itself into the political fray, often times not for moral reasons, but because the government has funded its various programs and ministries and they fear the loss of finances.