Aug 31, 2009

The Church and Nationalized Health Care: An Anecdote

We accidentally went to a Presbyterian USA church this weekend. We had gone once before, and it seemed a little "off." But we went again because it's the only local Presbyterian church and I didn't know what the little cross and flame symbol meant on the sign (no where else do they advertise "PC USA".) The youth minister gave the sermon on "faith, love, and hope", the three main tenets of Christianity, focusing on faith this time. As a passing remark on recapping the "love" part, he mentioned that opposition to nationalized health care is just "selfish" as "americans greedily hold onto what they want for themselves." (And if you lack love, in the form of approving of nationalized health care, you can go on to ask the question "Are you really a christian?") Quite a bit of love shown to the opposition, no? I didn't walk out, but listened to the rest of it as a somewhat angry sermon on faith was given. We won't be going back. But I thought it interesting that self-righteous smugness is not a endemic to any one side of the aisle, whether theological or political.

*PC USA is the more liberal branch of the Presbyterian Church (notice the effort to "turn the tables" on the giant agrifood companies on the front page). The PCA is the more conservative branch, for those of you outside the little Presbyterian world.

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