Religious Right and Left Spar Over Health Care Reform

Religious liberals and conservatives are weighing in on opposite sides of the health care reform debate. The religious left, including leaders such as Jim Wallis of the Sojourners, began a campaign on Monday titled "40 Days for Health Care Reform" (Reuters, 8/7.) Wallis asked supporter to sign his Christian Creed on Health Care Reform. Meanwhile the conservative Institute on Religion & Democracy reacted. A press release yesterday quoted the group's president, Mark Tooley:

The new Evangelical Left, like the old Social Gospel Religious Left of decades ago, always materialistically equates Big Government and centralized control with the Kingdom of God. They learned no lessons from the 20th century, when Big Government again and again wreaked destruction and was often the antithesis of Christian teachings. For the Religious Left, Obamacare is just one more opportunity for coercion and eradication of private initiative.