Friday, November 02, 2007

Friday afternoon thoughts and prayers

Truly if, as Jesus said, you have to become like a child to receive the Kingdom of God, what does it say about you if instead your willful ignorance of children’s needs causes them to suffer? It says you are not worthy of the kingdom of God, that’s what it says.
-Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, Only a Sick Society Plays Politics with Children's Health


The Democrats are trying again to do the right thing and provide health care to millions of children in the United States. The president and many Republicans in Congress - each professing a faith in Christ - are working hard to block this measure. They talk about how we can't afford the SCHIP program, but the real reason they are blocking the measure is pure ideology - they don't want everyone in our country to have health care. They don't want to anger the health care industry that lines the coffers of their political campaigns.

The bottom line is, they truly do not care about the children. The Jesus they profess to follow tells them that children are the key to the kingdom of heaven - that the love of money is the root of all evil - but these "Christians" will sell a child down the river if the money is right.

As Thistlethwaite writes, we are a sick society when we'll force a parent to choose between the mortgage and paying for their child's health care. We are a sick society when we stalk children who dare to speak up for a fair health care system in our country. We are a sick society when we'll justify spending trillions of dollars on a war that leaves millions dead or maimed and still dare to call ourselves "pro-life."

We are not a society fit for the kingdom of heaven.

3 comments:

Cecilia said...

Candace, Amen.

Pax, C.

RevCindi said...

A second "amen" from the next pew. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised by how they attacked that 12 year old boy. It's just wrong. The whole republican slant on health care is just wrong. We can spend gazillions in Iraq, but we can't provide basic health care for our own people. Yep, it's just wrong.

Candace Chellew-Hodge said...

I just can't fathom how a party can claim any moral high ground while denying health care to children. It boggles my mind. If it were a Democrat doing anything this administration has done they would have already been hanged for treason. The media's complicity is the real crime here. Don't talk to me about a liberal media. I've worked in the belly of the beast and it's there to protect corporate interests (i.e. Republicans).

God help us.