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Where the Health Care Debate Lies

Introducing our new feature rounding up what evangelical political groups talked about this week.

Editor's note: Today we're proud to launch God Politics, a weekly roundup of what evangelical political groups on all sides of the political spectrum are talking about. God Politics is a joint project of Christianity Today and the new Tracking American Evangelical Politics project at Southern Illinois University. After you read our initial installment, we'd love to hear from you. Do you find this helpful and informative? What would you like to read more of? Less of? Are there groups we should be paying closer attention to? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Big Story: Who's lying about Obama's health care plan?

Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) "You lie!" outburst upstaged President Obama's health care speech last week.

Wilson's comment—whether true or not—was not made in "the appropriate venue," according to BreakPoint's Billy Atwell. But evangelical political groups found plenty of other venues to correct what they saw as misstatements or lies from Obama's health care speech.

In the aftermath of Obama's speech, evangelicals' main question is whether health care reform will result in federal funds for abortion.

In his speech, Obama said, "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place."

But many groups say Obama is mistaken, perhaps even lying.

"The health care bills will fund abortion unless it is explicitly excluded," said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. "Never has the old adage, 'the devil is in the details,' had more meaning."

There were other, similar rebuttals from evangelical groups to Obama's plan:

  • The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission's Tom Strode said that President Obama's "speech did little to allay the concerns of most critics, especially regarding federal funding of abortion." A review of H.R. 3200 by ERLC concludes that the health care legislation will ultimately lead judges to categorize abortion as an essential service and fund it.

  • The American Center for Law and Justice said the health care bills moving through Congress will fund abortion and lead to increased support for Planned Parenthood.

  • Center for a Just Society president Ken Connor pointed to Obama's voting record as evidence that, barring an explicit prohibition against it, "the American people can be fairly certain that any form of Obamacare will use their tax dollars to fund elective abortions nationwide."

  • Concerned Women for America encouraged its members to contact Congress to stop "the Abortion Mandate." "Make no mistake about it; abortion will be funded by the government through the new health care plan," CWA president Wendy Wright said. "Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby … have been waiting for the day when the government will fund abortion because it will be 'mandatory.'"

  • Focus on the Family Action encouraged people to contact Congress. "Until there is definitive language in the health-care bill that excludes abortion funding, it doesn't matter what the White House says," Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action said.

Sojourners came down on the other side of the evangelical debate and publicly applauded Obama's message. Prior to the speech, Sojourners had tentatively trusted that the White House would not fund abortions with health care reform. Obama's speech gave Sojourners further reassurance, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis said. Obama "made the commitments that a broad coalition in the faith community had asked for—reform as a moral issue, affordable coverage for all, and no federal funding of abortion," said Wallis.


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Comments

Displaying 1–3 of 126 comments

Jamie

October 05, 2009  1:26pm

I don't consider myself a staunch Pro Lifer or Pro Choice either. I think most radical Pro Lifers are really just "Pro Birth". They don't seem to really care about what happens to the child after he/she is born into what is probably poverty level. I have seen first hand what these poor children go through trying to make it in this harsh world....many of them being born drug-addicted and having many problems associated with that. The problem that I see is that many of these staunch Pro-Lifers are the same ones who want programs that would help these type of children eliminated.

mike falsia

October 03, 2009  1:08pm

The great problem for Christians who try to be politically minded with a good conscience is that we live among a godless and wicked people who have no concern for sin and the word of God. It is hard to support the policies of a perverse government even if they promote good things that are consistent with the word of God. This dilema becomes very perplexing when a particular party adopts policy that if implemented properly can do good for those truly in need but who in many other ways have also promoted great evil in the land! The current President and his party are the most dangerous threat to regulate and eventually suppress the truth of the gospel we have ever had to contend with. The leftwing fanaticism that drives his adminstration and personal ambition is thoroughly godless! Our liberties are not secure under this man. And now the same reprobate is the face of a health care bill that can provide things that will have both good and evil consequences. Thats life in a fallen world.

Kevin

October 02, 2009  3:13pm

LET THOSE WITHOUT SIN CAST THE FIRST STONE THOSE WHO JUDGE WILL ALSO BE JUDGED ACCORDINGLY

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