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It’s the question hidden in many of the angry whispers in some corners of Washington, as well as the question behind the stunning plot twist that launched those public celebrations among the supporters of the Senate health-care reform bill.
On Saturday I mentioned that, amid the health care debate, there had been next-to no coverage of Christian health plans in which members receive no guarantee that their medical bills will get paid but take on faith that co-members will divide their expenses, just as they do each month for other co-members. It’s unclear if participants in this sharing plans will be exempted from the health care overhaul.
Saudi Arabia isn’t high on anybody’s list for a religious freedom award. But last year there were some hopeful signs for religious liberty advocates when the king dismissed the chief of the religious police and a cleric who had condoned killing owners of television networks that broadcast immoral content. He had also appointed a female deputy minister and changed the makeup of a body of religious scholars — who issue fatwas — to give more moderate Sunnis representation.
In case you somehow missed it, there were big doings in the nation’s capital over the weekend related to an issue that President Barack Obama promised to make a top priority. I am talking, of course, about … immigration reform.
Journalists have long debated how to appropriately define proponents and opponents of issues, because let’s be honest: it’s usually more fun to be for something then be against it.
As you would expect, my morning email was full of angry press statements from conservative groups — with a heavy evangelical-right flavor. Most of the emails attacked Rep. Bart Stupak and his circle of Democrats who, in the end, agreed to back the U.S. Senate health-care reform legislation, after President Barack Obama agreed to issue an executive order clarifying that this bill would not end the ban on federal funding of abortions.
On Saturday, thousands of opponents of the current health care legislation showed up at the Capitol where they expressed concern with various parts of the bill. I was able to observe many hours of the protest and some of the proceedings inside. But I thought it interesting that the very first protester I saw getting off at the Metro stop nearest to the Capitol was a nun in habit.
So it appears that we are staggering to the finish line on this health-care reform bill — maybe. To no one’s surprise, or, at least, no one who has paid any attention to American politics for several decades, the key dividing line continues to be abortion.
The D.C. Three may disagree, but from my perch out west it appears that the only news coming out of the capitol these days — especially today — concerns healthcare reform. Almost all of the religion mentions I have seen in health care reform stories has concerned either whether religious leaders were on board or whether the latest version of the bill included federal funding for abortion. Sometimes it’s a combination of the both.
