"Liberal religious groups announced on Monday they are teaming up with President Barack Obama in a national campaign to counter the surprisingly vehement conservative opposition to his plan for overhaul of the U.S. healthcare industry this year. Organized by liberal-leaning evangelicals, some mainline Protestant clergy, and some Catholic groups, it will include Obama participating in a call-in program with religious leaders streamed on the Internet on August 19, prayer meetings and nationwide television ads."
     From "U.S. religious left wades into healthcare fight," which appeared yesterday in Reuters.

When a reporter and/or media outlet is behind you, your vocal support for something or another is "passionate," "caring," even "prophetic." When they don't, that same intensity is "vehement," "fueled by anger," even (to quote Democratic congressional leaders) "unAmerican."

Jim Wallis

Some of the same religious leadership that helped Obama navigate the political shoals last year are putting the band back together again, this time in an attempt to blunt massive grassroots resistance to health care "reform." Let me talk about a few of the particulars.

If you believe a lot of the "mainstream" press, resistance is either synthetic, bought and paid for by those "opposed to health care reform," ill-informed, and/or stoked in part (as Reuters put it yesterday) by "Christian and conservative radio," and/or leaders of the "religious right."

As you undoubtedly know from watching television or reading accounts, President Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress are fighting back.

The two-fold strategy appears to be (yet AGAIN) to marginalized anyone who wants an explanation of how they are going to square various circles, and to (yet AGAIN) stop talking about specifics (which always gets them into loads of trouble) and return to the kind of sparkling generalities that Obama specializes in.

That's where the Religious Left comes in the form of something called "People of Faith for Health Reform and its "40 Days for Health Reform." One of the usual suspects is Jim Wallis, who told Reuters that "his group's mission is to keep universal health-care coverage alive as a 'moral issue.'"

According to NPR, the division of labor goes like this. The Obama Administration has rolled out a website to contest "wild rumors" about its health care initiative and to "call out misinformation." (Gulp! ) So what is the role of this "coalition of progressive religious leaders"?

"Argue morality," or, according to Liz Halloran, "more specifically, what members characterize as the moral and religious imperative of providing 'inclusive, accessible' health care coverage and the need for a civil discourse about the issue, says Jim Wallis of the progressive Christian group Sojourners, one of the coalition sponsors." (Keep that "civil discourse" comment in mind.

So, let's look at the ad. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaBq0QeM3-8) True, there is one statement that is unobjectionable. A pastor looks in the camera and says, "God's given us a spirit not of fear but of love and action."

But the rest of the ad is the usual us v. the "special interests" drivel that is the hallmark of those who insist you either accept the thrust of the Democrats health care "reform" sight unseen, or you want nothing.

The first statement in the 30-second ad tells you all you need to know: "Special interests in Washington are spending millions to block health insurance reform," followed by "Killing reform will boost their profits." In case anyone misses the point a moment later a woman opines, "The special interests are strong."

However, thanks to NPR, there can be little doubt of the campaign's real motivation. "According to Gordon Whitman of the PICO National Network, a faith-based community organizing group that is also one of the coalition's sponsors, the group's effort will focus on moderate, swing districts where 'religion is significant to public life.'"

They really do believe we are idiots, don't they?

Switching gears but to a related subject, there's been an enormous amount written about "Section 1233 of the health-care bill drafted in the Democratic-led House, which would pay doctors to give Medicare patients end-of-life counseling every five years," as the Washington Post described it. How much should we be worrying about this?

Let me offer the concluding paragraphs of "Facing the Challenge of Health Care Rationing," a page one story in the July/August issue of NRL News, written by NRLC's Burke Balch, JD. Mr. Balch, director of NRLC's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics wrote the following.

The House legislation, as reported from the Energy and Commerce Committee, contains provisions to promote advance directives like "living wills," including:

1) Medicare reimbursement for consultations about "advance care planning" between health care providers and their patients when they enter Medicare, every five years thereafter, and if they become seriously ill;

2) requiring private and public health care plans to give potential enrollees the option to establish advance directives; and

3) a public education campaign, toll-free telephone hotline, and clearinghouse to promote advance directives and other advance care planning.

Advocates of such measures frequently cite the cost savings if, as they expect, this promotion results in more directives rejecting lifesaving treatment. "We refer to the end-of-life discussion as the multimillion-dollar conversation because it is associated with shifting costs away from expensive ... care like being on a ventilator in an ICU, to less costly comfort care ...," said Holly Prigerson of Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. National Right to Life strongly encourages the execution of a pro-life advance directive, the Will to Live (see www.nrlc.org/MedEthics/WilltoLiveProject.html). However, the pro-life fear is that efforts to push patients and prospective patients to prepare advance directives may in practice become a means of persuading or pressuring them to agree to less treatment as a means of saving money. Moreover, governmental promotion of advance care planning must not include the "option" of assisted suicide. Especially in the Senate, NRLC is working to address these concerns through negotiations and, if necessary, by preparing amendments to be offered in the Senate Finance Committee and on the Senate floor.

It is critically important that pro-life citizens make their voices heard while senators and representatives are at home during August, and after they return to Washington in September. The contemplated restructuring of America's health care system will affect the life--and death--of every American.