As activists gathered in front of the Supreme Court this week to voice support for or opposition to the Affordable Care Act (2010), or “Obamacare,” fellow Christians find themselves on both sides of the debate.
The rallies kicked off Sunday night with vigils as both sides prayed for opposite outcomes in the cases the Supreme Court would hear argued over the next three days. The politically liberal Christians, concerned about access to health care for the less fortunate, prayed for the court to uphold the law. Politically conservative Christians, concerned about the law’s infringement upon individual liberty, asked that the law be struck down.
A supporter of the law, James Winkler, general secretary of the General Board of the Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, emphasized the need for health care reform and access to health insurance in a statement to the Center for American Progress, a liberal advocacy organization.
“Quite simply, we believe the Supreme Court and the decision it makes is a reflection of the moral and ethical character of our people. Providing comprehensive health insurance reform ensures every single person in the United States has access to needed care without regard in their ability to pay. To do otherwise is to elevate private insurance interests above the need of human beings,” Winkler said.
Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America, a conservative advocacy organization, emphasized, on the other hand, the law’s impact on liberty and religious freedom in a Monday statement opposing the law.
“Though many are reveling in the politics of it all, what will be happening today at the Supreme Court is a solemn affair that will have enormous consequences for our nation. The Affordable Care Act will affect not only our health care but many of our founding liberties also, as we have seen already with the contraception mandate and our religious liberty,” Nance said. “Concerned Women for America (CWA) and its more than half-a-million members around the country are uniting in prayer for the Justices, asking, as our forefathers did, that Divine Providence guide the proceedings from beginning to end.”
