In MSNBC host Ed Schultz’s world, you’re a “phony Christian” if you refuse to support Obamacare, or something.
MSNBC host Ed Schultz blasted “phony” Christian conservatives who oppose Obamacare, saying the new health care law “is the most moral thing this country has ever done.”
“This is good for America and I won’t let them lie,” Mr. Schultz said, according to the Blaze. “They’re phony Christians. Phony Christians when they say that they are Christian but then they want to take away from their next-door neighbor. They don’t want to be their brother’s keeper.
“A growing number of right-wing Christians are coming out day after day as a Christian,” he said. “I think I have the right to expose their hypocrisy and call them out for all the things they are saying wrong and how misguided they are.”
Mr. Schultz said it’s a known fact that people will die if the mandate is repealed.
“It is very simple. If Obamacare is repealed, Americans will die. Children of God will die,” he said.
It’s hard for me personally to find anything “Christian” about a health care law that kills American jobs, impoverishes young people, exacerbates doctor shortages, and increases health care costs for pretty much everyone. But maybe I’m the only one. Remember, too, roughly half the public wants the Affordable Care Act repealed -- and a supermajority now says one of the law's most controversial provisions must be delayed, including many House Democrats. Is Schultz really suggesting, then, that millions of Christians are “phonies” simply because an unpopular law (not one single Republican voted for) is hurting them and their families?
To follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ (which is essentially what being a Christian is all about, right?) one must care for the poor. This is one of the core tenets of Christianity. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me” is a famous refrain from a Catholic hymn that has always stuck with me and beautifully captures this sentiment. Thus it’s a fallacy to say that caring for the poor and opposing Obamacare are somehow mutually exclusive. Many devoted Christians oppose Obamacare not because they are indifferent or apathetic or self-absorbed. Rather, they care deeply about “the least of God’s children” -- but at the same time understand that a giant, federal overhaul is the wrong approach to alleviating poverty and fixing the nation’s broken health care system.
It goes without saying that one can still care for the poor and oppose expensive, big government policies. And many Christians, of course, do.
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