Posted by
Aaron Miller on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 2:00:00 PM
So what do you think the federal government will consider
"appropriate and cost effective" health care?
Cal's certainly correct that widespread euthanasia will be a consequence. I suspect that abortions will also be facilitated. This is the modern eugenics. People will be murdered with government aid every day, and most of the world will turn a blind eye.
But there's another element here. This is where the attack on orthodox religions becomes less covert. Hitler started with the Jews (and remember... it started as oppression, not as slaughter). Obama will begin with the Catholic Church.
When gay unions were legalized in Massachusetts, it wasn't long before a Catholic adoption agency was told it could not operate unless gay couples are eligible to adopt. The agency shut down, rather than ignore the principles on which it was founded. Yesterday,
Star Parker wrote about a man in California who has been convicted for standing across from an abortion clinic with a sign reading, "Jesus Loves You & Your Baby, Let Us Help You", and offering pro-life literature. Let me repeat: a man is going to jail for a sign about "Love" and "Help".
That's how Obama and liberals will move against the Church and others. There will be no law mentioning any group specifically, but the government will set standards that demand Christians do not live as Christians, that Jews do not live as Jews.
Obama has already spoken of one such standard. He has proposed that religious charities cannot receive government aid unless their hiring practices do not discriminate by beliefs. In other words, a charity may be founded on a particular set of principles, but cannot hire only people who agree with those principles and still receive aid. Of course, in practice, this law will force liberals into conservative organizations but not conservatives into liberal organizations.
Now, the "stimulus" bill's changes to health care regulation will threaten religiously grounded hospitals and other health services.
What happens when a Catholic hospital refuses to participate in euthanasia or abortions?
My guess? The smaller ones will shut down as they are stripped of licenses and funding. The largest hospitals, most vital to city order, will be seized for the government to operate how it pleases. Others will compromise their principles, choosing to participate in occasional murder so they can continue general treatment. However it happens, it's not a pretty picture.
So what can we do? When the first hospitals are threatened by government mandates, how can we stand by them? To be honest, I don't know. We can write to the hospital administrators to let them know that their not alone, to ask them to be courageous. We can pray for God's counsel and strength. But beyond that...