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President, Secular Coalition of America, Dr. Herb Silverman
Silverman is Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the College of Charleston
and Founder and President of the Secular Coalition for America.
Health Care a Priority, not a Product
Health-care reform is an economic, political and medical issue. But On Faith panelist and evangelical leader Jim Wallis says it's also a "deeply theological issue, a Biblical issue and a moral issue." Do you agree? Why or why not?
"If God had decreed from all eternity that a certain person should die of smallpox, it would be a frightful sin to avoid and annul that decree by the trick of vaccination." So said Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University from 1795 to 1817. He was speaking passionately against Edward Jenner's new medical invention called vaccination.
It was not then a particularly extremist view. Vaccination and inoculation, though highly successful, were denounced by many religious leaders. Fundamentalists today will not say that God changed His mind and no longer condemns medical interventions that can save lives. Most, but not all, will simply find interpretations of their holy book that oppose those of previous generations. It isn't hard to do. You just focus on one particular verse and ignore a contradictory verse.
Cut to the 21st century. The controversy is no longer about using biblical justification to condemn scientific breakthroughs that can extend the quality of life. We now have the other extreme, biblical justification to condemn those who don't use all possible scientific technology to extend the lives of people who are essentially brain dead. Witness Terri Schiavo.
But our issue now is what to do about health care from the beginning of life to its end, and especially, how to decide who gets what kind. We generally accept that people with more money can afford more things, and I don't have a problem with this, except when we treat a necessity like quality health care as if it were just a consumer product. I wish all Americans would recognize the need to make health care both a moral and financial priority.
At the same time, given our limited resources, I think we need to change from devoting so much of our resources to the last few months of life, while many of our young never have the opportunity to become old because they lack the financial means to obtain adequate health care. Regardless of age, if a very ill person has a chance to recover and live a life with quality, then by all means go for it. However, if it is clear to medical experts that only technical life can be prolonged, without hope for recovery, then I would put no more public money into it. Such re-allocation of resources can transform a few extended weeks of life into a combined hundred years for several young people. Call it, if you will, rational rationing.
I find it odd that those who expect eternal bliss in an afterlife seem so unwilling to let go of this life. It seems they want to go to heaven without dying. Atheists are more likely than religious fundamentalists to have prepared end-of life directives. For many atheists, our after life "immortality" will be organ donations (as well as a will that benefits worthwhile causes).
I stand with the progressive people of faith who want to expand health care coverage, though I don't need a biblical justification. If I did, however, I might start with the Genesis 4 myth. After Cain murders Abel (interestingly, the first murder in the Bible follows the first religious act), God asks Cain where Abel is. Cain resorts to the familiar tactic of answering a question with a question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" God never commented on Cain's response, but had I been God, I would have said to Cain," Damn right. That's an integral part of my new post-garden health care plan."
A stronger case can be made that Jesus was a Communist than Obama was a Kenyan. According to Acts 2:45, Jesus wanted all his followers to divide and share their wealth, each according to his need. I think Jesus goes way too far in Matt. 19: 21, when he says, "If you want to be perfect, sell all your possessions and give to the poor." It seems that the formerly poor would then have to sell everything, creating an infinite loop. In any case, these passages favor pooling money equitably so that all can partake of adequate health care.
As a humanist, I'm committed to reason, science, and experience to solve human problems. I don't pretend to understand how some people can believe in a deity whose need to be worshipped takes priority over the needs of human beings. But I am optimistic enough to believe that the desires of this deity in future generations will continue to change as we learn new strategies for making this world a better place. In other words, I hope those who feel the need to worship a deity will worship a humanistic one.
I don't know what the best heath care system should be. Perhaps the god is in the details. But I hope we come up with a system where the poor, even if they are always with us, will be provided with good health care.
The Chickasaw Plum - Volume VI - Number 10 - October 2009
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