ELCA News Blog
July 10, 2009  

Religious leaders convene at Faith Leader Summit on Health Care

by Jodi Deike, ELCA News Service

Representatives of nearly 30 religious organizations gathered July 7 in Washington D.C. for a "Faith Leader Summit on Health Care." The summit kicked off a collective effort to build support among Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu leaders for comprehensive reform of the U.S. health care system.

"I think the faith community has a critical role in interpreting where we are in terms of the crisis to our people, raising the issue that this is a moral imperative and asking people to sign on to be participants in advocating for health care reform not only for ourselves but for the least of these," said the Rev. Jessica Crist, bishop, Montana Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and participant in the summit. According to Crist the faith community wants health care reform but does not agree on the particularities such reform should take. "Health care reform needs to be addressed in a bipartisan and multifaith way," said Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary, National Council of Churches USA, in the July 7 news conference. "Every human being is a child of God," he said.

Although this is the first "Faith Leader Summit on Health Care," support has been building for such work. In the last week of June, thousands of activists went to Washington to ask for health care reform. In addition, a faith-based ad campaign urging health care legislation was launched nationally during the Independence Day holiday. Summit participants met with White House officials and members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.