ACLJ Lawsuit Relies on Manna From Heaven For Health Care

This is probably the stupidest legal argument I've ever heard, and it's sad that the American Center for Law and Justice, a kind of Christianized ACLU, bothered to take the case. We first got wind of their involvement to stop Obama's healthcare reform law when listening to one of our local Christian music stations. We flipped the radio on expecting some mellow CCM (contemporary Christian music), but instead got an earful of Jay Sekulow, the ACLJ's lead council, encouraging listeners to get involved with stopping "Obamacare."

This particular challenge involved a kind of Jesus as doctor approach. Three of the plaintiffs in the case expressed their view that they were Christians and had no intention of utilizing health services ever. Like EVER.

Three of the plaintiffs – Margaret Peggy Lee Mead of Hillsborough, N.C., Charles Edward Lee of San Antonio and Susan Seven-Sky of West Harrison, N.Y. – are Christians who said they want to refuse all medical services for the rest of their lives because they believe God will heal their afflictions. They say being forced to buy insurance would conflict with their faith because they believe doing so would indicate they need "a backup plan and (are) not really sure whether God will, in fact, provide," the lawsuit said.

(Huffington Post)

Don't get us wrong. We here believe in healing, and that the actual Jesus can do it. We are out on that limb of faith with the plaintiffs. However, we believe that God has given man wisdom, talent, and skill to do many things himself. Do the plaintiffs go without food? Technically God can provide Manna, or Jesus could reappear and turn rocks into McNuggets. Are they waiting on the lord there or are they showing up at Piggy Wiggly for groceries?  Betting it's Wiggly's or Chick Fil-A.

We also have doubts about God's consistency in the dispensing of miracles and healthcare. Meaning, sometimes God may heal you, but sometimes he won't. Sometimes he lets it rain on the just and the unjust, because your day to day is less important than the broader picture (his broader picture). But not to leave you hanging, he gives you a powerful brain that will teach you not to build homes on sand or near overflowing river  banks or in typhoon zones. He won't stop nature, but he will give you the wisdom to avoid suffering from those things he created that are on automatic pilot. He gave us doctors. One can even extrapolate that the arrival of Jesus walking the earth did not mean doctors became irrelevant, or that Jerusalem Safeway stopped selling figs, locust and honey. Jesus didn't even attempt to heal every single person, let alone keep his followers from eventual death.

Why is the ACLJ backing this sort of legal nonsense? How does expanding healthcare coverage become the thing that a Bible believing Christian is trying to kill? Sans Jesus to slip your ear back on your head, and lacking responsible and affordable private sector options, how is seeking to fix the system an evil?

We seriously doubt these people were prepared to go the rest of their lives without health care, and the U.S. District Judge Kessler was right to toss this monstrosity out.