Press Release
On the Air and on the Ground: Pastors Push Affordable Health Care for All Families
Over Independence Day Recess, Ads Emphasize Faith and Our Nation's Values
Listen to the ads here.
As the health care debate heats up and Senators head home for Independence Day Recess, pastors from across the country are taking to the airwaves with radio ads to remind lawmakers that the status quo on health care is "not who we are as a nation" and that "America can do better," emphasizing our nation's values in the days leading up to July 4th.
Drawing on the Scriptural call to act with a spirit of courage, love and action, the ads will run beginning today through July 4th in five key states--Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska and North Carolina--urging Senators from those states, whose support will be critical to the passage of meaningful legislation, to support reform that makes quality coverage truly affordable for every American family. The ad script and audio are available here.
In addition to the ads, local clergy and congregations are organizing in their communities. More than six hundred clergy from 41 states and 39 denominations have committed to preach and engage their congregations on health care, and have signed PICO National Network's national clergy letter to members of Congress, making a moral case for reform. Public meetings are also taking place across the country, such as a meeting this Thursday in Denver with Sen. Bennett (D-CO) and hundreds of Colorado faith leaders. Additionally, a pastor's guide to the health care debate will be distributed to 4,250 religious leaders, along with a shorter version for congregation members, reaching more than 800,000 families. People of faith will also make over 10,000 phone calls to members of Congress before the August recess, urging reform.
During a conference call with journalists today, local pastors--many of whom have lent their voices to the radio ads airing in their states-- spoke about the moral urgency of making health care affordable for all.
"Jesus was clearly concerned about people's health because he reached out to those who were ill and offered healing and hope. To follow Christ, it's our responsibility to make sure that those in need are able to access good health care," said Rev. Joe Harvard, Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Durham and Advisory Board Member for Duke University's Translational Medicine Institute, who recorded the ad running in North Carolina this week.
Pastors drew not only on their faith, but also on their firsthand experiences with people in their communities to articulate the need for reform.
"More and more, at our interfaith free health clinic, there is no difference in the people that are coming in to volunteer and the people coming in for care," said Rev. Joyce Hardy, Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas and the voice of the ad running in Arkansas. "They are all working people with families to support - some just simply don't have the benefit of health care coverage."
"Many people in Nebraska are making difficult choices: medicine or electricity, a doctor's appointment or rent," said Rev. Mark Seem of Pella Lutheran Church in Omaha, NE and the voice of the ad running in Nebraska. "If that's acceptable in the United States of America, then life and the pursuit of happiness have become the exclusive rights of some and the empty dreams of others. But I believe that 'we the people' includes all of us, and that our commitment to justice for all will lead us to pass reform that extends quality, affordable health care to all Americans."
"In my congregation we've had a woman who died too soon, another who barely survived, small business owners driven to bankruptcy by health care costs, and members scraping to get by month by month. Others in the congregation are worried they'll be next. It's a disgrace, and it's morally unacceptable," said Rev. Dr. Cory Sparks, a PICO clergy member and pastor of Faith Community United Methodist Church in Lafayette, Louisiana.
"It is a sin that a nation as rich and great and compassionate as ours tolerates a health care system that leaves so many sick people without the care they need, and so many parents unable to raise healthy children," said Rev. Bill Calhoun of Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver, CO, who was not able to join the conference call, but is the voice of the ad in Colorado and host to this week's meeting with faith leaders and Sen. Bennett. "We are blessed with the ability and the resources to extend quality, affordable health care to every American, and we must put them to use. Our faith requires nothing less."
The ad says:
It's a vision first proclaimed by Isaiah: No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.This is Rev. Joyce Hardy from Little Rock, and we've got work to do. In Arkansas, people are being denied the care they need because of their age or an illness they had years ago. Or they're getting sick because they can't afford preventive care.
This is not who we are as a nation. America can do better.
The challenge is great, but God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. And our love must be a thing of action. This Independence Day, join thousands of people of faith in asking Senator Lincoln and Senator Pryor to rise to the challenge by supporting reform that makes quality health care choices affordable for all families.
Please add your voice, and learn more at www.coverallfamilies.org. Paid for by Faithful America.
The ad campaign follows a similar effort over the Memorial Day Congressional Recess and is organized and sponsored by a team of grassroots community organizing and national religious advocacy groups: PICO National Network, Faith in Public Life, Faithful America, Sojourners, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.
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