wfn.org | Religious leaders convene at Faith Leader Summit on Health Care

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

>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.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog