Faith leaders use radio ad campaign to urge health care reform

By Matthew Davies, June 30, 2009 [Episcopal News Service] The Ven. Joyce Hardy, archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas and member of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council, has joined other faith leaders in launching a local radio ad campaign in support of the more than 50 million Americans who cannot afford adequate health care.

The ad is intended to encourage listeners to urge their senators to support health care reform.

"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," says Hardy in an ad that is being broadcast on Arkansas radio stations through July 4, strategically timed as senators head home for their Independence Day recess.

Localized radio spots sponsored by advocacy group Faithful America are also airing throughout Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, and North Carolina, featuring local pastors from different Christian denominations.

Hardy, deacon of Christ Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, calls on listeners to join thousands of people of faith this Independence Day in asking their senators "to rise to the challenge by supporting reform that makes quality healthcare choices affordable for all families." Further information is available here.

During a June 30 conference call with journalists, Hardy described healthcare reform as a "justice issue," adding that the purpose of the campaign is to try to help senators understand the scope of the problem. "We know that more than half of the people who have been declared bankrupt have done so because of medical emergencies," she said. "It really affects so much more than their physical health -- it affects their financial health and their family life."

Hardy, along with other faith leaders in Arkansas, in 2008 launched the Harmony Health Clinic, a free medical and dental clinic located in Little Rock which New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will be visiting on July 1.

"More and more when someone walks in the door it is hard to tell if they are coming to volunteer or coming to seek services. They look the same," said Hardy. "They are working people and people who are not able to afford to buy insurance. I am hearing more and more about parishioners' inability to access healthcare."

In addition to Faithful America, the campaign is being sponsored by several other grassroots community organizing networks and national religious advocacy groups, including People Improving Communities Through Organizing (PICO) National Network, Faith in Public Life, Sojourners, Gamaliel Foundation, and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.

The Episcopal Church has been a keen sponsor of health care reform, particularly through the advocacy work of the Office of Government Relations (OGR) in Washington, D.C. and as a member of the National Coalition on Health Care, "where we attend weekly legislative strategy sessions on comprehensive health care reform with major providers, unions, and associations," DeWayne Davis, OGR's domestic policy analyst, told ENS.

"We have met with the staff of the Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader, and the Energy and Commerce Committee on comprehensive health care reform," DeWayne added. "We were invited to get a preview of the House health care reform discussion draft last week before it was released to the public."
     
The Episcopal Church has also joined with PICO to help disseminate information and briefings about health care reform throughout the grassroots.

Gordon Whitman, director of public policy and communications for PICO, told the media June 30 that the radio ads are one piece of a much larger grassroots campaign.

"Many denominations have been building up a very broad network of religious leaders to take action on the issue," said Whitman, noting that a June 30 letter from 620 clergy representing 39 denominations had been sent to congressional leaders. In addition to urging their politicians to support reform, the clergy have committed to preaching about healthcare issues and asking their congregations to take action.

The Rev. Cory Sparks of the Faith Community United Methodist Church in Lafayette, Louisiana, told journalists that pastors throughout the country are witness to "the heartache of families" that cannot afford healthcare. "It's a disgrace and morally unacceptable. That's why we're working together to stand on principle and speak to the need of reform. It should cover everyone, so that no person relies on the emergency room for their healthcare."

Joe Harvard, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Durham, North Carolina, said that healthcare was "central to the ministry of Jesus [so] people look to the church in dealing with healthcare issues."

Mark Seem of Pella Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska, told journalists on June 30 that the current health care issues are forcing people to make impossible decisions, such as choosing between paying for medicine and paying for electricity, attending a doctor's appointment or meeting rent payments.

"The church has the power to care. We witness first hand the results of a broken system," said Seem.

Katie Paris from Faith in Public Life, organizer of the journalists' June 30 teleconference, described healthcare reform as "a very unifying issue" and one which brings people together across faiths.

-- Matthew Davies is editor of Episcopal Life Online and international correspondent of the Episcopal News Service.

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