VENTURA, Calif. (ABP) -- Prominent evangelical pollster George Barna weighed in on the health-care debate with a Sept. 20 editorial saying that Jesus would support universal coverage -- although not necessarily through the government.

The founder of the Barna Research Group said that the Gospel of Luke, which tradition says was authored by a physician, contains 26 passages describing how Jesus responded to people's physical and medical needs.

"Jesus healed everyone who presented a medical need because he saw no reason to screen some out as unqualified," Barna wrote. He said Jesus also healed every kind of illness he encountered, and that no malady was either too simple or too complex for his concern.

Barna used four words to describe Jesus' health-care strategy: whoever, whatever, whenever, wherever.

"Whoever needed to be healed received his healing touch," he wrote. "Whatever affliction they suffered from, he addressed it. Whenever the opportunity to heal arose, he seized it. Wherever they happened to be, he took care of it."

Barna contrasted that with the "preferred American model," which he described as "deciding to throw some money at the problem -- but not too much -- so that somebody else can do what needs to be done, for those who qualify, in a manner that does not inconvenience us."

Barna said he doubted that Jesus, who included care for the sick in the marching orders he gave to his disciples, would be content to see his followers wait for the government to provide for the poor.

"Government clearly has a role in people's lives; the Bible supports its existence and circumscribed functions," he said. But he went on to say that does not mean that churches should fail to exhibit compassion and service and allow the government to act as a national safety net.

"In a society that has become increasingly self-centered and self-indulgent, we simply expand our reliance upon the government to provide solutions and services that are the responsibility of Christ followers," he said.

On Sept. 21, meanwhile, America's largest Hispanic Christian organization issued a statement condemning "anti-immigration rhetoric" in the current health-care debate. The statement cited comments from both Democratic and Republican leaders supporting a proof-of-citizenship requirement in the various reform bills and denying access to coverage to undocumented immigrants and their families.

"We find it to be both morally and politically disadvantageous not to include coverage for all those currently residing in our nation," Nick Garza, chief operating officer of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a press release.

Garza said requiring immigrants to prove citizenship in order to purchase health-care coverage "stands as a de facto endorsement of racial profiling and continues to exacerbate the anti-immigrant sentiment currently embedded within the immigration-reform debate."

Garza said the proposal would deny the right to health-care coverage to 12 million homes and suggested labeling it as "Xenophobic Health Care Reform."

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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