The Moral Rally

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The Moral Rally

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hurst and allen 1 On March 22, 2017, Jerome M. Hurst, Senior Pastor of Southeast SDA Church, Jason Ridley, Pastor of Hilltop Community Worship Center, Columbus, OH, and Glen Allen, Pastor of New Hope Church, Canton, OH, joined other prominent religious leaders to hold a Moral Rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Spearheaded by Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach and Rev. Jen Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life, the rally was organized to urge House Speaker Paul Ryan to protect the health care coverage of 24 mil-lion Americans and to support the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. ridley

Leaders of the clergy descended on Washington two days before the GOP House bill revision of the Affordable Health Care Act was scheduled to be put before Congress for the vote. According to Jen Butler of Faith in Public Life, "House Speaker Paul Ryan actually called this bill an act of mercy. This bill shows no mercy; it shows cruelty. We are rallying on the Capitol to call on Ryan and other lawmakers to ensure that every American no matter their race, color, or socioeconomic status deserves access to high quality health care."

Dr. Rev. William Barber II of Repairers of the Breach spoke out decidedly against the bill stating, “When all of this done, thousands of people of all colors will die. These are not souls whom we as clergy can stand over and then say, “The Lord called them home.” These will be people who have died because of government policy and policy violence. They are poor elderly, sister and brothers. Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Ryan’s “Take Health Care Away Death Bill’ is immoral it is sin.”

Activities undertaken that day consisted of a pre-conference, a meeting with Ohio Senator Rob Portman and prayer in the halls of Congress, awaiting to see Speaker Paul Ryan. Clergy placed Bibles and other reading materials at his door. Following the meeting with Sen. Rob Portman, Pastor Hurst stated that the take away message from this event must be, “Reform, not Repeal. Preexisting illness/addiction must re-main as part of the bill.”

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In a recent post for Faith in Public’s 100 Days of Justice blog, Pastor Hurst also wrote, “When we talk about justice we are talking about human rights. Those less fortunate than us are still humans beings with human rights. It is not just sympathy that the poor need (or only prayer and a pat on the back), it is justice as well. God requires both charity and justice, and justice can often be achieved only through the mechanism of government.

We cannot be satisfied as long as elected officials try to pass laws that keep citizens of these United States from exercising their right to vote. We cannot be satisfied as long as there are individuals who think they have nothing for which to vote. We cannot be satisfied as long as there are individuals in these United States who don’t have basic medical cover-age.”

-Cecily Bryant

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Update:

“On Friday, March 24, 2017, Republican leaders abruptly pulled their overhaul of the nation’s health-care system from the House floor on Friday, a dramatic defeat for President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan”. —Washington Post (Mike DuBonis, Ed O’Keefe and Robert Costa).

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