Letter: On health care, ask, ‘What would Jesus do?’

Monday, July 2, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

I am finding the reaction to having universal health care in this country to be irrational.

While studying for my advanced degree in economics, I earned minor degrees in Catholic philosophy and theology. During those years we examined the New Testament closely and critically.

We found, almost to a student, that were Christ still on Earth, he would favor universal health care and (gasp) Jesus would be regarded as a "socialist," which he was in every respect.

Some Americans hysterically got frightened of communism, which is not exactly the same as socialism even though the right equates it to be so.

Some of my fundamentalist Christian friends and acquaintances actually believe if Jesus Christ was on Earth today he would be a Republican, something with which I do not agree. He only taught that we must be our brother's keepers and not profit from their illnesses as do so many corporations today.

Some feel that Christ was supportive of those who supported themselves and cared little about the others. That is a warped understanding of who he was.

Of course, with all the lobbyists working for the profit-bloated health corporations, we cannot break through that barrier. Whether we understand it or not, Jesus was a "socialist" in the very best definition of the word.

James Poupard, Henderson