Faith and Health recently posted Teresa Cutts’ interview of Dr. Augustus A. White, Professor of Medical Education and Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. White is the co-author of Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care (2011), which considers “the largely hidden yet massive injustice of bias in medical treatment.”
The following excerpt from that interview offers a real challenge to religious leaders:
What are your thoughts on the connection between faith and health?
Thank God for what churches did during the Civil Rights movements against amazing odds and adversity. The health of our communities is the next great challenge. We need strong leadership — political and moral. We need a movement with common goals toward what is needed in our communities. We must get leadership to think of it as the new Civil Rights movement and really go after good health. We must diminish negative health practices and enhance positive ones. We have to recognize that when we have health disparities, we are saying we don’t value the lives of some people to the extent that we should. It is a moral, ethical issue . . .
When you have inadequate health care for certain groups of people you are saying you don’t value their lives as much as others. There are many reasons for the church to get involved. People who led the Civil Rights movement are not around, but young, enthusiastic ministers could take a leadership role.
So What?
From the Civil Rights movement to present, many religious leaders have been involved in advocating for the rights of all people. While healthcare is shifting in significant ways, much remains uncertain in the long term. What does it mean to you as a Christian to see healthcare as “the new Civil Rights movement” and to “really go after good health’?