A modern fairy tale [View all]
Once upon a time there was a community somewhere in the United States which, by chance if not by design was comosed mostly of people from the Jehovas Witness faith. As their community progressed the citizens decided it would be good to have a hospital to serve it. So it was that the local Kingdom Hall had many fundraisers and, in due time a community hospital was built. It was to be run by Jehovahs Witnesses and adhere strictly to Jehovas Witness teaching, but also employed cititzens of different faiths, particulary in its non-medical areas: administration, maintenance, clerical, etc. Everyone was happy with how the hospital was run. And being a model institution, it provided decent health insurance for all its staff, Witnesses and non-Witnesses alike. The only catch was that, as a good, God-fearing and scripture obeyeing institution, the Hospital did not approve of or perform blood transfusions, as being antithetical to the teachings of the Church.
Then the President of the US promulgated some new rules and regulations, which npw made it obligatory for the Hospital to provide health insurance plans for its employees which covered a multitude of medical procedures, including blood transfusions when necessary. And the elders of the Jevohas Witnesses heard of this and decried it - "How can they do this to us? It violates our religious freedom".
And the House Republican Leader and the Senate Minority Leader agreed, and promised swift legislative action to make sure that never, ever would Hospital employees receive a blood transfusion under their existing health insurance plans, even if the Hospital didn't have to pay for it.
And the Church Elders and Fox News were not assuaged. "It's an OK first step, but we're still being oppressed and our religious freedom is being violated. We won't stand for any of our employees receiving a blood transfusion no matter who pays for it!"
And Fox News spun it 24/7 and President Obama just put his face in his hands in sheer disbelief.
So glad that it's only a fairy tale.
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