Saturday on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” Rev. Dr. William Barber, a member of the national board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and pastor of the Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro, NC, condemned the Republican Party’s efforts to reform health care on theological grounds.
In addition to saying that praying for President Donald Trump was a “form of theological malpractice that borders on heresy,” Barber called the GOP health care bill the biggest transfer of wealth on the backs of people since slavery.
“[W]e have this extremist Trump-Republican agenda that takes health care, transfers wealth to the greedy,” Barber said. “That’s hypocrisy and sin. Seven-hundred billion dollars, Joy — you haven’t seen that kind of transfer of wealth on the backs of the bodies of people since the days of slavery. Claiming to care about life but passing a bill when you know thousands will die, 22 million people, poor working people, will be hurt — that is hypocrisy and sin.”
“Passing bills, trying to pass, when- you know it will hurt children, the disabled and veterans — that is sin,” he continued. “That is hypocrisy. And what leaders ought to be doing is challenging the president, challenging McConnell and challenging Ryan and challenging these senators and others, and not trying to appease them. Instead, they’re acting like priests of the empire rather than prophets of God.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.