American Health Care Has Its Roots In Calvinism

[MineralMan]

Why are we, in the USA, so reluctant to adopt some form of socialized medicine, where all are entitled to medical care, regardless of our station in life or wealth? The answer, or at least part of it, can be found in Calvinism.

Its doctrine, as do the doctrines of many other protestant denominations, includes predestination, sometimes also called "election." According to that doctrine, God knows who is among the "elect," destined to achieve salvation and have eternal life. Mere humans cannot change their status from not being among the "elect" to being an "elected" person. If you accept Jesus, then that was foreordained.

This is extended in some doctrines to the idea that such "election" is also connected to your material success. If you are one of the "elect," one of the ways that is evidenced is by your material success here on Earth. God has favored you. This was a common belief amongst some of the earliest settlers in America, and still informs the foundation of our society.

While many Americans are completely unaware of these doctrines, and because predestination is a doctrine rarely presented to lay congregations, the influence of this doctrine is strong in this country. Are you poor? Well, that's your lot, and too bad for you. Are you wealthy and successful? Well, good for you. Not only do you have your success, but it's a sign that you're headed for the pearly gates when you die.

It's also the underpinnings of the "Prosperity" denominations. If you're approved of by God, you will have success. If you do not have success, it's clear that you are not among the "elect."

So, this rather fatalistic doctrine leads to difficulties when things like equality in the society come up. Are you black? Well, you're part of Ham's tribe, and that's not a good thing. Sorry about that. Are you a poor immigrant? Too bad about that, but even Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. It's your fate, and we just don't care all that much and don't want to interfere with God's will.

Are you sick? What sins have you committed to cause your illness? You can't afford medical treatment? Well, since you're not among the "elect," we're really sorry about your misfortune, but we're afraid that's God's will. If we pay for your medical care, then we won't be as prosperous and that might be a sign that we're not among the "elect," too. We can't interfere with God's will.

It's not that we just don't like poor people, minorities, and others who are not successful and "like us." It's God's way. What can we do?

If you look around at how we behave, as a nation, you can find many examples of this "election" and the predestination doctrine at work. It's a fundamental protestant Christian idea, and that's why fundamentalists are so adamant about their misanthropy. If you're not among the "elect," then that's just too bad for you. You're not favored by God. Why should the "elect" do much of anything for you. In fact, why shouldn't the "elect" dislike and shun you in general? God has shunned you, too.

It's an American doctrine...one that's not even known to many people who follow it, but it's there, and it's pervasive. It's one more way that religion, at least religion as it is often expressed here, impedes progress.

Want to learn more? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination

[KittyWampus]

1. My dear Mineral Man, such a thoughful post. And in the cesspool of GD, no less

Well here are some of my tangental thoughts on this, given in a somewhat disorganized fashion-

Part of the problem is what I'd call "Learned Helplessness". Many, many people are in need of health care, help paying for it or have been impoverished because of it. Yet they are still so reluctant to really go after the problem or force their representatives to do it. Part of it is Americans inability to stand up and fight for themselves against larger forces. This actually works with your concepts stated above about Determinism and just accepting your pathetic lot cause the good lord put you there. However, Americans have, in the past, stood up and fought for things so we can do it.

Then there is the fractured state of our society. Besides weakened or non-existant Unions America no longer has the social groups it used to have where people could band together and organize.

I think that I will type that word again- ORGANIZE.

Perhaps a big part of what is different now in America then before (Civil Rights era) is the lack of organizations within society where people could really work together.

Part of what disturbs me about Democratic Underground right now is the extent to which reactionary screaming occurs with next to no pro-active discussions. This place could be a small part in effective organizing but has simply become an echo chamber of negative, disillusioned ranters who feed into societies pre-existing condition of Cynicism which itself feeds into learned helplessness.

I personally am not a Cynic despite a natural inclination towards being sarcastic I really tend towards Idealism. Both practically and metaphysically.

[MineralMan]

2. Thanks for your kind words.

I post these things in GD, so they will have a chance to be discussed. This isn't really a religion/theology kind of post. It's about the way American society works at a fundamental, poorly-understood level. Your additions to the concept are good, and welcome.

I have no prescription for eliminating the mindset, but I can identify it.

I'm with you. While I often post in a somewhat cynical way, I've managed to retain much of my optimism, at least on the individual, personal level.

[KittyWampus]

3. I just added a thought on why we are so hog-tied right now and unable to effect change

After all, we've made great strides in Civil Rights era and Women's Rights etc.

I think at present, America is totally lacking in cohesive social structures. Unions, Fraternities dedicated to Common Good, REAL Democratic Activism (as opposed to posting on DU).

The Democratic Party does have a problem moving forward due to corporate money, a hostile media and Republican intransigence.

I think Americans need to start organizing but I don't know how that will happen.

[Jkid]

14. Fear of a backlash.

Part of the problem is what I'd call "Learned Helplessness". Many, many people are in need of health care, help paying for it or have been impoverished because of it. Yet they are still so reluctant to really go after the problem or force their representatives to do it. Part of it is Americans inability to stand up and fight for themselves against larger forces. This actually works with your concepts stated above about Determinism and just accepting your pathetic lot cause the good lord put you there. However, Americans have, in the past, stood up and fought for things so we can do it.

Most Americans are unable to stand up for themselves because of the fear of backlash and retaliation from conservative forces. There's also the fear of socialism.

[trotsky]

4. This is a brilliant post.

K&R

On edit: I should add that this same principle has grown roots into the new age movement - the idea that one "creates" one's own reality by envisioning it - it's just another way to pin the blame that if something bad happens, it's your own fault.

[MineralMan]

7. Thanks. I doubt it's original with me, but I thought it needed mentioning.

Perhaps it's human nature to think highly of ourselves and others like ourselves, and poorly of those who are not like we are. After all, religions are the creations of humans. So, I'm not surprised that the meme transfers itself to other world views.

Another good example is the artificial religion of Scientology, which takes the idea to even further levels.

Perhaps altering this core doctrine of so many Christian denominations should be a fundamental goal. There's plenty of scriptural support for the opposite view to predestination and election. Indeed, some denominations reject the doctrine altogether. In others, it rarely comes to the front. It's part of the basic Lutheran doctrine, as well, but in the ELCA, at least, it's way down on the list of things to be taught.

[MineralMan]

8. Thanks for the support for this post.

I really appreciate the kind words and comments.

[Echo In Light]

5. K&R

[myrna minx]

6. Fantastic essay. K&R n/t

[ThomWV]

9. Calvin got stopped at the Alps, it was Luther himself you should concentrate on

Go back and listen to the sermon of Reverend Wright that the press locked onto a year and a half ago, one time in the sermon he makes reference to "the German religions" and your essay refers to exactly what he was talking about. You are not the first to notice it and once you can see it the influence of those religious criminals will scare the hell out of you.

[MineralMan]

10. Calvin, Luther...whatever. The doctrine and unknowing

belief in it goes so far beyond those early protestants. It's all one thing, really. Even the RCC has a form of predestination in its doctrines.

What makes it insidious today is that most people don't even know they've been taught the meme. It's virtually undiscussed, except amongst theologians. But it's sure taught without being named.

[ThomWV]

12. No kidding?

Really? I wasn't raised under the influence of one of the Protestant sects so I didn't know they didn't teach you all the tenets of your own faith. The Catholics of my youth, by contrast, pounded every single miserable scrap of misinformation mother church was able to dream up over the millennium into our susceptible and youthful heads, mercifully little of it stuck. That said I have long been aware of that predestination nonsense.

Here's predestination I can live with, you're born, you live, you die.

[MineralMan]

15. Yup. We're predestined to live as long as we survive.

[white_wolf]

23. RCC.

While I could be wrong I will say as a Catholic I was taught that we had free will and nothing was pre determined

[MineralMan]

24. It's not the same as the Calvinist version, but the doctrine does

exist in the RCC. Here's a reference:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12378a.htm

[MineralMan]

11. A little background...

I first became interested in the doctrine of predestination in my late teens, when I was an active member of a Presbyterian church. My first discussion of the doctrine was with the minister of that church. He was somewhat unwilling to really discuss it with me, even though it was a central doctrine of the Presbyterian church. I had never heard it mentioned in sermons, so when I discovered it while reading church doctrine (I was a major nerd).

The fact that a chief doctrine of the very church I attended was never discussed in public caught my attention. The minister's explanation was quite unsatisfactory, and he considered me to be something of a nuisance. It did lead him to recommend that I consider the ministry, though, which I found amusing, even at the time. I was already feeling the loss of my ability to believe religious claptrap.

So, I explored the doctrine further and had discussions with other ministers from other denominations. I even made an appointment with the head of the theology department of a university and discussed it with him when I was 20.

None of these people could satisfactorily explain why the doctrine was not one they taught to their congregations. It was "too complex for laymen," "not really that important in today's church." That sort of thing.

This whole thing really caught me up. I found it widespread in American Literature, from the very beginning, and that connection was the topic of my baccalaureate thesis in college. It was also the beginning of the end of my ability to believe in deities and other such things and my journey into atheism.

Anyhow, that's the background for this little post.

[KittyWampus]

13. I started out Presbyterian too. Left the Church but not the Journey the way so many Liberals do.

About 15 years ago I started studying esoteric Judaism/Christianity after years spent studying Buddhism and Hinduism.

What you are talking about dovetails into Prosperity Thinking prevalent amongst so many Christian snake-oil salesmen.

And the fact is, we can either go about life with the viewpoint that we have or can have full control of our lives or that we are hapless victims.

It's very powerful to decide we will take control for our lives. After all, if we take responsibility for our own lot in life, how to explain poverty, abuse, sickness?

And while I can discuss that with like minded people who also study Qabala, it's a very difficult thing to discuss with general public.

The problem with Prosperity Thinking and Determinism is that it reduces everything down to one principle that obsesses on material reality. It essentially reduces metaphysical reality to the material plane. Most Christians are Reductionist if you look at what they really think and practice.

So while I am not Calvinist nor into Prosperity Thinking, I do personally take responsibility for what happens to me at all times. It can be a very, very powerful world view. It can also lead to some serious ugliness if you try and impose that on others who aren't ready.

[MineralMan]

17. Yes, I mentioned prosperity theology in the OP.

The journey through life varies widely with each individual, it seems. Some get stuck at some point, or never really consider things at all. Others, like you, continue to seek some sort of spiritual understanding. Others, like me, reject it all. I celebrate the journey, no matter its conclusion, as long as people don't insist that I and others follow their particular path.

I still study the religions of the world, with a focus on Christianity, because it still amuses me to do so. Since I'm an old geezer, now, I suppose that will continue until it cannot. Still, I see no possibility whatsoever that I would ever again find any possibility of belief in anything immaterial. Others's beliefs may vary.

[mzmolly]

16. A brilliant

analysis. I do feel that we're headed away from that mentality (uhm, thank God) ;) and perhaps that's partly why the R's fear new legislation so much?

Hmmmmm.

[MineralMan]

18. I do hope that is the case. There does seem to be some

slow, but steady progress. May it long continue.

[mzmolly]

20. Well said!

"May it long continue." :hi:

[DailyGrind51]

19. Exactly! Calvinism was nothing more than Europe's self-justification for their treatment

of peasants. "Why is it so simple to hate those you have wronged?" Thomas Becket

[MineralMan]

21. Excellent quotation! I am stealing it this very instant.

[MineralMan]

22. Shameless evening bump.

[treestar]

25. Very good!

It is in the American psyche that you have to earn everything and shouldn't have any handouts, even though that is not functional any more. We don't live on farms, so it's not a simple matter of going out and working hard. You have to have the right skills at the right time and if you don't happen to be able to make that much money at a given time, there's no reason you are to blame. Yet we keep up with that, even saying anyone can be rich if they just put their minds to it.

[apocalypsehow]

26. So, the TULIP doctrine is why we can't (yet) get universal health care in 2009 America?

You may be on to something, but I'm a bit dubious of the thesis. Especially since the Reformation itself was largely inspired by the humanist ideals of the Renaissance.

Note, I didn't say you were wrong, just that I'm dubious, so please don't flame me, bro. I'm just a tad skeptical, is all.

[MineralMan]

27. I encourage you to visit the link in the OP, and to do any

further research you find useful.

Luther was not a man who had in him a lot of the milk of human kindness. The Lutheran Church, or at least the ELCA has come far from what Luther taught. Calvin was a cold-hearted man who firmly believed that mankind was evil at its core.

The Renaissance had little to do with the theological beliefs of the Reformation leaders. Very little, indeed.

[apocalypsehow]

30. We're talking past one another, a common occurrence on the internet. Oh well, I tried. The second

you typed "The Renaissance had little to do with the theological beliefs of the Reformation leaders" our conversation ended.

Deliberate misrepresentation of what I said and willful (or is it otherwise?) historical ignorance about the topic you mimic a pretense to be an authority on, all in one breathtaking sentence!

Disappointing, but not really all that surprising. Good evening to you.

[HuckleB]

28. I don't mean to be contrary...

... or maybe I do. :shrug:

But I loved this piece when it came out locally, and it does speak a bit differently than your thoughtful offering.

A public option: health care in the American grain:
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/08/a_public_option_health_care_in.html

Cheers!
:toast:

[MineralMan]

29. I knew you were going to post that.

See? :evilgrin:

[KT2000]

31. "Moral Hazard" fits this

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a wonderful piece for the new Yorker a few years ago that describes the healthcare model the US uses. The Moral Hazard in healthcare says that there must be a risk to using healthcare - $$$. This is found in deductibles and co-pays and denial of coverage. It says that without such risks people would use it unwisely.
Great read: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/08/29/050829fa_fact

But I think you are correct about the underpinnings being Calvinism. The Moral Hazard serves that basic belief and insurance companies are enlisted as the deliverers of punitive measures for those seeking healthcare.
It has never been about HEALTHCARE or good health.