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By Hal Recinos*

Apparently, in American politics, anything can happen and even God cannot make sense of it. The world-renowned African-American neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, remarked at the recent Values Voters Summit, “You know Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery ... and it is in a way, it is slavery in a way, because it is making all of us subservient to the government, and it was never about health care. It was about control.”

As a newly hired contributor to Fox News, Carson will have many more opportunities to blast so-called “Obamacare” or share his views that compare gay relationships to pedophilia and bestiality. The dean of our medical faculty here at Southern Methodist University, Dr. Paul Rothman, declared to the public that Carson’s remarks about gay humanity are inconsistent with the culture of the University — thank God there is an intelligent doctor in the house!

The Affordable Care Act is not without social costs and I can agree with Carson on the matter of discerning what that cost will be and who will carry it; however, this is a matter of civil conversation apparently beyond the doctor’s reach.

As the new darling of the tea party, Carson seems to have forgotten that the individual mandate idea that is part of the new health care legislation was originally proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation in the late 1980s.  I don’t have a problem with Carson voicing his views and distaste for Obama’s presidential leadership; indeed, Cornel West, my former academic advisor at Union Theological Seminary, has repeatedly shared his views on the Obama administration’s failure to address Wall Street criminality, drones dropping bombs on innocent people, global warming, or an intensifying struggle with poverty.  West made the unhappy remark that with Barack Obama, “we end up with a Republican, a Rockefeller Republican in blackface.”

Although there are various and different issues to be discussed with respect to Carson’s hyperbolic comparison or West’s discontented declaration,  a larger issue arises for me in the context of American political dysfunctionalism:  the need for rational, respectful,  evidenced-based political discussion.

But, allow me to share where I stand with Carson’s remark. Carson’s repugnant discourse led me to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” At the school of theology here, students are struggling with making sense of the Affordable Care Act for themselves and their congregations. The health care debate certainly poses a challenge to the political idea of the common good and love for God and neighbor.

I think this is a good time for pastors, theologians and laity to think about organizing interdisciplinary symposia in local communities to frame the discussion of affordable health care in the context of Christian ethics. Why bother taking this step? Perhaps you can agree that healthcare is part of our Christian mission and the uninsured are among the vulnerable whom God has charged us to love (Matt. 25:40).

*The Rev. Harold J. Recinos is Professor of Church and Society at Southern Methodist University’s Perkins School of Theology. He is a clergy member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference.