Thursday, May 10, 2007

While lying in your VA hospital bed and feeling ill

Be more assertive in beating off a persistent chaplain who notices you are an Orthodox Jew and decides you need to be converted.

While the staff decides you don't need kosher food.

Onward, Christian soldiers!

4 comments:

Interrobang said...

I'm really not surprised at this, actually. A friend of mine who is of no particular religious inclination had almost the identical experience while in hospital in NYC, albeit not a VA hospital. (The standard of care sounds no better.) The main difference was that the food he couldn't eat was because they weren't paying any attention to his instructions about food allergies, and the conversion attempts were coming from the nurses. I think if I ever had to be in hospital in the US, I'd want someone aggressive sitting with me 24/7.

I wonder what David Miller's rabbi would say to the argument that Miller should have been eating the food anyway, under the principle of pikuakh nefesh, on the grounds that by not eating he was endangering his life. In Judaism, you're allowed to break any law if your life is in danger, but the determination of "mortal threat" is the sticky bit. Not that I care either way, but I'm vaguely curious.

Steve Bates said...

Has this story been independently confirmed? It is plausible enough, but Jason Leopold has an atrocious track record in the accuracy department.

ellroon said...

Didn't know that about Jason Leopold, so checked the story. He's linking to a lawyer who has an agenda, writing a book and filing lawsuits over the destruction of the wall between church and state in our military, schools, public offices: http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/

So this story could be completely hyped, but it does link with the other statements made by the Tillmans etc. who have tripped over the Christianist in power.

ellroon said...

Interrobang, I think we'll find that Christianists all over feel their time has come to take over, and we're seeing them making themselves felt in the Supreme Court, the pharmacies, the police....

Nice to know about pikuakh nefesh. What a logical and flexible religion!