According to President Obama, if you aren’t for his health care reform, you are morally inferior.Using Biblical language, Obama maintained that opposing the public option was equitable to neglecting the responsibility of being your “brother’s keeper” during his August 19 call-in with leaders of the faith community.This pandering to religious folk is quite a turnabout from Obama’s attitude during his time as senator.  Back then he showed no qualms about openly mocking passages of the Christian Bible. “Which passages of Scripture should help guide our public policy?” he once asked in a tone baited with sarcasm – implying in his view that the Bible has no place in the culture of our nation.Unless, of course, it should prove to be a convenient catalyst for advancing his agenda. I’d say I’m disappointed by the blatant manipulation of religious themes for political gain, but for that to be true, I’d have to be surprised.Frankly, all this boils down to is a simple, caricaturized framing, which is oversimplified by nature and runs like this:Proponents of universal health care are generous, kind people who are morally superior. And of course, opponents of the legislation are stubborn, evil little devils who are going to hell. To shatter the naïve, manipulative nature of this exploitative framing, we must first rid ourselves of the absurd notion    federally subsidized “free lunches” are somehow the moral status quo, and the politicians who support such legislation are somehow morally elite.This may come as a shock to the starry-eyed, idealistic hero-worshippers – but here’s the truth: politicians don’t actually care about your health. They care about their political health. And any savvy politician  knows that when they offer the masses something for nothing (often at no expense), their political capital is at its safest.Maintaining that a move to expand social giveaway programs is a moral imperative is ludicrous. It is equitable to buying votes with other people’s money while claiming the blessing of God. You can’t get more morally depraved than that. Considering this, the moral high ground has suddenly become very difficult to claim, has it not?Some may argue religious symbols, let’s say “Hippie Jesus,” would passively shrug at this manipulation of religion for what appears to be a moral advance. But they forget a vital fact.They forget that seeing money change hands in His Father’s temple was the very thing that spurred “Hippie Jesus” to upend tables and crack whips over the heads of Pharisees. Too often we forget Jesus was prone to righteous anger and swift to judge self-righteous, pretentious folk who loved to use the Bible as a catalyst for personal gain.Does this sound familiar to you yet?He did not abide the pulpit becoming a mouthpiece for the Pharisees of his generation. Using religious leaders as tools for political gain is no less reprehensible. And the notion religious principles support such an act is simply ridiculous.I suspect the majority of the faith community’s leaders are too caught up in the president’s grandiose ideas to appreciate the hypocrisy lurking beneath the surface. Or perhaps they fear being caricaturized as sinful heathens for disagreeing.  Whatever the reason, one thing remains certain. The religious community has forgotten the arbiter of moral imperatives is not the idol they have made out of government policy, but rather a higher power that does not abide exploitation.They would do well to remember, before someone cracks a whip over their heads to drive them out.Linnie Leavines is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Central City. Follow her on Twitter @TDR_lleavines.—-Contact Linnie Leavines at [email protected]