I have blogged before about the “Church of Universal Coverage,” my affectionate term for those whose support for universal health insurance coverage is impervious to reason — or would be, were they to subject it to reason. I read something today that has me wondering whether the Church might be waking up to the fact that it is indeed a religion.

The July/​August 2008 issue of the journal Health Affairs contains a letter from Mitch Roob, the Indiana official who oversees Gov. Mitch Daniels’ (R) health care agenda. Roob writes:

Like other advocates for children’s health, I have an almost religious conviction that the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is effective public policy … Although I have no empirical evidence to support the assertion that SCHIP is a beneficial and effective way to invest in children’s health, I worked to expand the program … I was not able to base this expansion on empirical evidence because there is none … The lack of actual evidence of the benefits for children is simply damning to the program … Public policymakers need more than just a conviction that SCHIP works and is worthy of public investment. We need facts. [Emphasis added.]

Wow. I mean, wow.

I see three possible outcomes. One, all that cognitive dissonance causes Roob’s head to explode. Two, the Church hierarchy dispatches its goons to burn this heretic at the stake for noticing that their god has no clothes. Three, the Left decides “to hell with it,” admits that it has a religion, and files for tax-exempt status.