Payment for services rendered...

As many of you know, I am a big fan of washingtonpost.com's section called On Faith.  A posting today sparked some interesting thoughts/discussion among my roommates and myself.  According to the article, The Church of Christ, Scientist is petitioning to receive benefits under the new health care reform bill.  This proposal would provide funds for patients to partake in the services of a spiritual health specialist who receives phone calls or appointments and the services they render come in the form of prayer.  This provision was removed from the bill which passed in the house a few weeks back and the church leaders are hoping to have it inserted in the Senate version.  

Being unfamiliar with the workings of the Church of Christ, Scientist, I did as any graduate student would do, and went to the most reliable source known.  I do not intend to trivialize their beliefs but to summarize, they believe that given the absolute perfection of God, any form of sin, disease and death can not truly be real.  Healing of physical ailments therefore must come through the power of prayer and petition to God.  The church has an alternative system of health care involving nursing homes and prayer practitioners (a two-week intensive course is required to become a prayer practitioner.)  The services of the prayer practitioners often comes in the form of an idea or feeling that "God is here" and these thoughts drive out the idea of the illness.  As patients reconnect with God, healing comes naturally.  

The questions at hand are: Should taxpayer money be used to fund such religious services?  If this is the case, would they also begin funding church pastors?  Is the church looking for a way to get a slice of the pie now that the window is slightly open when it refuses to have the government involved in other ways?  Can we as the church truly separate ourselves from the state?   Do we really want to?    

Here's the entire article