The federal government recently told a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma to either blow out a small candle or stop serving elderly, disabled, and low-income patients. Saint Francis Health System, the twelfth largest hospital in the nation, keeps, with many prudent safeguards, a sacred candle always lit inside its hospital chapels, in accordance with its Catholic faith.

After a hospital inspection in February, the government said a single candle was too dangerous and now threatens to strip the hospital of the ability to accept Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP if it does not extinguish the flame. Becket sent a letter to the Biden administration reminding it that Saint Francis has the right to religious freedom and warning federal bureaucrats to leave the candle alone.

[I may need to amend one of my favorite jokes from my days in the burg-fire alarm biz. Q: “What’s the difference between God and a fire marshal?” A: “God doesn’t think he’s a fire marshal.” In this case, the local fire marshal has signed off on the sanctuary candle, which is no different than any other Catholic church. Sanctuary candles denote the presence of Jesus in the transubstantiated Eucharist residing in the tabernacle, just as it does for the church at St. Francis. How this became a fire hazard is hard to know, but seems of a piece with the years-long campaign against religion by HHS and its subordinate agencies.

I’ll see if I can arrange a podcast interview with Becket Law on this case. Stay tuned. — Ed]