Barack Obama has urged people of faith to knock on doors and spread the facts and truth about health care reform during a "40 Minutes for Heath Care Reform" call-in and webcast.

The National Health Service has continued to take a bashing in the USA, says Giles Fraser. The outrage of the religious right is fuelled by ignorance and prejudice, he argues.

Chaplaincy teams in the National Health Service are good value and bring added benefits and resources to clinical treatment, say health specialists responding to a call to stop their official funding.

Health is not is not a reductionist industrial process, says Stephen G. Wright. It is about attending to deep human, relational and spiritual needs. This is what NHS chaplaincy is about.

A secularist call for an end to taxpayer funding for the NHS chaplaincy service has been described as "erroneous and simplistic" by Unite, the largest union in the country.

A service at Westminster Abbey has been held to mark the 60th anniversary of the National Health Service. During the event the Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute describing it as the "noblest manifestation of the character of our country".

Chaplains in the public sphere can play an important role in offering spiritual and pastoral support, says Andrew Copson. But they must be open to all, including the non-religious, who are unfairly marginalised in current arrangements.

We need to ask deeper questions about the 'punishment and reward' theology of targets, markets and excellence that has come to dominate health policy, suggests Savi Hensman.