President Obama took a quick break to meet NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson at the White House on Wednesday but he once again spent most of his day trying to rally public support for his health care reforms. This time he took his message to a number of faith- based groups via a live conference all that was also simulcast on the Internet by the website faithforhealth.org.

According to the unusual events organizers more than 140,000 people took part in the call.

Once again Obama appealed for the help of the people to spread the message about his plans and to help him dispel false rumors that are he says are swirling around the issue. “I need you to knock on doors, talk to neighbors, spread the facts and speak the truth,” he said.

“This debate over health care goes to the heart of who we are as a people,” he continued. “I believe that nobody in America should be denied basic health care because he or she lacks health insurance.”

President Obama took no questions during the conference call so faced no actual opposition to his statements. He was in essence preaching to the converted.

Once again he chose to address the question of the so called “death panels” controversy, an issue essentially started by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in a personal Facebook post made a few weeks ago. The question about the provision in the House legislation has been dogging the President ever since.

“That is just an extraordinary lie,” he stated, explaining once again that the provision was simply a way that Medicare would reimburse a person who sought voluntary counseling  on such matters as how to set up a living will and other “end of life” documentation.

Obama, who is himself a lawyer who studied at Harvard University, said “It gives an option that people who can afford fancy lawyers already experience”.

A visit to the faithforhealth.org website on Thursday reveals an announcement encouraging people to participate in a “40 Days for Healthcare” project which asks people of all faiths to sign a pledge to commit themselves to spending the next 40 days “writing my representatives, attending events, and telling my friends about our efforts to make the faith community a positive force for health care reform.”

Before the call Obama’s director of public policy Melody Barnes spoke once again about the President’s continuing commitment to public health care but she did add that he was “open to other ideas.”