Kim Davis of Rowan County Kentucky is not only breaking the law she is also obstructing the law while providing the most recent example of why our founders thought religion had no place in government.
By invoking “God’s authority,” the county clerk has denied marriage licenses to gay couples time and again in direct defiance of the federal courts, and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail.
“It is not a light issue for me,” she said through her lawyers. “It is a heaven or hell decision.”
Some questions, why do her personal beliefs supersede what the majority through legal democratic process has established as law? The same law she swore on a bible no less, to uphold?
Her current explanation seems to originate on her personal interpretation of scripture and her personal conviction to stand for what she believes is right. She is demonstrating in a way the moral fortitude we are all supposed to show whenever we see true injustice in the world.
But why not resign?
Might it be that only Davis can save this wretched world from itself in this noble stand against the unholy repressive government that wants to take away the bigoted privilege of religion. This right-wing narrative that is drilled constantly through the media is that her only light of salvation is about to be extinguished due to sexual narcissism.
No she won’t resign, since martyrdom is part of the benefits package that religion instills along with the principle that everyone needs to abide by God’s law. You may think you have a choice but in the eyes of the born again you don’t. So by them forcing god’s law on you they are acting in the most compassionate way possible. They are saving you from their concept of damnation, you bunch of ungrateful sinners.
However this issue is not about signing orders to death camps or even post existential realms of judgement, this is about people who want to be legally recognized as married under mortal human law. Her response to this matter is disproportionate and so reeks of melodrama. Yet another dreary moan from the dying morality of people who decide values based on a metaphysical authority that is absolute.
The First Amendment has the Establishment Clause but there is also the Free Exercise Clause that protects Ms. Davis as well as defines the process for resolution when these conflicts occur. Almost as if the founders had experienced this kind of problem before.
“I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will.” her statement continued. “To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s word,”
Kim Davis has been married four times.
further reading
http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/first-amendment-and-religion
The Grasshopper 