Rowan County Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, claims the right to conduct her government elected official
job duties and responsibilities according to the dictates of her religion and “God’s
authority.”
Forget about the law; the United
States Constitution, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection clause, and the
US Supreme Court.
She’s on a mission from God.
She doesn’t think that gays have the
right to marry -- it’s against her Christian religious beliefs -- and
therefore, by God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost, she’s no longer going to perform
her job duties as county clerk. Ever since SCOTUS decided a few months ago that
marriage is a civil right, she will not issue and record marriage licenses for
any couples, whether they’re gay or straight.
She recited this sworn oath
when elected: "I do
solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and
the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and be faithful and true to the
Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue a citizen thereof, and that I
will faithfully execute, to the best of my ability, the office of [Rowan County
Clerk] according to law... so help me God."
So she took a solemn oath calling
upon her God to help her uphold the Constitution and the law, but is violating
that oath now based on what she claims is God’s authority. She doesn’t want God’s
help anymore as far as her government job duties are concerned. That oath
obviously meant nothing to her – not when it comes to her legal obligation to
issue marriage licenses..
Let’s get one thing straight from the
get go: I have read the Bible several times from cover to cover and not once
did God or Jesus Christ ever say a single word about gay marriage. God said
that homosexuality is a sin, but so are adultery, fornication, masturbation,
and dozens of other sins.
Yet this woman, who has been married
four times and divorced three; who gave birth to twins fathered by her third
husband five months after divorcing her first husband, and adopted by her
second husband, thinks it’s OK to deny marriage licenses to gays based upon God’s
authority.
Of course, this begs the question:
Why isn’t she denying marriage licenses based upon God’s authority to all the
other sinners in Rowan County, including her? She’s committed adultery,
fornication and God knows what else in her sordid life. Why does she think that
she has the right to be married but that gays do not?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because this
is not about her religion at all; it’s not about freedom of religion; it’s not
about freedom of conscience; far from it – it’s all about Kim Davis being a
card carrying homophobe and a deluded, neurotic irrational religious bigot.
“Some people have said I should resign, but I have done
my job well,”
declared the homophobe. “It
is a Heaven or Hell decision.” She won’t
resign.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told
Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the
licenses. He stated
that he had no choice but to jail her for contempt after she insisted that her "conscience
will not allow" her to follow federal court rulings on gay marriage.
He bent over backward to keep her out of jail or to punish
her at all for that matter if only she would agree not to interfere with her
deputy clerks issuing the licenses, but she refused.
She fancies herself a martyr. Her lawyer compares her
willingness to accept imprisonment to what Martin Luther King Jr. did to
advance civil rights, saying: "everyone should lament and mourn the
fact that her freedom has been taken away for what she believes."
Nonsense!
This lady isn’t being punished for what she believes. It’s
not about religion. Her First Amendment rights aren’t violated. She didn’t have
to be punished at all. No one is forcing her to issue marriage licenses to
gays, certainly not the judge.
But she refused to promise not to interfere with her
deputies issuing the licenses in accordance with the law. She’s violated her
sworn oath of office. She’s violated the Constitution and the civil rights of
both gays and straights in her jurisdiction. That’s why she’s in jail.
Predictably though, several of the 17 GOP presidential
hopefuls, including Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and Rand Paul have
rushed to her defense.
"I think it's absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their
religious liberty," said the little mouse, Rand Paul. "I think
this is a real mistake." Huckabee has scheduled a rally for Davis in
Kentucky. "The Supreme Court is
not the supreme branch and it's certainly not the Supreme Being," he
declared.
In short, these candidates believe that their religious
extremism trumps the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America.
That alone disqualifies them from holding the office of president.
Just like with Kim Davis, they are not inclined to
observe the oath of office.
They’re on a mission from God.
Timothy,
ReplyDeleteYou ask: "Why isn't she denying marriage licenses based upon God's authority to all the other sinners in Rowan County, including her? "
In fact, she was doing exactly that. She was refusing to issue, or allow her deputy clerks issue, marriage licenses at all.
Personally I consider the central matter to be not her personal bigotry, but her megalomania -- the idea that, having discerned "God's authority," she has a legitimate power to enforce that authority on the taxpayers who cough up her $80k per year salary, by not doing the job she's paid to do.
I have one alternative theory to explain her actions, and have heard yet a third.
My theory is that what's more important to her than her beliefs on same-sex marriage is her belief that she'll soon be knocking down big bucks on the lecture circuit, perhaps making more on a book deal, etc. If she can rake in $1.6 million from her grandstanding, that's the equivalent of 20 years of actually doing her job.
The alternative theory I've heard is that she's just doing this because she knows Republicans will hop to her aid and, being a Democrat, her aim is to make them look like bigoted idiots. I think that theory is kind of marginal, but not impossible.
I agree with your first theory. She's doing this for the attention she's getting. Too bad that the politicians who support her, including the faux libertarian mouse, are going to go down the tubes. It's a good way to winnow down the list. Trump triumphs again! He doesn't pander to the religious morons.
DeleteWho's "the faux libertarian mouse?" Rand Paul?
DeleteNot sure I get the last sentence. Are all religious people morons?
Yes, Paul is the mouse.
DeleteNo; the person I love most in this world is religious and she's not a moron. The morons are those who think they have the right to impose religion on me.