Thursday, September 3, 2015
Move over St. Sebastian! Welcome Kim Davis, a new martyr joins the firmament
So let's see where we stand.
Rowan County clerk Kim Davis can't issue Kentucky marriage licenses to gays, even though that is her job requires it and a court has ordered her to, because God is against gays getting married, in her estimation, and being party to it would put her soul in peril.
"This is a heaven and hell issue for me and for every Christian who believes," she said, dragging a whole lot of people unwillingly into her God-made-me-intolerant camp. "I weighed the cost and I'm prepared to go to jail. I sure am."
So here is my question:
If God Himself wants her not to issue marriage licenses to gays, and she isn't doing so, to save herself from eternal perdition, then why isn't that something worth quitting your job over?
People quit their jobs over all sorts of lesser reasons: to get a higher paying job, because they were slighted when it came to raises and promotions, because they clash with a boss.
Having a duty you are ordered to perform that conflicts with the desires of the Lord God Almighty—in your own narrow, antique, fucked up notion of what religion means, that is—seems like a really good reason to turn in your resignation.
But she doesn't. Because she isn't really trying to pay respect to her own notions of faith, but to mess with the lives of people she hates. She could have been released by promising, not to issue the licenses herself, but just to refrain from stopping the other clerks, one of whom is her son, from doing so. Religion inspires many people to selfless acts of kindness, of charity, of good works, even to people different than themselves.
While to others, it's just a twist on solipsism, one more reflective surface in the hall of mirrors that is their lives. She isn't hurting innocent Kentuckians who just want to get married. She is the vessel of God, like Joan of Arc.
Now, like Joan, she is jailed. Making her a martyr for all the halfwit haters who believe right along with her. Even if she spends one night, it is the equivalent of the pyre in Rouen, at the center of the Place du Vieux-Marche. The smoke rises, the faithful are put to the test.
“Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country," Mike Huckabee, one of the throng of Republican presidential candidates, tweeted. "We must defend #ReligiousLiberty!”
Madness. We in the fact-based world must keep foremost in mind that religious factionalism is what makes so much of the planet a blood-soaked hell. If every official enforced the law based on his, or her, own perception of divine will, the world would be anarchy. That GOP leaders are cravenly backing her is near-treason, undermining our nation of laws in favor of faith-fueled anarchy.
To be a martyr, one needs to suffer. A night in jail, or two, is little cost for the leap in station Kim Davis, hero to the cause, is about to experience. The crowdfunding. The best-selling God is My Co-Pilot ghost-written autobiography recounting her Golgotha, her sufferings for her beliefs. The made-for-Christian-cable TV special. The high-paid speeches. It would seem impossible, but the Lord works in mysterious ways.
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She doesn't understand the basic principal of separation of church and state.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that many Islamic nations have their courts controlled by religious law.
Deleteshe has only been a member of this "religion" - Apostolic Church of Christ - for 4 years! if you read about it, you become as confused as they are about what they believe. like "no divorce" but. the one thing they do is only accept The King James Version of the bible. do you realize how many times it's been rewritten? I think the current version is only 1-2 years old.....
ReplyDeleteShe has no legal argument, and she knows it. Doesn't matter. If you read her oath of office, she never promised to uphold and defend the constitution.
ReplyDeleteFreedom of religion doesn't permit freedom of religious oppression. I'd prefer she be removed from her position because of her failure to perform her official duties rather than jailed, made a martyr.
ReplyDeleteThe best perspective I heard is, her being in that job is like an Amish man refusing to drive a bus. You're free to shun progress; you can't slap it away from others.
DeleteIf, the Amish man is not only refusing to drive the bus, he's taken the keys and won't let anyone else drive the bus.
DeleteOr, to borrow what somebody else already posted on Facebook, would the same people be waving the banner of religious freedom if it was a Quaker county clerk refusing to issue concealed carry permits because her religion forbids violence?
She's not refusing to drive, rather she's refusing to allow gays to ride her marriage bus. It's not about progress; it's basic discrimination and bigotry.
DeleteIt really..bothers me that she is going to end up rich off of this. It's just...everything that is awful about this rotten branch of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteI'm just so sick of these heartless individuals, and groups, who use religion as their excuse to be hateful bigots. It's no wonder so many now have turned their backs on religion as a whole, when in reality it's become the scapegoat for all the fanatics who abuse it in the name of their own warped beliefs.
ReplyDeleteP.S.-- '"This is a heaven and hell issue for me and for every Christian who believes," she said, dragging a whole lot of people unwillingly into her God-made-me-intolerant camp."
DeleteAs someone who was brought up in the Christian faith, I'm glad NS included that last part in the above sentence, since most Christians -- at least the ones I know -- haven't devolved into the realm of insanity.
I think she is scum. She should be fired. But no one should be sent to jail or prison ever, for anything. Abolish prison.
ReplyDelete“Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubts about the criminalization of Christianity in this country." What a liar that Huckleberry is. He didn't HAVE any doubts, just like he has no doubts about the world being 6,000 years old.
ReplyDeleteThe first same sex marriage licenses were issued this morning, and the county didn't disappear in hellfire and brimstone. Go figure. Her deeply held convictions in the religion she's used for only 4 years reminds me of Luke's deep belief in the Force after he's known about it for like 2 days.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with Kim Davis. She should have resigned if she could not follow the law. Nor do I think that Christianity is being persecuted in this nation. Even so, I know from my own life that I once held strongly certain opinions that I no longer share. I came to different conclusions after thinking things through and interacting with others. And so, I would extend to her the charity and hope that she will rethink the relationship between believers and government. I know that it is all too easy to think that everyone must think the same way if you are convinced that you are on the side of the angels.
ReplyDelete