Kim of Arc

Guest Post by Gayle

As a person who takes Christianity pretty seriously, I have been following with some interest the Kim Davis episode. As you recall, she is the county clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky, who was jailed for her repeated refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of the Bible’s stance on homosexuality. She defied several court orders and was eventually incarcerated for contempt of court. She was released today after six grueling days behind bars because her deputy clerks have been satisfactorily issuing marriage licenses to all comers.

I don’t know if she intended to become a cause celebre, but I suspect so. Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz were there at her release, claiming she was a hero for standing firm in her faith and for submitting to the tyranny of the judiciary. A crowd of supporters sang “God Bless America.” Why do I find this spectacle revolting?

Allow me to digress just a bit. Somewhere in my young years I was regularly led in a prayer that contained the phrase “…keeping me unspotted from the world.” I was never quite sure what it meant, but I finally settled on the fact that it meant my faith should be humble enough that people wouldn’t be able to see, or “spot” it in me. Apparently I had already encountered some showy Christians and didn’t care for the spectacle. Years later my mother corrected me by explaining it meant asking to be uncontaminated by the unbelieving world. I still kind of like my own interpretation, which leads me back to Mrs. Davis.

I think if Kim Davis was really interested in being true to her faith, and was really committed to sacrificing for it, she would have quietly resigned from her $80,000 a year position (Her profound faith in Christ would include the doctrine that he provides for and cares for his own, especially when they have sacrificed a great deal out of devotion to him.) If she could no longer perform the duties she agreed to because of conflict with her religious beliefs, she could have also quietly waited to be fired.

If others asked why she was taking these steps, she could explain. She could have even let deputy clerks sign the marriage certificates in question, but apparently she felt she had a point to make and was committed to making it. She could have stood by her faith convictions and sacrificed her job for them, and she would have remained “unspotted from the world.” Instead, she presents as a judgmental, self-righteous Pharisee who has politicians fawning over her and people singing patriotic songs on her behalf on cable news.

It is possible she is naïve and the attention from the press and politicos swept her up in a wave of foolishness. If so, perhaps she will learn something from the experience.

The tension between freedom to practice one’s faith and the dictates of law and society has always been with us. Christians aren’t the only group to experience discrimination in a public arena, and this surely won’t be the last case we hear about in the years ahead. A while ago I wrote a post contrasting good and bad kinds of mercy. I am reminded of that as I consider good resistance and bad resistance. Standing for faith without pointing fingers at the sinners does far more good for the cause of Christ.

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Maggie
Maggie

I was having a difficult time with this issue and found myself hard pressed to explain why… you have nailed it on the head, Gayle.

One time, when I was in college, I was the last one in a lecture hall taking a final exam on a Friday afternoon before Christmas break and when I had turned in my exam, I took my notebooks from under my desk and noticed a wallet on the floor beneath my chair. I picked it up and found inside one key to car, one driver’s license (out of state) and $120 in cash.

Since I’d already turned in my exam, the TA had already left and I carried the wallet with me as I left the building, hoping to run into someone who seemed to be in authority. Within a few seconds, a parking lot attendant came along, checking the vehicles parked in the lot to give the last few Holiday Greeting tickets to students illegally parked in the campus lot without valid parking stickers. I explained my dilemma and he reached for the wallet just a bit too quickly for my liking, since I realized he was just one of the sports team members given one of the easy jobs on campus to pad his already generous scholarship, and, as such… he had no integrity to begin with, much less with an untraceable $120 in his hand.

So, I trudged to the real campus police office and explained the situation to the clerk at the desk. Then, I suggested that he call the student while I was there and that we would open the wallet together and count the money, report the amount to the student via telephone and I would then leave. The clerk didn’t particularly like that idea, but I can be pretty pushy when I know I’m right. So, after recounting the money and talking to a very relieved young lady from Kansas who’d been wondering how she was going to get home for Christmas, I left the wallet with the clerk and drove myself home to my family.

Over the holiday, I told my father about the act of selfless goodness I’d performed, telling him that you only know you have done something worthwhile if you do it when no one is watching. And my father, being the wiseass from whom I got my trait, said, “Except that you felt the need to brag about it to me, so it is no longer a selfless act. You ruined it.”

Damn. That’s it… she had to go and turn her religious conviction into a media circus. If you really have faith, you don’t need to proclaim it. It just shows up.

Maggie
Maggie

Except by the time I wrote that… I seem to be alone here. What gives?

Maggie
Maggie

Never mind. I had a moment.

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Dutchman
Dutchman

The law said any two people of the opposite sex could get married.

The fags and dykes somehow managed to interject ‘their preference’. We’ve been scammed.

Same for the schools and sports – you’re either XY or XX. That’s it.

TC
TC

Couldn’t have said it better Gayle. Read somewhere that this lady has been married 4 times, so I guess she picks and chooses which parts of the Christian doctrine to subscribe. All this in your face LGBT sideshow drama is nothing but BS anyway. The real outrage here ought to be that this lady gets paid $80k/year (plus nice bennies no doubt) to put the guv’mint’s rubber stamp of approval on pieces of paper…

yahsure
yahsure

Yes,I was thinking it should have been a private decision.
Not mentioned is the Republican candidates and their alienating any possible voters who disagree with this kind of thinking. I guess Cruz and Huckabee never stood a chance anyways.

Gayle
Gayle

T4C

“Grueling” was attempt at mild sarcasm.

Repair_Man_Jack
Repair_Man_Jack

You do realize dubbing her Kim of Arc was perhaps premature…

http://theweek.com/articles/575247/burn-kim-davis

Michael Brendon Daugherty is willing to make it official!

TE
TE

This nation has become absolutely ridiculous.

We should all get over ourselves and insist, no demand, that the cries of the butthurt stop.

From ALL sides.

The issue as I see it, is that she is an overpaid public employee that doesn’t agree with a/the law so chooses to defy it. Meanwhile, as the clerk she is probably assisting with the outright theft of citizen’s property, but THAT doesn’t offend her sensibilities one iota.

What if all public employees, hell, all employees, are able to decide – based solely on “feelings” or “beliefs” – whether or not they can/should a job and base it on whatever they choose?

Could Jewish food inspectors could choose to stop approving pork or shellfish? Could skinny social security agents deny fat people benefits? Can lesbians refuse to process heterosexual adoptions?

Where do the “rights” of OUR employees start and stop?

I know what I was taught, of course I’ve never worked a union job because of it, but I was taught that my “rights” are to be paid what I was promised for doing the job my boss tells me to do.

Another non-hero elevated to sainthood in the insanity of our upcoming collapse.

Get the damned government OUT of our personal contracts, quit demanding that Caesar approve of your God and belief systems. I know this will never happen, humans are way too easily compelled into the team belief/behavior.

AnarchoPagan
AnarchoPagan

An atheist defends Kim Davis:

Kim Davis, the 49 year old clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, has been the subject of much discussion as of late. Kim made headlines when she defied the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling from April, by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Davis cites her religious convictions as the reason for her refusal, and for ordering her underlings to refuse.

For this she was held in contempt, and jailed by U.S. District Judge David Bunning.

I don’t take any particular pleasure in standing up for religious people. I have an extra special aversion to standing up for government bureaucrats. I don’t think “gay marriage” should be a political issue, because I don’t think relationships should require licenses. But unfortunately, the anti-human left, the people who think so much of democracy until their opinions are unpopular, have circumvented every concept of law and justice in the history of mankind, to persecute Kim Davis. Jailing her was an extraordinary measure designed to do a single thing – to terrorize America’s religious majority.

I know it’s a bit much to ask if you follow the news at all, but let us pretend for a moment that America had an honest legal system based around a constitution. Let us pretend that the constitution were not a “living breathing document” but rather a set of laws which changed only by amendment. You know, sort of like what Americans were promised by the people who wrote it.

If such a legal system were to exist, we would not be having this discussion. Marriage is mentioned nowhere in the constitution, and the constitution grants no powers to the federal government that are not mentioned in the constitution. So while everyone is certainly entitled to any opinions on marriage one likes, it being a “constitutional right” isn’t an idea based in reality or US law.

As Justice John Roberts wrote in his dissent in Obergefell:
“If you are among the many Americans—of whatever sexual orientation—who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision. Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”

But the case of Kim Davis does involve a constitution. The constitution of Kentucky, which 75% of Kentucky voters opted to amend in a referendum from 2004. In that amendment, same-sex marriage, or any “legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage” was specifically outlawed. You might think that terrible, you might think it unjust, you might think it tyrannical, but that is the law in Kentucky. To throw someone into a Kentucky jail for upholding it, is nothing short of an act of war by the federal government against the state of Kentucky.

Never believe a leftist who tells you they believe in democracy. The Kentucky constitution, that’s what democracy looks like. The ban on gay marriage approved by the overwhelming majority of Kentucky voters, that’s what democracy looks like. Subverting democracy and the constitutions of both Kentucky and the United States, that is lawlessness and aggression on a scale anarchism can barely even comprehend.

Some say Kim Davis should just do her job, that her religious convictions do not afford her the right to break the law. But Kim Davis did her job, and the only lawbreakers here are the federal courts. She upheld the constitution of Kentucky despite the violent threats of a belligerent judiciary drunk with power. The majority in Obergefell seized powers not designated to it by any text of the constitution nor any precedent of prior court rulings. They simply decided that gay marriage was good, and thus they would violently oppress anyone who disagreed with them.

They did so knowing it would be met with a great deal of resistance, not only from religious people, but from anyone with any regard for the constitution of the United States. So the moment that resistance presented itself, the judiciary took the most extreme measure available to it to crush that dissent, and strike fear into all who might follow her lead. Kim Davis is being held in jail, not until some sentence expires, but until she renounces her deity and conforms to the will of the court.

For anybody to call this freedom, for anybody to call this love, is beyond anything which George Orwell could possibly have imagined. Kim Davis is just the first who will be jailed over this decision. Others will follow, and before long we’ll see new discrimination suits against private interests as well, not dissimilar to the infamous gay wedding cake case. Before long, it will be the churches themselves on trial. Libertarians ought not celebrate religious persecution. Atheists ought not celebrate rampant violence and irrationality.

Some paint Kim Davis as a martyr, some as a demon, but she is neither. She is just a lowly bureaucrat, and whatever crimes she may stand guilty of for extracting her sustenance from taxpayers, that is not what she sits in jail for today. She sits in jail for upholding the law, and for anybody who is under the impression that the law exists to protect them, this should come as horrifying news.

http://christophercantwell.com/2015/09/05/the-religious-persecution-of-kim-davis/

Westcoaster
Westcoaster

I’m with the Libertarian crowd that believes the gov has no business making a marriage “official” in the first place, but this woman should have been fired for refusing to do her job, period. Of course KY has some backwards laws and it takes the legislature to fire a county clerk, so that’s a toejam football. Too bad she wasn’t black, then Al Sharpton would have had an excuse to show up for the circus.

SSS

‘If she could no longer perform the duties she agreed to because of conflict with her religious beliefs, she could have also quietly waited to be fired.”
—-Gayle, in her article

Firing her is not an option, Gayle. She’s an elected official. She 1) can be impeached by the Kentucky state legislature, 2) can be voted out of office, or 3) can resign. That’s it.

Federal judge David Bunning should have found her guilty of contempt of court, which he did, ordered her to be arrested and jailed, which he did, and then put a STAY on his arrest order, which he did not do. Voila! Kim Davis disappears from the headlines until this mess is further sorted out in the federal court system.

Gayle
Gayle

SSS

Since she had no fear of being fired, and little fear of being impeached, she undoubtedly had confidence her actions would not cost her her job. She probably feels that she won a victory of sorts by taking her stand, well worth the 6 days in jail.

Anonymous
Anonymous

The very first thing done with the Bill of Rights is to ban government from making law establishing religions one way or the other and the second thing done was to forbid government preventing anyone from lining according to their religion.

So why does it seem so very important to some, particularly those in positions of great power in government, to force Christians to violate their religious beliefs and act in direct opposition to them?

FWIW, there is no law in Kentucky establishing same sex marriage, nor is there on on the Federal level. This is nothing but a dictate from the Supreme Court that lies outside of its Constitutionally established powers.

constman54
constman54

Please explain why I need a license to get married? I did get one, but with what I know now I would refuse a marriage license. My marriage is between me, my wife and God.

Also CHRISTIANS beware. Any “law” you make to “fix” this will come back to BITE YOU BIG.

B
B

“Separation of Church and State” That Taliban of a clerk is the epitome of why we need it.

JoeStalinIsMyGodILoveHim
JoeStalinIsMyGodILoveHim

Sure Gayle, quit without a fight. Slink off into the shadows and let the quears own the field. That’s a great strategy – and why you worshippers of the invisible sky god are firmly in control of the American civilization, not to mention its government.

Run and hide! Run and hide! Never take a stand. Rabbit people rule the world! (r/K selection theory.)

Or … speaking as one that worships the LORD God Most High, his Son our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, WE CAN FIGHT SPIRITUAL BATTLES WITH SPIRITUAL STRENGTH. RESIST THE DEVIL AND HE WILL FLEE.

BTW: unspotted by the world means not covered in its filth. It does not mean “no one can spot me”. GOOD GRIEF.

Francis Marion
Francis Marion

@ Westcoaster

I always thought the fags were nuts – whytf would you want the the government to recognize your marriage and control one more thing in your life??? If Christians were smart they’d stop going to the state to have their marriages rubber stamped and simply do as the Bible commands.

JoeStalinIsMyGodILoveHim
JoeStalinIsMyGodILoveHim

Oh and to the H8Rs:

CITE THE LAW KIM DAVIS VIOLATED.

Not the made up punishment vector “law”. CITE THE ORIGINAL LAW SHE VIOLATED.

You can’t. There isn’t one.

The real H8Rs are exposed and it is not Kim Davis. It is the intrinsically disordered and their deadly need for external, forced, validation — OR ELSE.

constman54
constman54

B says:
“Separation of Church and State” That Taliban of a clerk is the epitome of why we need it.

And tell me where that is in the constitution of the USA.?

Archie
Archie

Hey joe Stalin, on your name alone, take a walk dickface.

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

It’s really pretty simple. She gives the queers the marriage license and tells them “have a nice infinity in hell!”.

Gayle
Gayle

Joe Stalin

OK Kim Davis did not slink off. She stood her ground for The Lord! She showed those fags who’s boss! That is the spirit I pick up from her. Not exactly the Jesus way but what the heck, maybe she inspired a few more people to stand up instead of slinking. She managed to get herself used by both press and politics for their own profit along the way.

As a true worshiper of Jesus Christ, surely you know that the only people he condemned were the religious hypocrites, the ones busy pointing their fingers at the sins of others, which I may very well be as I point out her shortcomings.

I said clearly that the “no one can spot me” interpretation was my own youthful interpretation, nothing else. I agree with you about the intended meaning, which I also clearly stated.

You define yourself as a true worshiper of the Three Persons of the Trinity, so I sincerely ask you: how do you stand and fight against gay marriage?

James the Wanderer

I would think that since K. Davis was elected, this effort that put her in jail was a violation of election law, the governmental functions of the State of Kentucky and K. Davis’ 1st amendment rights. That should put Judge Bunning in jail for abuse of power, and possibly for judicial misconduct.
The proper response to me seems like either (1) shut up or (2) call for a new election, or wait until the next one. Since you can get a marriage license in ANY county in Kentucky, why the big deal about this one? Oh, is it the same reason that one baker (in a town full of bakers) refuses to bake a marriage cake for a gay couple, and gets hounded out of business for it?
The gay lobby is pushing for persecution of their own, and I suspect they will get it. Enough intolerance from the left, and the right will react: nothing magic about that, but nothing pleasant either. I have no great sympathy for the government bureaucrats that be, but even less for would-be dictators that push their proclivities on everyone, even those who want to be left alone.

Rainstorm
Rainstorm

If one is against a legal action, a lifestyle, an idea, etc., then they should not follow it in their private lives. If one is against homosexuality, then they should not become one.

Leave the rest of society alone.

Llpoh
Llpoh

Seems to me , as an elected official, in charge of issuing marriage licenses, she has the power and authority to do one of two things:

1) comply with the courts and issue licenses to every man woman and dog that applies, or

2) refuse to issue any, thereby not discriminating.

I wonder if the licenses issued by the duties may be null and void, as they were issued without her consent. Wouldn’t that be interesting.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Who cares? I enjoyed the Huck’s “No They Can’t” pushback. He seemed to be saying that we have to take the country back before we can make it great again.

Ms. Davis was merely trying to stick a finger in the dyke, heh, trying to bring attention to the flood of queers invading the culture. The flood of illegals is a deliberately planned misdirection in an attempt to call attention away from the fags signing up for the social security, medicare and inheritance bonanza ordinarily available only to hetero-sexual spouses.

Sure they are fags, goes the thinking: They are native-born Americans and therefore almost as saintly as the rest of the white population while illegals are brown and browns are illegal, therefore wrong in the eyes of God and all true-blue patriotic Americans. Thank God the queers have joined us in the fight against this invasion (which we instigated). Long live queerdom! Long live America the Queer. Let us hate Kim Davis for her obstruction of the change we believe in.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

I have since reconciled myself to the idea that all actors are queer until proven otherwise. I’m getting the same idea about politicos, except Rick Perry because he’s from Texas.

Neil

Unstained by the World

starfcker
starfcker

Gayle, nice piece. Well reasoned, well written, home run

Lucita
Lucita

It is true that in the end days the love of many will grow cold. Throwing stones (derogatory names) does not reflect well upon the Church. We are all being tested, and I hope that we all are counted worthy to escape the things to come. Strive to lead a simple life, mind your own business, and work with your hands so that you can be a good example to others and not overly dependent on anyone.

Lucita
Lucita

P.S. – Gayle, I enjoyed your post, and think you made some great points.

Gayle
Gayle

Thank you Lucita, Starfcker, Maggie, T4C and others.

Gayle
Gayle

Neil
I will watch the video.

NorCalFish
NorCalFish

Love your perspective Gayle, and I think you nailed it. Elected (or otherwise) public officials don’t get to pick and choose which laws they get to follow (hallelujah). If discharging her duties conflicts with her conscience, then she should resign. Which is a far more respectable place to find herself than celebrating her “freedom” with Mike Huckabee and Eye of the Tiger.

As a well-churched person (thanks mom!), I am puzzled by the assertion that making a cake for or signing a marriage license for a gay marriage means that an individual is being forced to act against the tenants of the Christian faith. He requires you to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly. I must have missed those sections of the New Testament when Jesus refused kindness, or to heal, or to associate with people because he didn’t approve of them. C’mon now

I know that the Bible very clearly states that homosexuality is wrong. But the Bible is not the document that informs public policy, and it has no place in any discussion of the laws of this country. Please, Christians, practice your faith enthusiastically. But your right to do so ends where my rights as a citizen begin.

B
B

Elected (or otherwise) public officials don’t get to pick and choose which laws they get to follow (hallelujah). Freaking exactly! You work for the government, you do what the law says. If you do not agree with the law, quit your job. You don’t keep your job and demand everyone to have the same values as you do.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

She is an elected official just like Jan Brewer. She should do her job, say some. I think she IS doing her job. If she ran for a job where she will essentially be a rubber stamp, then the job is worthless.

She felt it her duty to deny a marriage license to folks who couldn’t marry before. It’s been done. There was a time when mixed marriages were not approved, there was no license to be had.

Americans did not get all riled up, they voted on it. I’m sure naysayers predicted this would happen next. Now the naysayers will want to draw a line in the sand and attempt to cock-block the trans-species crowd.

Somebody will attempt to stop the farce and the crowd goes wild. Rinse, repeat.

NorCalFish
NorCalFish

Joe Stalin – I’m not a hater, but…she violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.

hardscrabble farmer

You know what I rarely see anymore? American flags. I used to see them everywhere. I used to fly them. Now when I do see one it is almost always associated with a State or Federal building and it is more likely than not to be flying at half mast for whatever celebrity died that week. When I do see ones flying on private property they are pretty worn out and threadbare and the thought that goes through my mind- no, more the emotion- is profound sadness. To me the United States of America, the image of the nation I was born into, whose family settled and built it, sacrificed sons for, served honorably and proudly is dead. Rearguard actions like this one serve no one. It is futile to try and cling to the memory of something you loved long after it has come to despise you. This clerk is conflicted by her need for an income and benefits and her outrage at what has happened to the place she once knew, but she has got to get past that and let them have the corpse bride. She needs to move on and join a new nation yet to be born if her sensibilites lie in that direction. Otherwise she needs to get with the program and continue to serve her new master.

Llpoh
Llpoh

HSF – nice comment. One minor quibble – it was already settled by my family before yours arrived. Just saying.

Maggie
Maggie

HSF, here in the Ozarks, the American flags are flown everywhere… and so are the Confederate flags. The county sheriff’s deputy lives a few miles down the road and flies both proudly.

There are more than hillbillies in these hills.

hardscrabble farmer

Llpoh,

You don’t need to remind me, as I’ve said before I have collected stone artifcats of the past 12,000 years since childhood. I understand who was here and when. Wasn’t it Dylan who said “you don’t need to be a weatherman to see which way the wind blows?” The passing of the races of man in succession is a fact of life on earth, I was speaking to the personal. There are no answers here, only realities that we must find a way to live with, that’s the part I try to address. If anyone can understand my perspective I would think it would be you.

James the Wanderer

Then you agree, B, that Kim Davis was right? Since Kentucky law does not include same-sex marriage and the Supreme Court was not asked to address the Ky. law but simply legislated that same-sex marriages were legal, then Ky. law covers the situation?
Nowhere in the Constitution does it even say the Supreme Court can judge STATE laws, but that has been taken as given due to the “supreme law of the land” clause. NOWHERE does it say the Supreme Court can invalidate a STATE law simply by issuing a blanket ruling; that also seems to be generally accepted. A Ky. official must obey KY law until it is changed, and it hasn’t been. So you’re on Kim’s side here, B?

NorCalFish
NorCalFish

I know I’m not B, but *waving hand wildly* I know this one!
1. Kim Davis was right? No!
2. Since KY law…blahblahblah…covers the situation? No! The Supreme Court ruling didn’t LEGALIZE gay marriage. It prohibits denying the fundamental right of marriage to people based on sexual orientation.
3. Nowhere in the Constitution does it even say…nowhere does it say the Supreme Court can invalidate a state law… James, I would like to direct you to Articles 3 and 6 of the Constitution, because that is EXACTLY what they say.

There has been much bloviating about judicial activism and overreaching of power by the Supreme Court, but, just because such things are repeated ad nauseum does not make them in any way true.

AnarchoPagan
AnarchoPagan

NorCalFish, I find your Constitutional scholarship unimpressive. Yes, the laws of the United States are supreme over state law, but the legislature of the United States is not authorized to legislate on any damn subject they please, but only in respect of the specific powers delegated in Article 1, Section 8. Not one word about marriage.

NorCalFish
NorCalFish

Anarcho, all I’ve got is “???” I didn’t reference the legislative branch, and remarkably, that pack of whores have been rather uninvolved with the recent developments around the legalization of gay marriage, and I’m not sure what your post is supposed to be demonstrating about my unimpressive Constitutional scholarship. Can you help me understand? You’ve made a leap I don’t follow.

Chicago999444
Chicago999444

I see American flags all over Chicago. They are flying from several condo buildings along the north lake front, and adorn every CTA rail car and bus. They are all over LaSalle St, and often to be seen flying from homes in the Bungalow Belt of the northwest side.

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