In the state of Kentucky, at the moment, there is a woman languishing in jail. She has been jailed for contempt of court, but could just has easily been jailed for hypocrisy.
The woman's name is Kim Davis and she is an elected clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky who has refused to issue marriage licences since the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal in the United States. Her reason for doing so is that it goes against her Christian religious beliefs.
However, her Christian religious beliefs appear to have not interfered with her working for her mother as a Deputy Clerk for more than two decades, and apparently receiving far more salary than any of the other chief deputies.
Nor did her Christian religious beliefs prevent her from marrying multiple times, committing adultery and having illegitimate children, all of which are frowned upon in the bible.
Ms Davis has apparently been married four times, albeit to one man twice. According to the bible, marriage is a lifetime commitment. “So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate” (Matthew 19:6). Didn't stop her doing that.
Don't get me wrong, I respect her right to have principles and to stick by those principles, because the bible does say "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22), but to do so in direct defiance of the modern United States law, which I am sure she lives the rest of her life by, is wrong, and she deserves to be in jail. She has been offered the option of allowing her deputies to issue the licenses, five of whom have said that they would, and in fact have been doing so since she was locked up, but the sixth, her son (no nepotism there, then) has refused to do so. However, even from her cell, Ms Davis is claiming that they are invalid as she, the elected clerk, hasn't signed them.
So what are the options. She could resign, but I think that her religious bigotry would not allow her to do so. And the State cannot just sack her, because she is an elected official. The only the way that they can get rid of her is to impeach her, which may well be happening, as the Rowan County Attorney's Office has referred her case to the Attorney General of Kentucky's Office on the grounds of Official Misconduct.
What I find so surprising is the number of people who are jumping to her defence and supporting her, although to be fair, many of them I believe are jumping on the bandwagon as they are Republican Party Presidential hopefuls and it is only fourteen months until that election. Even if they believe that the Supreme Court's ruling is wrong, it is the law and they must abide by it.
Can you imagine the outcry if the elected clerk was a devout Muslim who refused to issue driving licences to women, or a Mormon who insisted on proof of chastity before issuing a marriage licence, all because of their religious beliefs. I very much doubt that they would get the support that this woman has.
Also, according to the bible, “You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). Didn't stop her doing that either. Apparently, she had twins who were born five months after her divorce from her first husband, but fathered by her third husband, meaning that there was another one in between! Just as well that she's a Christian, as the Old Testament says “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:10).
And this brings me on to the third thing. Her twins were fathered by a man that she was not married to and therefore were born illegitimately. The bible says about this “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:2). That's them screwed then.
And this brings me on to the third thing. Her twins were fathered by a man that she was not married to and therefore were born illegitimately. The bible says about this “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:2). That's them screwed then.
And to cap it all, this is a woman who, as an elected official, swore to
"well and truly discharge the duties of the office of Rowan County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God."
So she swore an oath to her God to "faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality". Yet when there is something that she doesn't agree with, she refuses to comply with the law that elected her, claiming to be acting "under God's authority". I don't believe that she can have it both ways.
Don't get me wrong, I respect her right to have principles and to stick by those principles, because the bible does say "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22), but to do so in direct defiance of the modern United States law, which I am sure she lives the rest of her life by, is wrong, and she deserves to be in jail. She has been offered the option of allowing her deputies to issue the licenses, five of whom have said that they would, and in fact have been doing so since she was locked up, but the sixth, her son (no nepotism there, then) has refused to do so. However, even from her cell, Ms Davis is claiming that they are invalid as she, the elected clerk, hasn't signed them.
So what are the options. She could resign, but I think that her religious bigotry would not allow her to do so. And the State cannot just sack her, because she is an elected official. The only the way that they can get rid of her is to impeach her, which may well be happening, as the Rowan County Attorney's Office has referred her case to the Attorney General of Kentucky's Office on the grounds of Official Misconduct.
What I find so surprising is the number of people who are jumping to her defence and supporting her, although to be fair, many of them I believe are jumping on the bandwagon as they are Republican Party Presidential hopefuls and it is only fourteen months until that election. Even if they believe that the Supreme Court's ruling is wrong, it is the law and they must abide by it.
Can you imagine the outcry if the elected clerk was a devout Muslim who refused to issue driving licences to women, or a Mormon who insisted on proof of chastity before issuing a marriage licence, all because of their religious beliefs. I very much doubt that they would get the support that this woman has.
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