Kim Davis (marriage license clerk) Aug 5^th

I’m not sure it was necessary to add “marriage license clerk” to Kim Davis to identify her; she has become one of the few modern women to become famous for refusing to obey a law that required them to do something that their conscience prohibited. She has refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples as required by law.  She is now in the Ashland County, Kentucky, jail, put there by Judge Bunning a G.W. Bush appointee who put her there for refusing to issue the marriage licenses. He also declares that he, himself, is opposed to gay marriage but it is now the law, and he insists that clerk Davis obey the law or remain in jail.

The clerk has had some notable supporters: Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister claimed that he planned to visit her in jail. Rand Paul, a Libertarian supports her position as do others. Some do not: Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump have all maintained that SCOTUS has spoken and we should abide by their decision.

There is a certain inconsistency here. Ms. Davis has a rather novel marital past for someone professing a compelling belief in Biblical values. I will try to recap the plays and players: Kim was married to “A” but has an affair with “B” and becomes pregnant with twins, then divorces “A.” After giving birth to the twins she marries “C” who agrees to adopt the children. She then divorces “C” and marries “B” the father of the twins whom she also subsequently divorces. She is now married to “D.” She has been divorced three times and married four times. When this interesting background is mentioned her legal counsel is quick to point out that all this happened before she became a Christian and therefore shouldn’t “count.” But wait, there’s more: During Kim’s various peregrinations, when her attorney claims she wasn’t a Christian, she was, in fact, a Baptist. Indeed her first three marriages were all performed in Baptist churches and by Baptist ministers. Her most recent marriage was performed by a judge. That her attorney claims she wasn’t a Christian when she was a Baptist will not sit well with many Baptists who would otherwise support her position.

What do we do about this? We’ve faced it before when SCOTUS decided that inter-racial marriage was permitted. Surely there were clerks then who thought it was Biblically incorrect to license those marriages. If your religion teaches that you can have more than one wife at a time you cannot practice that aspect of your religion openly without going to jail. In short, if your religious beliefs require you to act in conflict with federal law and you follow those beliefs you will go to jail and that is just what has happened to Kim Davis. You are free to practice your religion in this country as long as the practicing of it doesn’t violate the law.