{"id":26219,"date":"2015-09-08T09:24:36","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T15:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=26219"},"modified":"2015-09-08T09:24:36","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T15:24:36","slug":"what-about-kim-davis-that-kentucky-county-clerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2015\/09\/what-about-kim-davis-that-kentucky-county-clerk.html","title":{"rendered":"What about Kim Davis, that Kentucky county clerk?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Parks<\/a>
Rosa Parks, with Martin Luther King, Jr. (ca. 1955)
There are, of course, cases where civil disobedience is morally obligatory, where \u201cdisobedience to tyrants is obedience to God.\u201d But they\u2019re very few and far between, and they represent cases of last resort. Otherwise, the rule of law is threatened, and anarchy will prove worse than all but the most severe and extreme oppression.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kim Davis is, you may recall, an Evangelical government official for Rowan County, Kentucky, who\u2019s sitting in jail right now for her refusal to grant same-sex marriage licenses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a deafening public outcry \u2014 I believe somebody may once have asked, anyway \u2014 demanding to hear what I<\/em> think about this matter, so here are a few quick thoughts:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As some very careful readers of this blog may have noticed, I\u2019m opposed to same-sex marriage and believe that the Supreme Court exceeded its authority in several ways by setting out fundamentally to redefine an institution that is logically and chronologically prior to the State.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, as an officer of the government, Kim Davis\u2019s\u00a0duty is to carry out the law \u2014 or, if she can\u2019t do so in good conscience, to step aside. \u00a0That probably means resignation, unless some way can be found by which others in the office take over the issuing of\u00a0such licenses while she attends to her other clerkly responsibilities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t have the liberty, as a government official, to pick and choose which laws she will enforce or obey.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those on the Left who are incensed at Kim Davis\u2019s\u00a0failure to issue same-sex marriage licenses, in violation of the law, should probably be asked to explain why they weren\u2019t similarly incensed when Gavin Newsom, while serving as mayor of San Francisco \u2014 he\u2019s currently lieutenant governor of the formerly great state of California \u2014 performed, or allowed to be performed, 6000 same-sex marriages in violation of what was then the law.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And why aren\u2019t they bothered by the Obama administration\u2019s selective enforcement of immigration law, by the existence of \u201csanctuary cities\u201d where Federal immigration law is (for all practical purposes) suspended, and by the Obama Justice Department\u2019s past refusal to carry out its mandated government role by defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Selective outrage loses much of its moral force, and flagrant inconsistency lowers the credibility of those expressing indignation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Obliging government officials to act in ways that violate their most fundamental beliefs is, or should be seen as, rather problematic. \u00a0Creating a situation in which, potentially at least, several large sectors\u00a0of American public office are effectively off-limits to citizens who are committed Evangelical Christians, believing Latter-day Saints, orthodox Jews, and the like, unless they\u2019re ready to assist in acts that outrage their consciences, seems intuitively but obviously wrong to me. \u00a0At least, it\u2019s something that should be minimized. \u00a0It\u2019s a path to social strife and fragmentation, and isn\u2019t remotely healthy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, of course, there are not a few people on the secular Left who would be entirely at peace\u00a0with just such a situation. \u00a0They don\u2019t particularly welcome the involvement of\u00a0conservative religious believers in public life<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a white Evangelical from Appalachia, Kim Davis belongs to what may well be the demographic sector that America\u2019s cultural elites most despise. \u00a0(You may have heard the Austrian-American sociologist Peter Berger\u2019s quip in which, having contrasted secular Sweden with religious India, he described the United States as a nation of Indians governed by Swedes.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that some compromise could have been worked out, or could yet be worked out. \u00a0What the law in such cases calls \u201ca reasonable accommodation.\u201d \u00a0And I\u2019m talking about compromise on both sides, at least potentially. \u00a0There\u2019s a case<\/a> in the news right now of a Muslim flight attendant who\u2019s been fired for refusing to serve alcohol to passengers. \u00a0She had functioned for at least two months by having other flight attendants serve requested alcoholic drinks, and now the matter is going to the courts, to see whether an accommodation can be established.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mormon flight attendants routinely serve alcohol, coffee, and tea, but some interpretations of Islamic law prohibit Muslims from serving food and drink that contravene its principles.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure \u2014 given the triumphant intolerance that I\u2019ve been observing among supporters of same-sex marriage \u2014 that those who despise Kim Davis and her ilk would be willing<\/em> to allow a compromise with her. \u00a0They\u2019ve been giving no quarter since long before Obergefell v. Hodges came down.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some on the Left seem, for the reason that I suggested above, to take positive glee in Kim Davis\u2019s being sent to jail. \u00a0But having her languish in a jail cell seems ridiculously excessive to me. \u00a0Is she really a menace to society, such that she has to be physically locked up? \u00a0Aren\u2019t our prisons supposed to be overly full?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, I\u2019m told, she was imprisoned without bail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t checked his facts and I\u2019m not a wildly enthusiastic fan, but, if he\u2019s right, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee made a really acute observation a day or two ago when he pointed out that even famous serial killers<\/em> have historically gotten bail: \u00a0http:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/livewire\/mike-huckabee-serial-killers-kim-davis<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t she have simply been fired? \u00a0Or, as the relevant expression in this case goes, impeached? \u00a0Couldn\u2019t she have been placed on administrative leave until the situation was worked out?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Kim Davis is, you may recall, an Evangelical government official for Rowan County, Kentucky, who\u2019s sitting in jail right now for her refusal to grant same-sex marriage licenses. \u00a0 There\u2019s been a deafening public outcry \u2014 I believe somebody may once have asked, anyway \u2014 demanding to hear what I think about this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat about Kim Davis, that Kentucky county clerk?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Kim Davis is, you may recall, an Evangelical government official for Rowan County, Kentucky, who's sitting in jail right now for her refusal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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