Early Tuesday afternoon, Kim Davis was released from jail, cheered on by a crowd of cross-wielding zealots that supported her decision to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses to couples that recently just obtained said right under a federal law passed in June.
For those unfamiliar with the story, here’s a simplified version: Davis, a Democratic deputy clerk from Rowan County, Kentucky, was arrested after she refused to hand out the marriage licenses to same-sex couples because it goes against her beliefs as a Christian.
Cue ensuing firestorm.
So what is the main issue with this story, you might ask? Well, in reality, there are two.
The first is that people, including Davis herself, are seeing her jailing as “martyrdom” for a cause, which is the supposed “War on Christianity” here in the United States. The second is the fact that she refused to properly carry out her job duties as an employee of the United States government.
First things first: people who are seeing her imprisonment as evidence that there is a war on Christianity here in the United States have clearly never experienced real persecution for their faith. But this feeling is not only being adopted by some moronic citizens of this country, but also by its even more foolish leaders like former governor of Arkansas and current presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee.
“I’m not willing to spend one day under the tyranny of people that believe they can take our freedom away,” Huckabee said.
Really? Tyranny? Out of the hundreds of thousands of words that comprise the lexicon of the English language, that is the word that Huckabee chose to describe the religious situation of Christianity in America? If one were to describe a situation as being “tyrannical,” it would probably fall under a category in which one group of people led by blind religious idolatry embarked on a genocidal campaign across two continents and over the span of several centuries to reclaim an area that was never really theirs to begin with. Tyranny does not exist when your rights remain completely unchanged.
Moreover, what freedom is Huckabee talking about? If anything, refusing to grant the right of marriage to lawful citizens of this country is truly taking away freedom, not the other way around. By not ensuring that federal laws are properly administered, Davis and her supporters are becoming the tyrannical people that Huckabee idiotically claimed were taking away his
own freedom.
Secondly, Davis still refused to properly carry out her duties as a representative of the United States government. Though she may be a Christian, she is first and foremost an elected official who should not let her religious ideals blind her from her responsibility to the people of
Rowan County.
Whether or not Davis wants to agree with the lifestyle of homosexual individuals, she has to ensure that they are given full equality under the law. If she fails to do this after being released, then she should be sentenced to prison to send a message that regardless of whatever hateful rhetoric you may believe in, you are not above the law. Then replace her with someone who is willing to comply with it.
Jonathon Kline
Jonathon is a sophomore majoring in history and minoring in journalism. He joined the Statesman in the fall of his freshman year after walking past the information booth for the Statesman during the involvement fair, and has been writing for the opinions section ever since. After graduation Jonathon hope to pursue a career either as an investigatve journalist or in law enforcement.
In America, we do not people in prison for not doing their job, or for having different beliefs or opinions. This was a clear over reaction and other more rational options should have been pursued. Secondly, in your sixth paragraph it appears that you make a distinction over degrees of persecution. I suppose it depends on which side of the argument one is on. Your last paragraph indicates that you would feel very comfortable living in a totalitarian state, perhaps even North Korea. Again, depending on which side of the argument you’re on.