The president’s party never met a law it didn’t want to ignore—until Kim Davis came along. Now, after years of swatting away legal statutes like political gnats, liberals are suddenly demanding that Christians respect the process they’ve spent the last several years dismissing. Keep in mind this is the administration that gave us Attorney General Eric “In contempt of Congress” Holder and Lois “I plead the 5th” Lerner.” Both followed the example of President Obama who refused to enforce the Federal Defense of Marriage Act because he thought it was unconstitutional.
For an administration synonymous with “lawlessness,” this sudden call to play by the rules is as comical as it is hypocritical. As columnist Cameron Smith quipped, “It’s nice to see so many Democrats and liberals produce eloquent remarks and social media posts about America being a nation of laws. I knew it was only a matter of time until they came around.”
After bypassing Congress on illegal amnesty, ObamaCare subsidies and exemptions, abortion policy, executive appointments, IRS targeting, and religious censorship, who are liberals to lecture about executing the law? Asked about the controversy, the same White House that openly defied the federal marriage statute insisted, “No public official is above the law.” No one, apparently, except the President.
Others are saying Kim Davis is trying to impose her religious views on the rest of society. Kim Davis isn’t imposing the law—she’s opposing it. And according to the Bill of Rights, she is well within her boundaries to do so. Kim isn’t ordering her office to stop issuing marriage licenses permanently. She’s simply asked that, as a Christian with strong religious convictions, her name no longer appear on them. And for that, she was jailed.
On her first day back at work this morning, Kim choked back tears. “I am here before you this morning with a seemingly impossible choice, which I do not wish on any of my fellow Americans,” she said. “My conscience or my freedom.” Kim is trying to do her duty to Kentucky and God. And in a nation with a robust First Amendment, those goals should not be mutually exclusive. (Princeton’s Robbie George spoke eloquently to this while I filled in for Bill Bennett on “Morning in America” today.)
“Some on the Left say that you must do every aspect of your job, despite your beliefs, or resign,” Heritage’s Ryan Anderson wrote in the New York Times. “But this has never been the practice in the United States. We have a rich history of accommodating conscientious objectors in a variety of settings, including government employees. Do we really want to say that an otherwise competent employee must quit or go to jail if there is another alternative?” When a Muslim flight attendant was suspended for not serving alcohol on a plane, she was not only treated with sympathy and respect—but quickly reinstated. Why the accommodation for her and not Kim Davis?
“If a Christian has to sign marriage licenses for same-sex couples—or bake cakes for their weddings—why shouldn’t a Muslim flight attendant have to serve cocktails?” Julia Duin asked. Good question. If Governor Steve Beshear (D-Ky.) can take the words “husband” and “bride” off marriage licenses, why not Kim Davis’s name? For now, she—and Americans like her—wait anxiously to exercise the same freedom of belief the other side already enjoys. Drawing strength from Kim, clerks and magistrates across Alabama, Oregon, Mississippi, and Texas continue to hold the line on religious freedom, as the march to strip Christians of their rights moves to other states.
In honor of that courage, FRC is proud to announce that we’ll be presenting our second “Cost of Discipleship Award” to Kim at next week’s Values Voter Summit. One year after we honored a mother imprisoned for her faith in Sudan, no one imagined an American woman would be next. On Friday night, we’ll not only praise Kim for her stance but pray for the nation we’ve become. Don’t miss your chance to support Kim in her first national speaking appearance since being jailed for her beliefs. Visit valuesvotersummit.org to register—and applaud Kim, Kentucky Clerk Casey Davis, Aaron and Melissa Klein, Chaplain Wes Modder, and other heroes of the faith in person!
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