Humility, Hypocritical Christians and Kim Davis
By Jaime O'Neill
I have great respect for people who have the courage to stand by their principles, who are willing to go against the prevailing currents, who are willing to make sacrifices for what they believe. That respect does not extend to Kim Davis, the elected county clerk in Kentucky, the one who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples seeking them. She's in jail now, put there by a judge who found her to be in contempt of court. I think she belongs in jail.
In the eyes of some right wingers, withholding my respect from this woman is just another example of liberal hypocrisy, of a double standard they see people like me applying in cases where we disapprove of civil disobedience when it's engaged in by people whose views we don't share, but applaud when practiced by people with whom we agree.
If Kim Davis wanted to forfeit her job because she could no longer perform it in accordance with her religious views, I could respect that stance, though I don't agree with the religious views that led to her resignation.
But for this exceedingly self-righteous woman to expect that she can accept the salary for a job she is only willing to do selectively is not only unlawful in this case, but unreasonable.
Being unreasonable is not uncommon among fundamentalist religious types. These are people who believe in things unseen, who operate on "faith," not reason. And since they are, by their lights, sanctified by God in all they think and do, they can proceed accordingly, defying all other authority, and showing contempt for all other beliefs but their own. Despite the hubris implicit in such a view, guys like Mike Huckabee can conclude that the four-times-married Ms. Davis is defying the law in an act of "humility."
If, however, that government functionary wants to live her faith in ways that are inconsistent with her job, then she must forfeit the job her beliefs preclude her from doing.
That's not complicated, unless you're a zealot. Kim Davis, who found her way to her current faith just a few years ago is in the throes of zealotry often seen in new converts to faith-based fundamentalism. Her utter lack of self-doubt is plain on her face, along with her fundamentally un-Christian enthusiasm for judging others and finding them less worthy than she thinks herself to be. I have seen dozens of pictures of this woman, and what I don't see reflected in her countenance in any of those images is anything that looks like love, or agape, or any of the stuff that might seem consistent with the message Christ brought.
I do see, however, a hunger for martyrdom, the lust so many Christians (not to mention Muslims) have to feel persecuted. And it's clear that the fundamentalists of Kentucky and other places with large populations of people whose views are benighted by bad religion will rally in support of Kim Davis, will attempt to turn her into a Joan of Arkansas and Tennessee and Alabama, the Holy Mama of mega-church hustlers and politicians who think they can make hay by proclaiming the godliness of her stand.
No one is standing in the way of the views this woman holds, however. All she has to do is go home, or keep that hate in her heart, and not out on the counter that separates her from the citizens she is paid to serve without prejudice.
And, were she to do that, I could admire her willingness to live her beliefs, and to pay the price that comes with them. As it stands, however, she'll soon be awash in money from similarly bigoted "Christians" and "conservatives" who don't, apparently, believe in the rule of law, and who are rather unclear on the concepts that were once considered to be the bedrock of their faith. Love thy neighbor as thyself, judge not lest ye be judged, do unto others. Etc., etc., etc.
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