Godless Marriage Licenses
Kentucky Clerk of Courts Kim Davis has been in the news for the past week or so because despite the Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states she has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples citing her religious beliefs. She has claimed that "God's Authority" trumps the federal courts who have ordered her to issue these marriage licenses.
Davis's religious rights argument doesn't hold up to any sort of scrutiny, but not for the fact that she herself has been divorced several times and has had children out of wedlock. No, those facts make her a hypocrite, but they don't disprove her argument. What disproves her argument is that state-granted marriage licenses are decidedly anti-Christian in and of themselves.
I will grant that the Bible defines marriage as one man and one woman, but nowhere does it say in the good book that marriage is between one man and one woman so long as the government says it's alright. This is the state usurping "God's Authority" and putting itself above God by declaring that only the state may sanction marriage, and God is just along for the ride. Any priest, reverend, or what have you talking about the power vested in them by the state of X is blaspheming grossly before their congregation. In this respect Kim Davis is also committing blasphemy by issuing any marriage licenses whatsoever. By doing so she is saying that the Commonwealth of Kentucky, of which she is a part, is above God. She is saying that she herself is above God. What greater blasphemy is there than this?
Simply put, one cannot refuse to grant marriage licenses to certain people on religious grounds when those same religious grounds demand that you grant marriage licenses to nobody. If Kim Davis were sincere in her religious beliefs she would resign her post as Kentucky Clerk of Courts and declare that neither she nor the Commonwealth of Kentucky have the power to license anybody's marriage, and that only God can license a marriage.
Despite all of this hypocrisy, blasphemy, and all around nonsense, I still think the real scandal here is that Kim Davis is paid $80k a year for her job as Clerk of Courts. That's a nice racket the Kentucky government has going for useless bureaucrats.