Opinion
The Soapbox: Kim Davis’ Incredulous Hypocrisy
By Charles Dunst ’18
September 25, 2015
Despite what you may have heard, Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis, is not the “Rosa Parks” of religious freedom. Kim Davis’s $80,000 salary is paid by the U.S. government, making her a public servant. So after the Obergefell v. Hodges decision which rendered same-sex marriage legal nationwide, Davis—in her job as a county clerk—was mandated to provide marriage licenses. However, citing her “religious beliefs,” Davis refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Davis claimed that she was acting “under God’s authority.” She was jailed for contempt of court, and eventually released, despite stating that she still would not issue same-sex marriage licenses. However, she explained that she would not interfere with her deputies issuing any, as they had been doing during her time in prison after she was released.
Because the United States has a secular government, Davis is required to perform her duty as it coincides with the law of the land. As a result, her lack of willingness to marry same-sex couples is not just disrespectful, but also illegal. Not only was she unwilling to marry gay couples, but at first she barred her deputies from doing so as well. Here is where the issue lies. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee argued that she needed a “religious accommodation.” However, Davis was personally exempted from having to grant the licenses; she just needed to pass on the duties of same-sex marriage licenses to her deputies. In refusing to do this, Davis further illustrates how backwards her “religious” beliefs are.
Kim Davis illustrates the underlying hypocrisy and stupidity of the Religious Right. In denying same-sex marriage licenses, she cited service to God as her rationale. The Bible quote that anti-homosexuality is based on is “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination.” The fact that she is basing her political beliefs on a 3,000 year old book is misguided.
However, the hypocrisy she demonstrated is how she is completely willing to cherry pick certain Bible verses to follow. Davis has been married four different times. This conflicts with Luke 16:18, which explains that “Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from [her] husband committeth adultery.” How is Davis willing to base her anti-gay marriage views on the Bible, but is unwilling to base her opinions on divorce from the same source? How can she claim to preserve the “Biblical sanctity” of marriage, despite being married four times?
It is this hypocrisy that plagues the Religious Right. This group of Americans base their anti-gay marriage on the Bible, but chose to discount other Biblical rules. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich opposed gay marriage, but also divorced his cancer-stricken wife, and is now in his third marriage. So, out of the three actions described in the previous sentence, all three are written against in the Bible. Why is Gingrich able to nitpick which Bible verses he feels are acceptable? Why is it okay for conservatives to attempt to make laws based on certain religious verses, while ignoring others? If you do not believe in gay marriage, do not marry someone of the same sex. If you do not like abortion, do not get an abortion. However, do not cherry pick certain Bible verses around which you want to shape a policy for America, a secular nation.
There are two ways, in my opinion, to run a government. You can have a secular nation, or you can have a theocracy. However, Mike Huckabee and Kim Davis seem to push for something in between. Huckabee, Gingrich, Rick Santorum and other prominent Republican politicians want a certain level of Christianity to effect our government. Their diatribes are largely based on the citation of the same verses I have employed. However, they are okay with divorce, which is outlawed by the Bible; they are okay with eating fat (Leviticus 3:17); letting you hair become unkempt (Leviticus 10:6); or eating any seafood without fins or scales (Leviticus 11:10-12). The list goes on.
Religious conservatives want to theocratically enforce some laws, while ignoring others. They decry the Sharia law of the Muslim world for their theocratic governments while pushing theocratic laws at home. This hypocrisy demonstrates a belief that Christianity is better than Islam, but that is a wholly separate issue for another time.