If you don’t know the situation surrounding Kim Davis,
the county clerk in Kentucky, you must be living under a rock…or just not in
the United States. She is now being championed as a defender of Christianity,
or more generically, religious liberty. Yesterday, presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee went so far to announce he perceives a new era in
American history—an era characterized by the criminalization of Christianity.
So, this situation, which stemmed from one’s person’s refusal to do her job out of protest, has
become a full-fledged political football. Virtually every GOP candidate who
wants to corner the market on the conservative demographic has proclaimed, “I
stand with Kim Davis.”
I realized yesterday that this whole Kim Davis-as-guardian-of-marriage-licenses
has crossed the line into the realm of annoyance, if not stupidity. Whatever legitimacy
may have been involved Davis’ original stance has now been thrown out the
window…undermined by politics. So as we turn on the news or look at the
trending topics on the right hand column of Facebook and beat back the waves of
opinions, let’s try to remember a few things.
Christianity’s response to civil authority has always
been nuanced. At a fundamental level, we must remember that Paul told the
Church at Rome to respect civil authority as established by God (cf. Rom 13:1).
Thus, Paul exhorts “give to everyone what you owe: If you owe taxes, pay taxes;
if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor”
(13:7). Yet one must also admit that Paul’s comments assume reference to daily
civic duties and an unoppressive form of government. But even in cases where
the government was authoritative and oppressive, books like Daniel and
Revelation appeal more to verbal resistance than anything else (Protestant
Christians don’t hold the book of Maccabees authoritative). So, all of this
begs the question. Does this situation—a situation of issuing marriage licenses
to homosexual couples—warrant the defiance of someone’s vocational and civic
duty? Moreover, does Davis’ jailing represent the persecution of Christianity
and an era of Christianity’s criminalization?
I agree that this social issue warrants a public stance.
So, I respect the fact that Davis, or any Christian in a similar position, took
a stand. However, I cannot get over the opinion that this situation should not
have become the 3-ring circus that it has become. So, instead of defying her
vocational and civic responsibilities, which simultaneously has caused the
disruption of other services, she should have publicly resigned…perhaps even
issued a statement stating that her personal beliefs no longer allowed her to
fulfill her vocational and civic duties. The respect thing that Paul talked
about comes into to play here. Unfortunately, she will likely not resign. She is
already in jail, and the political jockeying will continue, which brings us to
the tragedy of the situation. Whatever Christian statement that could have been
made will be further suffocated by politics and the pursuit of the White House.
Davis has been
jailed for being in contempt of court—for continually defying a judge’s orders
(…and a judge happens to be her authority within a system of government, which according
to Paul, has been established by God) and not performing her duties and
responsibilities. Thus, any association of her faith with the reason for her
imprisonment is merely a contributing factor to her imprisonment. By
implication, if one insists on calling this “persecution of faith,” then you
must concede the fact that you have defined persecution in a rather generic fashion.
But the most potent reason why we should not call this
"persecution" appears by means of a very simple juxtaposition. There are children
and families washing on shores because they have died trying to flee the
hegemony of ISIS. People all over the Middle East are being slaughtered because
they do not conform to, or are not willing to conform to, a particular sect of
Islam. This is persecution…a danger or restriction of liberty directly
associated to one’s ideological or ethnic position.
So, do I stand with Kim Davis? Only to a certain extent.
She should resign, and the circus should stop. Most importantly, particularly as
Christians, we need to stop associating her situation with the persecution or
criminalization of Christians in America. The people who are making this
association look ridiculous and out of touch.
