Kim Davis: Anything Wrong With This Picture?
Dear Elaine,
Thanks for your email.
How about a trade?
I'll go along with "charges against the mayor of San Francisco" (who, in keeping with The American Way, will be acquitted by a jury of his peers) in exchange for your recognition that Kim Davis' appeal to "freedom of religion" as grounds for carving out special "workplace exemptions" -- constitutes unacceptable appeal by public employees charged with providing all citizens equal treatment before The Law.
This is not to say that The Law cannot be changed.
However, legal change depends on minute adherence to procedure and process, not instantaneous proclamation. (The Supreme Court -- currently a conservative body with a majority of Catholics-- has already refused to hear Ms. Davis' grievance.)
Surely "America" is about "something more" than re-litigation.
What's to re-litigate?
This morning I learned that fully half of American Evangelicals approve same-sex marriage as do 80% of Americans under 30.
The situation is akin to usury which in the Middle Ages was a particularly nefarious sin.
Today, there is not a single American nun or priest -- including bishops and cardinals -- without a pocketful of credit cards that charge usurious rates of interest.
What's to re-litigate?
This morning I learned that fully half of American Evangelicals approve same-sex marriage as do 80% of Americans under 30.
The situation is akin to usury which in the Middle Ages was a particularly nefarious sin.
Today, there is not a single American nun or priest -- including bishops and cardinals -- without a pocketful of credit cards that charge usurious rates of interest.
The fact that Ms. Davis' "job description changed after she was employed" is a red herring.
Job descriptions change all the time.
If an employee doesn't like a revised job description, s/he quits.
It seems to me that Ms. Davis (and much of conservative America) is playing the victim card.
Personally, I am happy for victims to play this "card."
However, it is ironic that conservatives now embody the very attitude which used to be grounds for summary dismissal of "victims'" grievances.
As I see it, much of conservative America is slowly realizing it doesn't really like The American Way -- at least insofar as our system of governance depends on Majority Rule, a governmental method rooted in The Founding Fathers ferocious opposition to theocracy (and interlinked monarchy).
Pax tecum
Alan
On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 1:17 PM, Elaine Kolodziej <elaine@wcn-online.com> wrote:
Possibly … but I don’t know that slavery was preached from the pulpit after slavery was abolished?Anyway, an argument could be that the mayor of San Francisco should be arrested for refusing to enforce the laws on immigration? Also, the job description for Kim’s position changed after she accepted the job …Either way, it’s been interesting … :)
From: Alan Archibaldo <alanarchibaldo@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 11:53:21 -0400
To: Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com>
Cc: Laura Wood, The Thinking Housewife
Subject: Quaker Official Refuses To Issue Gun License
Alan: If Kim Davis' refusal to perform her job -- while insisting she keep it -- has legal standing, Quaker officials could refuse to issue gun permits and Muslim officials could refuse to issue driver's licenses to women.
It is a historical fact that slavery was preached from the pulpit so that practitioners of "old time Religion" could, in conscience, refuse marriage licenses to biracial couples.
2009 Louisiana Interracial Marriage License IncidentWikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Louisiana_interracial_ marriage_incident
Christian Defence Of Slavery Preached From The Pulpit
But beyond this predictable debate lies a more fundamental issue, now conveniently scotomized.
From the Christian point of view, the linchpin degradation of marriage took place when Christians themselves began to divorce in numbers essentially equivalent to secular society.
Once "the Christian rank-and-file" "broke rank," The Party of Family Values elected, and thus normalized, the nation's first (and only) divorced president, Ronald Reagan.
People and societies accommodate "water under the bridge," even devout Christians formerly aghast at hint of heterodoxy.
Such accommodation often occurs when a family member embodies a previously verboten behavior - divorce, same-sex relationship, usury, working on The Lord's Day.
Greed Is Good:: A Dangerous 300 Year History Of The Idea That Greed Is Good
(The Role Of Usury)
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/04/greed-is- good-300-year-history-of.html Is there one American Christian in a million who would agree with Jesus' teaching in The Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the four canonical gospels?
"What God has joined together, man must never separate... Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
Before quitting her post (the only honorable thing to do), Kim Davis should express Christian opposition to issuing marriage licenses to divorced applicants.
Gospel Of Mark: Why Doesn't Kim Davis Deny Marriage Licenses To The Previously Divorced?
Ronald Reagan And American Conservatism's Normalization Of Divorce In American Politics
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/08/ronald- reagan-and-american.html Amish Insight Into Kim Davis Uncivil Disobediencehttp://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/09/amish- insight-into-kim-davis- uncivil.html
Kim Davis: If Christians Want Government Jobs, They Must Discharge The Government's Job DescriptionA Defiant Kentucky County Clerk And The Cultural Divide Over Same-Sex Marriage
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