The Ongoing Saga of Kim Davis

Kentucky’s Rowan County clerk Kim Davis is still refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples citing the fact that it violates her religious beliefs. After the Appeals Court ordered her to issue licenses she has gone on to petition the Supreme Court. After the Supreme Court denied her she still continued to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Now she has been taken into custody for defying the court order and continuing to refuse to issue marriage licenses.  Yes my dear readers she has gone to jail over issuing a piece of paper.  My original two questions were, does a county employee have the right to impose her religious beliefs on others, and should she be allowed to keep her job based on her refusal to follow her job description? The first question is easy to answer, the second I learned is a little harder since as I discovered that Kim Davis is an elected official.

Now I’m all for freedom of religion, and I understand that some people hold very strongly to their religious beliefs, but they must also understand that not everyone else shares their religious beliefs. When you go to work you are in an environment where you will encounter people of many races, religions, and orientations so one must learn to be tolerant, and to respect diversity. This is especially true when you work as a civil servant, as a civil servant you must truly leave your beliefs at the door, because it is almost a guarantee that at some point during your tenure those beliefs will be challenged. In this generation the challenge is same-sex marriage, but imagine if you will 50 years ago when the first interracial couples attempted to get married in the South, I’m sure the beliefs of many a civil servant were put to the test on those days.

The Constitution offers us two guarantees when it comes to religion: the prevention of the establishment of religion, and the free exercise of religion. In this situation these two guarantees clash with each other, because Kim Davis’ free exercise of religion and her work as a civil servant promotes the establishment of a religious belief. This marks another reason why as an employee, especially a civil servant that we must check our beliefs at the door. Obtaining a marriage license is not a religious ceremony it is a business transaction, and thus should not be subject to anyone’s religious beliefs. So the simple answer is no, as a County employee she does not have the right to impose her religious beliefs on others.

With Kim Davis being an elected official it is not as easy as she is not doing her job, fire her. The county has to prove some form of misconduct or other such inappropriate actions in order to remove her from her post. Thou refusing to do one’s job may sound like misconduct, it is not always that easy. Several times during this ordeal Kim Davis has claimed religious persecution and if she is terminated from her position that can come back into play, since equal opportunity employment prevents termination based on religious beliefs. Kim Davis has put herself in an interesting position, she has set herself up to be a martyr for her cause, but I think this article more accurately sums it up.   

In the long run this comes down to choice, Kim Davis chose a job in the secular world. A job where imposing her personal religious beliefs is not part of her job description. If she wanted to she could have chosen a job in the religious world. In her role as a civil servant she is bound by the federal and state laws, and must abide by the edicts of those laws. If she cannot abide by those laws maybe it’s time to consider another line of work.