Kim Davis, Rowan County court clerk, made headlines and garnered national attention when she was arrested and jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
Davis, an Apostolic Christian, believes gay marriage is a sin. She also believes it would be a sin for her to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple because the licenses are issued under her authority.
She tried in vain to have state lawmakers change the law as a legal challenge to Kentucky’s same-sex marriage ban wound its way through the federal appeals court.
So, deferring to her conscience, she chose to not issue licenses to same-sex couples. When a judge ordered her to do so and she refused, an order for contempt was issued and she was jailed. While Davis has her own checkered past, she is now an Apostolic Christian. Basically, Davis is a Pentecostal and a non-Trinitarian.
Apostolic Pentecostals are the strictest of all the Pentecostal groups. Like most Pentecostals, they do not use alcohol or tobacco. They generally don’t watch TV or movies either. Women who are Apostolic Pentecostals also wear long dresses, and they don’t cut their hair or wear makeup. It’s called “external holiness.” It is her faith that has influenced her decision that led to her incarceration.
But does that give her a pass? Do the rules not apply to her? Well, the country is divided on this issue. On the one hand, the New Testament instructs believers to submit to the government and to obey civil law. On the other hand, when several of the apostles were commanded to face jail or cease preaching in the name of Jesus, they declared that they would obey God rather than man. What to do? This, each person must work out on his or her own.
Civil disobedience has a long history in the United States. From the civil rights protesters of the 1960s to the pro-life advocates decades later, laws have been broken to follow a “higher law.”
Rosa Parks broke the law. So did the Selma marchers. So did the anti-abortion advocates at a number of clinics. And many of them went to jail for their consciences’ sake. And here, too, was the stand of the early Christian leaders. They were willing to break the law knowing full well that civil punishment awaited them if they did.
Kim Davis is an employee of the government, not the church. True, the law changed and she faced a situation that was unexpected. Still, she was faced with a dilemma. To obey the law or obey what she saw as God’s Law. She did not believe she could do both. And so she went to jail.
But one who chooses to commit civil disobedience, for whatever the reasons, must be prepared to pay the price. Kim Davis is seen by some as a hero and by others as a fundamentalist fanatic. Elected as a Democrat, it seems that she is being championed by many Republicans.
The story is not over, unless it has been resolved prior to this article being published. It is very possible that she will lose her job. Or, perhaps, the rules will be changed and she will be accommodated in some fashion.
Kim Davis, by all accounts, is not a rabble rouser or an advocate. She worked in the clerk’s office for years and simply did her job. When the former clerk retired, she ran for office and won. She is well known in the county and in her church, Solid Rock Apostolic Church.
Ms. Davis described her religious awakening, which occurred about four years ago. She said her mother-in-law had asked, as a “dying wish,” that Ms. Davis attend church.
“There I heard a message of grace and forgiveness and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ,” Ms. Davis wrote. “I am not perfect. No one is. But I am forgiven and I love my Lord and must be obedient to Him and to the Word of God.”
Kim Davis wasn’t trying to be a national figure, a hero, or a villain. As a new Christian, she was just trying to be faithful to her beliefs. And, like many who have come before her, she has learned that there may be a price to pay.
[David Epps is the pastor of the Cathedral of Christ the King, Sharpsburg, GA (www.ctkcec.org). He is the bishop of the Mid-South Diocese which consists of Georgia and Tennessee (www.midsouthdiocese.org) and the Associate Endorser for the Department of the Armed Forces, U. S. Military Chaplains, ICCEC. He may contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.
