The news about the Kentucky county clerk who, despite the recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitting gay marriage, refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples has garnered much attention across the entire political and religious spectrum. I normally prefer to avoid the political/religious rhetoric but my Bible reading of 1 Peter this week touched upon this very topic of Christians submitting to every authority instituted among men whether king or governor, so I felt it was more than just coincidence. There is an important distinction between one’s personal religious beliefs and our government. The county clerk in Kentucky held fast to her deep Christian conviction against gay marriage despite being held in contempt of court for defying a federal court order to comply with the law of the land. She chose to go to jail rather than betray her conscience and she was praised in many Christian circles as a hero because of it (this Protestant even had a private meeting with the Pope last week!). For that she may very well be in good standing before God on that big Judgment Day. But from a legal standpoint her actions were misguided to have crossed over from the personal into the public political arena.
She has absolutely every right to her personal religious beliefs and the government cannot infringe upon that right whatsoever. However, as county clerk she took an oath of office to “ . . . faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality so help me God.”And so therefore as a public servant she gave her word to follow the law of the land. If she no longer can do so her option is to resign from office rather than renege on her oath. There are many examples of public servants who forego their personal beliefs while serving in office. For example, capitol punishment is still carried out in some states despite the respective governors’ personal objection to death penalty laws. Indeed, the federal judge who ordered this county clerk to be jailed for defying his court order to issue marriage licenses is apparently a devout Christian. But he even stated at her contempt hearing that his personal opinion is not relevant and to allow it to supersede his judicial authority would set a dangerous precedent.
Similarly, all of the U.S. Supreme Court members who rendered the gay marriage decision are either Christian or Jewish. My point about this is that Christians are constitutionally protected from government infringing upon their right to worship Christ Jesus and conversely they need not attempt to implement their freedom of religion within government with such short-sighted methods. I’m not sure what this county clerk thought she hoped to achieve ignoring proper channels and acting outside of the law. She certainly drew a lot of attention to herself but she won’t have succeeded in overturning the U.S. Supreme Court decision. No one would’ve imagined gay marriage even five or ten years ago and yet here we are in a secular world that not even the framers of our constitution would ever have contemplated. But personally I’m not threatened by a society and government or a hostile world in general no matter how turned around it appears. No contemporary trending social mores will ever cause me to feel otherwise. Isn’t this what we’re warned about in Scripture to begin with?
From Pastor Mark’s Heart
October 4, 2015