Jesus Christ

Values at Religious Broadcasters Event:

Kim Davis, the Rowan County Clerk who was jailed for her Christian faith and her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, received the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) President's Award for her faithful commitment to Christian values despite political and media opposition. Last year this award went to the wife of a pastor, jailed in Iran for his Christian faith.

Tomorrow Kim Davis will receive the Heroine of the Faith award for her courage from Bott Radio Network, a Christian radio network with more than 100 stations nationwide that reaches more than 50 million people.

Our client, Kim Davis, has been an encouragement to us and to everyone she meets, showing how completely God can transform a life and use it incredibly beyond what you can imagine, ask, or think. We are thankful to Jesus Christ for transforming lives. What you see in Kim is a woman whose life was transformed by Jesus, and she will not be unfaithful to our Lord, and that's why she was there.

Kim Davis Is Mashing Me Down

Remember Kim Davis? She has a faux persecution complex. She thinks Barack Obama is literally mashing her down, whatever that means.

Kim Davis: SOTU Ignored The Christians Being 'Mashed Down, Literally' By Obama:

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, a hero of the Religious Right because of her attempt to prevent her county office from issuing marriage licenses following the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision, got a spot at the State of the Union address on Tuesday, thanks to the Family Research Council and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

But she was less impressed with Obama’s reference to marriage equality. “He had made the statement that everybody was free to marry who they love, and, of course, that’s the stand that I stood again,” she said. “And it’s not, for me, it never was a gay or a lesbian issue. It’s about standing up for the word of the God and as God had defined marriage from the very beginning as between one man and one woman, and that’s what I stood for.”

When Calvi asked Davis about the president’s caution against anti-Muslim bigotry and prejudice, Davis responded that he should have instead talked about Christians like her who “are being so tried and tested and being mashed down, literally” by his policies.

“One of the things that he focused on was that we should not discriminate against Muslims or persecute them, but he never once said anything about the people of the Christian faith who are being so tried and tested and being mashed down, literally, with his agenda,” she said.

Quote Of Note - Charles P. Pierce

"I think Kim Davis, and her most recent husband, and her dingy legal team are lucky the Church doesn't have dungeons any more." - Charles P. Pierce

Papal Infallibility My Ass

Vatican Source: Pope Blindsided By Meeting With Controversial Kentucky Clerk:

Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich is on his way to Rome tonight. Before he left, he spoke out for the first time on that controversial meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Cupich in essence told CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine not to read too much into it.

A highly placed source inside the Vatican claims the Pope was blindsided.

Two Sides To Every Story

Kim Davis Recounts Secret Meeting With Pope Francis:

Davis says Pope Francis left her and her husband with a rosary.

“He told me before he left, he said, ‘stay strong.’ That was a great encouragement. Just knowing that the pope is on track with what we're doing, it kind of validates everything to have someone of that stature,” Davis said.

Vatican: Pope's encounter with Davis not a form of support:

The Vatican on Friday distanced Pope Francis from Kim Davis, the focal point in the gay marriage debate in the U.S., saying she was one of dozens of people the pope greeted as he left Washington and that their encounter "should not be considered a form of support of her position."

Crazy Christians. One of them is lying.

No Sunlight Here

Change Is Not Coming: Pope Francis’ Meeting With Kim Davis Signals That ‘Culture Wars’ Are Still Raging:

Pope Francis secretly met with Kim Davis last Thursday in Washington D.C., according to The New York Times.

The Rev. Frederico Lombardi “confirmed the meeting, but declined to elaborate on it. He said he ‘did not deny that the meeting took place, but I have no other comments to add,’” the Times reported. Lombardi also confirmed the meeting to Buzzfeed News.

This is all really weird and smells funny to me. If this all happened, then why the secrecy from the Vatican. Do they simply cover things up out of habit? (You decide if the pun is intended or not.)

My initial reaction to all of this is that it is simply not true, even if Rev. Frederico Lombardi says that it is. I guess time will tell.

ThinkProgress shares my skepticism:

The only other source of information about the alleged meeting is Kim Davis’ lawyers, and they don’t have the best track record.

After Moynihan’s first report, Davis’ attorneys at the Liberty Counsel have provided all of the other information about what may have happened. They issued their own press release, which contained no new information except another comment from Davis and a comment from Mat Staver, chairman and spokesperson for the anti-gay hate group. Staver has since given interviews to CBS News and the New York Times. Davis recounted her experience in an ABC News interview but offered no new details, making Staver the only source of information about the meeting, even though he wasn’t present for it.

The announcement that Davis had met with Pope Francis came mere hours after the Liberty Counsel had to admit that their claim of a massive prayer rally for her in Peru was fabricated. They tried to pin the mistake on Peruvian Congressman Julio Rosas, who allegedly provided them with the photographic evidence — a photo of a convention that took place back in May of 2014. On Tuesday, Rosas explained in an interview with Perú21 that “we always pray in our homes for other Christians,” but he denied any account of a stadium rally for Davis. Thus, there remains a question of where exactly the Liberty Counsel got the idea that the picture was a rally for Davis — a point they adamantly defended at first — severely undermining how trustworthy the organization’s claims might be.

Staver’s additional details about the logistics of the Davis’ visit to the Vatican embassy are, as such, similarly tenuous. He claims that the couple rode to the embassy in a black SUV, and that Kim “made her hair up in a different way” so that it would not be the recognizable style from her mugshot. Though Liberty Counsel was eager to report that the meeting had happened immediately, “we wanted to keep that quiet to respect the Pope’s broader message because we didn’t want the Pope’s visit to be overshadowed with Kim Davis.” Apparently the meeting was scheduled “days in advance” and “was confirmed the evening before and the morning of.” Though he says Davis would have happily traveled to D.C. to meet with Pope Francis, “it was just happenstance” that she was already in town for the Values Voter Summit, where the Family Research Council honored her with a “Cost of Discipleship Award.”

I wonder if Pope Francis knows anything about Mat Staver and Liberty Counsel? Does he know that they are basically a hate group that judges gay people?

Should We Ignore The Crazies?

Ignoring Publicity Hounds Like Donald Trump or Kim Davis Won’t Make Them Go Away:

My objection was that if we—as consumers and producers and purveyors of news—decide that we will simply ignore the existence and arguments of every pundit, candidate, or religious dissenter to whom we object, it doesn’t in fact make them go away. It simply takes us out of the conversation.

To be sure, it’s not even fair to compare Coulter, Davis, and Trump. The first can rather easily be dismissed, and her racist followers are probably not going to change their minds. The second is a proxy for an important constitutional debate, and the latter is a front-runner for the GOP nomination. But the larger principle threading through all of this “ignore them” admonishment really worries me: that in a moment when capturing the news cycle is enough to make you a prominent national figure, the corrective is to shut off the news cycle, rather than engage in the debate.

The Cost Of Discipleship Award

Religious Right Martyr Kim Davis To Receive Award For Fighting 'Legal Tyranny':

As many predicted, Kim Davis is cashing in on her new role as a right-wing celebrity. The Family Research Council announced today that Davis will receive its “Cost of Discipleship Award” at the upcoming Values Voter Summit.

FRC head Tony Perkins has already compared Davis to the previous award winner, Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who, unlike Davis, actually faced persecution for her faith, as she was arrested and imprisoned by Sudan’s government for converting to Christianity. Leading up to Ibrahim’s appearance at the FRC event, Perkins attempted to use her story to attack the Obama administration, even though her U.S. supporters actually thanked the State Department for working diligently to secure her release. An attorney working on Ibrahim’s case, who is also a Religious Right figure, criticized Perkins for his rhetoric.

In announcing the award, Perkins praised Davis for her “courage” in standing up to “militant secularists”.

Martyr? Is she dead?

I smell Martyr complex:

In psychology a person who has a martyr complex, sometimes associated with the term victim complex, desires the feeling of being a martyr for his/her own sake, seeking out suffering or persecution because it either feeds a psychological need, or a desire to avoid responsibility.

In some cases, this results from the belief that the martyr has been singled out for persecution because of exceptional ability or integrity.^[1] Theologian Paul Johnson considers such beliefs a topic of concern for the mental health of clergy.^[2] Other martyr complexes involve willful suffering in the name of love or duty. This has been observed in women, especially in poor families, as well as in codependent or abusive relationships.^[3][4] It has also been described as a facet of Jewish-American folklore.^[5]

The desire for martyrdom is sometimes considered a form of masochism.^[6] Allan Berger, however, described it as one of several patterns of "pain/suffering seeking behavior", including asceticism and penance.^[7]

Dumbass Quote Of Note - Kim Davis

"They're not valid in God's eyes, for one, I have given no authority to write a marriage license. They did not have my permission, they did not have my authorization." - Kim Davis

Planting Peace

Gay rights group erects billboard in Kim Davis' Kentucky town:

A non-profit organization that advocates for LGBTQ rights has a big message for Rowan County (Kentucky) clerk Kim Davis — a message that is the size of a billboard, to be exact.

Planting Peace erected a billboard in Davis' hometown of Morehead, Ky., that reads: "Dear Kim Davis, The fact that you can't sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we've already redefined marriage."

Late-Stage Faith-Derangement Syndrome

Ted Cruz and Kim Davis, true love forever: The right-wing theocracy that threatens the rule of law:

The faith-flaunting Senator Ted Cruz and evangelical diehard Kim Davis are meant for each other. It’s a pity both are already married – with Davis, in fact, having been so many, many times.

Davis is, of course, the Rowan County (Kentucky) clerk who, citing authority from a made-up heavenly satrap (aka the Lord Almighty), has defied a federal court ruling ordering her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and who now, as a result, sat several days in a Kentucky jail for contempt of court. Cruz, a practicing Southern Baptist, is campaigning for the Republican nomination, and is displaying contempt for the Constitution he swore to uphold (on a Bible, unfortunately, but some are working to abolish this practice) by supporting Davis. He is thereby fomenting disobedience to the Supreme Court, which, as we know, ruled in favor of same-sex marriages early in the summer.

Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court as the locus of overriding judicial power in our land. One who defies it must be made to suffer the legal consequences; should any American, for any reason, be able to ignore the Supreme Court and suffer no penalty, we would be justified in saying none of us live in a law-based republic.

That a government employee is displaying symptoms of late-stage faith-derangement syndrome and, as a direct result, behaves boorishly, cruelly and even illegally, should surprise no one. Look no further than the headlines and you will find, on any given day, the votaries of at least one Abrahamic mythology showing no decent respect to the opinions of mankind and behaving in ways that outrage their fellow humans. Wherever you find monotheism, you find pig-headed ignorance, thuggish coercion and even violence...

I wish that there were millions, even billions of Jeffrey Taylers. The world would be a better place.

Liberty Counsel Today

Liberty Counsel: The Gays Who Sued Got Their Licenses So Kim Davis Doesn’t Have To Issue Any More:

The Liberty Counsel has filed a motion with the Sixth Circuit Court which claims that since the gay couples who sued Kim Davis have now gotten their licenses, her office doesn’t have to issue any more.

Beam Me Out Of Kentucky

George Takei is like a fine wine. He gets better and better with age. Live long and prosper, George.

Too many of the GOP presidential candidates are siding with Kim Davis. One of them could become president and take the oath swearing to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". How can you preserve, protect and defend something you do not understand?

George Takei: Kentucky clerk Kim Davis is ‘no hero to be celebrated’:

This post comes on the heels of outpouring support for Davis from 2016 GOP presidential candidates Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, and Bobby Jindal.

Huckabee’s campaign reportedly organized the rally for Davis, and Huckabee said he would be willing to go to jail for the Kentucky clerk.

“I’m tired of seeing people just harassed because they believe something of their faith,” Huckabee said to reporters at the Tuesday rally. “We cannot criminalize Christian faith or anybody’s faith in this country.”

Cruz thanked God after Davis’ release was announced, tweeting that it was “Outrageous she was jailed 6 days for living according to her Christian faith.”

Santorum also tweeted support for Davis, saying “we should not have to choose between keeping our job and practicing our faith.”

Santorum called Davis heroic in a CNN interview and compared Davis to Martin Luther King Jr. last week on a radio show.

“You know Martin Luther King went to jail because he didn’t follow the law,” he said. “There’s a long precedent in America from people saying, ‘you know the law has to change to accommodate what is the right thing to do, in their own moral judgment.’”

The right thing for Santorum is to pass a “First Amendment Defense Act” that would accommodate “people who have very strong religious beliefs that are antithetical to the ‘new law’ of the country,” essentially allowing them to ignore the law.

Jindal defended Davis’ right to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, telling the Huffington Post he doesn’t “think anyone should have to choose between following their conscience and religious beliefs and giving up their job and facing financial sanctions.”

George Takei has a better understanding of the Constitution than any of these people.

George Takei owns Kim Davis and her defenders on First Amendment:

Leave it to George Takei to make this plain. In observing the ongoing mess in Rowan County, Kentucky, Takei commented that, “she is entitled to hold her religious beliefs, but not to impose those beliefs on others.” He added:

Permitting a state employee to foist her religion upon others, denying them a fundamental right as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell, would be to give government, through this agent, the power to impose religious doctrine and viewpoint. That it cannot do. Ms. Davis is in effect establishing religion by using her governmental powers to impose her religious views.

George Takei Calls Kim Davis Supporters ‘Un-American’:

Takei posted the following on his Facebook page:

Well this is a bit of a circus. So let us be clear: This woman is no hero to be celebrated. She broke her oath to uphold the Constitution and defied a court order so she could deny government services to couples who are legally entitled to be married. She is entitled to hold her religious beliefs, but not to impose those beliefs on others. If she had denied marriage certificates to an interracial couple, would people cheer her? Would presidential candidates flock to her side? In our society, we obey civil laws, not religious ones. To suggest otherwise is, simply put, entirely un-American.

In response to Takei’s post, a Kim Davis supporter named Shawn replied with the following:

George, learn the first amendment.

Takei responded to Shawn with yet another brilliant civics lesson:

The First Amendment has two clauses that are relevant here. One is the Establishment Clause, and the other is the Prohibition Clause. Congress may not prohibit free worship, and that is what so many claim, wrongly, is being violated. But it is also not empowered to establish any religion, nor to enact any laws favoring one religion over the other. Permitting a state employee to foist her religion upon others, denying them a fundamental right as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell, would be to give government, through this agent, the power to impose religious doctrine and viewpoint. That it cannot do. Ms. Davis is in effect establishing religion by using her governmental powers to impose her religious views. I know the First Amendment, Shawn. Do you?

I agree with George Takei.

Unlike the faux bigotry claimed by Kim Davis and her supporters, George Takei has had to deal with real bigotry for all of his life.

This bears repeating:

Ms. Davis is in effect establishing religion by using her governmental powers to impose her religious views. 

Quote Of Note - Larry Wilmore

"I don’t know about you guys, but when I see a group of people from the South with white crosses cheering to not allow people their constitutional rights, it kind of just gives me a tingly, lynch-y feeling." - Larry Wilmore

Oops, They Did It Again

Playing unauthorized music seems to be a pattern amongst the right-wing.

Kim Davis draws rebuke from Eye of the Tiger band after song plays at rally:

The band Survivor has objected to the use of its song Eye of the Tiger during a rally celebrating the release of Rowan county clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed for six days after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“NO! We did not grant Kim Davis any rights to use ‘My Tune -The Eye Of The Tiger,’” they wrote on their verified Facebook page on Tuesday.

Where Is The Love?

When I look at Kim Davis and her supporters all I see is intense hatred. People who are narrow-minded and afraid. People who think that dogma is more important than people.

When I look at gay couples wanting to marry, I see love. Many gays are people who make the world a better place by their actions and deeds.

I choose love over hatred. Hopefully, someday everyone will.

The Hang Yourself Cross Of Bible-Banging Victimhood

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Is About to Get Filthy Rich:

She may not realize it at the moment, although I suspect she has realized it all along, but Kim Davis just became a political television star and a very rich lady besides.

Let me explain to you what happens now. The entire political communications apparatus of the wingnut welfare system goes to DefCon 1. (Judge Bunning's e-mail is going to get very entertainingly unchristian, I suspect.) Kim Davis now becomes the latest ornament on the Hang Yourself Cross of Bible-banging victimhood. There will be marches and vigils. There will be a six-figure book deal; my money's on John Fund as Davis's ghost. There may even be one of those movies produced by gullibility trawlers like the one helmed by Rick Santorum. Anybody want to bet me that she doesn't speak at next year's Republican National Convention? You have made a star, Judge Bunning, and the rest of us have to live with her.

The fact that the law and common sense—to say nothing of the notion that you should do the damn job you get paid a salary to do—are lined up behind Judge Bunning doesn't matter a damn to the people inside the bubble. Only two contenders for president on the Republican side have made the quite reasonable argument that Davis should do the job she swore an oath (to God!) to do, or quit the job because her conscience demands it.

Of course the real reason she will become rich is because she probably gave some money to some televangelist who promises that God will make you rich if you give your money to televangelists.



"Sow your money in the ground and you will reap returns multiple times over."

Comedian John Oliver Lampoons Televangelists on 'Last Week Tonight' Show; Opens Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption Church:

All these preachers, says Oliver, argue "that wealth is a sign of God's favor, and donations will result in wealth coming back to you. That idea takes the form of 'seed faith' — that donations are seeds that you will one day get to harvest."

Render Unto Caesar

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." - Thomas Jefferson

This whole Kim Davis affair has caused me to remember the part in the Bible where Jesus says: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's".

I remember being taught in Catholic school and from the pulpit what Wikipedia refers to as the Separation of Church and State interpretation:

Jesus responds to Pontius Pilate about the nature of his kingdom: "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But now (or 'as it is') my kingdom is not from the world" (John 18:36); i.e., his religious teachings were separate from earthly political activity.

I read through Render unto Caesar on Wikipedia. As is the case with most religious thought, it seems that interpretation rules the day. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's" can mean whatever you want it to mean.

Others have had similar thoughts to mine:

Kim Davis: What about “render unto Caesar” do you not understand?

Render unto Caesar

That Kentucky clerk should ‘render unto Caesar’ — or quit 

Render unto Caesar 

Kim Davis and the Candidates

Kim Davis And Her Lawyers

Jailed Kentucky clerk seeks emergency injunction in gay marriage case:

Lawyers for jailed Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis said on Monday they had asked an appellate court to force Governor Steve Beshear to let her refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses based on her religious convictions.

The lawyers sought emergency relief from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, asking it to grant Davis an exemption from the "governor's mandate that all county clerks issue marriage licenses," the non-profit legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel, which represents Davis, said in a news release.

"The governor’s refusal to take elementary steps to protect religious liberties has now landed Kim Davis in jail," Liberty Counsel founder and chairman Mat Staver said.

Just who is Liberty Counsel and Mat Staver?

Liberty Counsel is a non-profit public interest law firm and ministry that provides free legal assistance in defense of "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family."^[1] Liberty Counsel is headed by attorney Mathew D. Staver, who founded the legal ministry with his wife, Anita, in 1989 and currently serves as president. A close partnership exists between Liberty University, which was founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, and Liberty Counsel; Staver served as Liberty University's law school dean from 2006 to 2014.^[1] In 2004, Liberty Counsel became affiliated with Liberty University/Falwell Ministries and Liberty Counsel opened an office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Liberty Counsel describes its practice as a First Amendment practice, focused on religious liberties, freedom of speech, church/state issues in public schools and in the public square. Liberty Counsel has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).^[2]

A law firm and ministry?

Jesus would practice law.

Morning Bible Study

In this morning's Bible Study we will examine what the Bible says about government officials issuing marriage licenses to gay people:

                                                                                                                   

I hope you have enjoyed this morning's Bible Study.