Let Me Explain Religious Freedom to Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis
"Religious freedom means that, on a personal level, every American is free to follow whatever religion they want. They’re also free to not follow any religion at all. As Americans we are free to attend church seven days a week, 365 days a year – or not at all. If you want to be Christian one year, Muslim the next and an atheist after that, guess what? That’s your right. Heck, if you want to follow some weird hybrid of a whole bunch of different religions combined into one set of spiritual beliefs, go right ahead. Do you know what the best part is? This country is set up so that no law can ever force anyone to adhere to a certain set of religious beliefs or principles. In your private life, or your places of worship, you can be as religious as you want. However... Once you go into work, school or any number of public, non-religious places – your religious rights change. While some are protected, such as observing certain religious holidays or even the right to organize hate-filled religious protests, others are not. For example, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church can protest all they want, but that same person couldn’t go to work at Home Depot wearing a “God Hates F*gs” shirt claiming “religious freedom.”
In other words, religious freedom is not without limits. Especially if you’re a government employee, like Ms. Davis. As an elected official for the State of Kentucky, she swore an oath not to govern based on biblical law, but to uphold the laws of the state – which, again, are bound by our Constitution. I couldn’t care less what she thinks of same-sex marriage, because her job isn’t to determine who should or shouldn’t get married based on her own personal feelings. Just like a county clerk couldn’t have denied her the right to marry for the second, third or fourth time based on their personal religious beliefs concerning divorce – she can’t legally do that to gay couples. Her job is to issue marriage licenses in accordance with the State of Kentucky which is bound to the Constitution of the United States of America. If she wants to become an anti-gay marriage advocate, she needs to quit her job and go join some hate group filled with knuckle-dragging fools like herself. She has no right (nor does any other business owner or government employee) to deny service to anyone based on religious beliefs."
