Civil disobedience. It’s a refusal to comply with the law for the cause of preserving personal ideology. Gandhi did it. Rosa Parks did too. They believed in resisting an oppressive regime in the hopes of instituting societal change, change that would lead to more egalitarian standards.

Yet Kim Davis, the county clerk from Kentucky who repudiated same-sex marriage licenses from being issued, is being grouped in this same category of progressive and brave individuals. “Kim joins a long list of people who were imprisoned for their conscience,” her lawyer Matthew Staver said after she was sentenced for contempt of court.

If one word could describe this quote it would have to be “blasphemous.” How can a woman who is trying to prevent a group of the population from achieving equality be categorized with the likes of Martin Luther King Jr.?
In her own defense, Davis cites religion. Yes, of course, that’s certainly logical. God – the being who loves all creatures – must not have enough love to extend to homosexuals. There’s overpopulation and a line had to be drawn somewhere, right?

The saga gained more attention when Davis was released from prison after a tough five days in the slammer. She was greeted by presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and a crowd of cheering “fans” waving wooden crosses. “Eye of the Tiger” played on loudspeakers as she raised her hands in fallacious triumph, letting tears roll down her cheeks. The extravagance was awkwardly hilarious. Nelson Mandela was less boisterous upon his release after 27 years in brutal prison conditions.

Davis and the faithful conservatives who praised her are not only a hindrance to freedom but are undoubtedly confused.

“You are a strong people. Just keep on pressing,” Davis said after she briefly took the microphone.
A more apt word choice for her sentence would be, “Keep on oppressing” because that is literally what she is urging her fellow Christians to do. She wants them to isolate a segment of society and treat them as inferior because she and her misinterpretation of Christianity are apparently more just.

As humans, we are not in a position to criticize our brothers and sisters. “Love thy neighbor as yourself,” Jesus Christ (whose teachings are the basis for Davis’ religion) said. By ignoring this pillar of Christianity, Davis makes it clear she’s picking and choosing what to believe in order to fit her personal ideology. The pretense that her religion is why she is acting against federal law is void. Davis is simply a bigot.

Instances like this one seem far too common nowadays. The teachings of Jesus are metaphorical and can be readily applied to modern situations. People must be willing to change with time because doing so opens the possibility of a more unified world. The whole affair also illuminates the need for a more defined separation of church and state. The GOP cannot continue to align with religious ideology because many of the beliefs derived from it are out-of-date. Evolution in conjunction with the culture is essential and the party will weaken if it remains stagnant.

Michael Agnello is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected]