Kim Davis: An Enduring Symbol of Defiance

A new interview with Kim Davis of Rowan County, Kentucky, gives us a chance to look back at one of 2015’s most outrageous stories. Sitting down with the Associated Press, Davis said that the entire situation – which culminated in her being put in jail for almost a week – was “a very emotional and a very real situation to all people” involved.

The trouble started for Davis shortly after the Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide in June. Davis, a county clerk, chose to stop issuing marriage licenses. This decision was challenged by lawsuits from gay couples who wanted to procure a license. When the Associated Press asked Davis why she didn’t just go with the flow, she said she wanted to make a stand.

“No one would ever have remembered a county clerk that just said ‘Even though I don’t agree with it, it’s OK. I’ll do it,’” Davis said. “If I could be remembered for one thing, it’s that I was not afraid to not compromise myself.”

Davis became a hero to embattled Christians who felt that the gay marriage decision was a direct affront to their faith, to say nothing of conservatives who thought the Supreme Court had exceeded their warrant with the ruling. But she also became Public Enemy #1 to LGBT supporters who made much out of her own personal controversies.

“How ironic that God would use a person like me, who failed so miserably at marriage in the world, to defend it now,” Davis said regarding her past. “The Lord picks the unlikely source to convey the message.”

Davis got a Christmas gift this week. New Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order, removing all county clerk names from marriage licenses. If the order stands, and it will surely be challenged, it would absolve county clerks in Kentucky from having to put their names to a ceremony they don’t agree with.

How things wash out in Kentucky remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Kim Davis won’t be the last person caught up in the fight between gay rights and religious liberty. This is the abortion situation all over again, and judges will be in charge of deciding whose rights are more important. As we’ve seen in the last few years, the court rulings have gone overwhelmingly in favor of the gays.

So are we standing on the precipice of a new day in America, where the First Amendment right to religious freedom is torn down in favor of the LGBT movement? Or are we looking at a new Christian revolution, where the federal government will be forced to protect religious liberty no matter how unpopular it might be to a certain segment of the population? The fact that the future is in such doubt is a sign of how far we’ve fallen.

The LGBT movement is just one of many masks this movement wears. It’s not about gays or equal rights or abortion or the Confederate flag. These things are about slowly inching us towards a secular, godless society where the federal government is the new god. Liberals have to convince Americans that there is no higher power they can turn to in times of trouble. None but them.