|
||||
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Supreme clash of marriage and religious rights
The Supreme Court decision that redefined traditional marriage has caused a clash between a new, unmentioned constitutional right created by an activist court and the traditional First Amendment right to free speech and religious expression. The Supreme Court issued its edict, throwing the nation into a conflict with its most valued right: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Now citizens are about to go to jail for their religious beliefs.
In Morehead, Kentucky, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, a Democrat, is defying a federal judge’s order to issue same sex marriage licenses due to her religious convictions as a Christian. According to the Kentucky Herald-Leader, she was asked by protesters, “Under whose authority are you not issuing marriage licenses?” She responded, “Under God’s authority.” She said, “I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus himself regarding marriage. I was elected by the people to serve as the county clerk. I intend to continue to serve the people of Rowan County, but I cannot violate my conscience.” She faces contempt fines.
Similar is the plight of Irion County, Texas, County Clerk Molly Criner. She wrote a declaration of “Obedience to Law and Defense of Natural Marriage” for County Clerks to sign. In her accompanying letter to Clerks, she wrote: “Not a few of you have, happily or unhappily, come to the conclusion that to keep your oath, you must uphold the Supreme Court ruling. I have come to the opposite conclusion: to keep my oath to uphold the Constitution, I must reject this ruling that I believe is lawless.” According to a source with intimate knowledge of the case, Criner is being supported by her commissioners, but the Attorney General refused to write an opinion on her action. State representatives are considering legislative remedies.
The Supreme Court set up a battle that will be waged across the United States that tests the foundation stone of freedom in this country–the First Amendment. How a private sexual practice could even be considered to trump religious freedom and freedom of speech is unimaginable. Kim Davis and Molly Criner are putting their lives on the line. The question is: Will America stand by and watch, or will it support these righteous elected officials? Will we go quietly into the night, or do what the Apostle Paul prays for in Ephesians 6:20, “that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak”? The Supreme Court ruling was not only unconstitutional, it challenges the basis of your freedom. Stand in prayer and action!
www.dailyjot.com
