Tag Archives: gay marriage

religious news, State news

Texas AG speaks to the faithful

faith

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been quiet lately … since his indictment in Collin County on charges of securities fraud.

The case hasn’t yet been settled. Paxton, though, spoke to a conservative political group, Texas Values, and asserted that Christians are being “marginalized” in public life.

I believe I’ll disagree with him on that.

Paxton calls for Christians to seek public office

I agree with the attorney general that people of faith should run. They should rely on their faith to inform their decisions. I cannot question either of those two notions that Paxton put forward.

Then again, I welcome people without faith to run as well. This country belongs to them as much as it belongs to believers.

Moreover, I have to draw the line on the idea that the so-called “marginalization” is anything new.

The U.S. Constitution has been quite clear on the role that faith should play in government. The founders knew what they were doing when they omitted the very word “religion” in the document. The only reference comes in Article VI, which declares that “no religious test” shall be applied to candidates running for public office.

Isn’t that crystal clear? It is to me.

Not to Paxton, apparently.

According to the Texas Tribune: “It’s important to understand opponents of religious liberty aren’t going away anytime soon,” said Paxton, a Republican, as he spoke to a crowd of about 100 people gathered at Pflugerville’s First Baptist Church. “We must refuse to be marginalized in the name of political correctness.”

Political correctness? What’s he talking about?

Religious liberty is a comprehensive term. It means different things to different people. To some, it means that we should be free to practice whatever faith we wish. To others, sadly, it means believing only in the faith they worship, as many Muslim-Americans have learned over the years when they encounter protests from non-Muslims.

And to even more Americans, the term “religious liberty” means being guaranteed the right to not worship any faith at all.

I do not believe what Paxton said in Pflugerville that there’s been an “ugly and frightening turn of events” that turns on people of faith who seek and hold public office.

If he’s referring to that Kentucky county clerk who refuses to grant marriage licenses to gay couples — and I suspect that’s Paxton’s point of reference — I’ll just remind him that she took an oath to serve all the residents of her county.

Even those who are gay.

 

political news, religious news

Pope steps into U.S. political struggle

francis

Pope Francis got a lot of love from Americans during his whirlwind trip to the United States.

Much of it is deserved. I join many others in applauding the Holy Father’s humanity and humility.

Then he said something today that I find, well, not quite so praiseworthy. He said upon returning to the Vatican that U.S. elected officials have the right to object to performing their duties on matters of conscience.

At issue: gay marriage.

Your Holiness, I believe you are mistaken.

Francis gets it wrong

There, I said it. I hope I’m not struck down for criticizing the pope.

“Conscientious objection must enter into every judicial structure, because it is a right,” he told reporters while flying to Rome.

Fans and allies of embattled Rowan (Ky.) County Clerk Kim Davis are no doubt cheering the pontiff. She has refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples on the basis of her religious faith, which she said opposes gay marriage.

The pope agrees with her, which is his right.

Back to his point about “conscientious objection.” Americans who get elected to public office take a secular oath, even though many of the oaths instruct them to say “so help me God.” Still, the standard oath doesn’t give officeholders the option to object to doing certain duties because their conscience won’t allow it.

It’s a secular oath that binds the officeholder to upholding the laws of the land.

The Supreme Court upheld a challenge to a law — in Kentucky — that banned gay marriage. A gay couple sued and the high court ruled earlier this year that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law for gay couples who want to marry.

So, the county clerk must follow the law.

She is free to quit her public job. She also is free to campaign as a private citizen to make gay marriage illegal. Contrary to what the Holy Father believes, though, Davis or any other public official isn’t free to invoke his or her personal belief in the performance of their public duty — when it discriminates against Americans.

Surely His Holiness knows this.

Hey, I still love the guy.

 

 

national news, political news, religious news

Shocking! County clerk joins GOP

Old fashionet American Constitution with USA Flag.

There once was a time when I argued that many county offices should be made non-partisan … with county clerks being among them.

Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who’s been in the news lately has demonstrated that perhaps my earlier view was, well, not entirely correct.

Davis today switched from Democrat to Republican, saying that the Democratic Party left her long ago.

Davis joins GOP

Why comment on this? Davis is the county clerk who said she couldn’t issue marriage licenses to gay couples. So, she quit issuing licenses to anyone. She refused to do the job she took an oath to do, which is serve the public and to obey the laws of the land. A federal judge found her in contempt of court, then tossed her into jail for a few days; the same judge released her and then former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — a GOP candidate for president — volunteered to go to jail in her place.

Oh, please.

The public include gay citizens. The laws of the land allows gay people to get married, just like straight people.

Davis said she is acting according to God’s will. God, she said, disapproves of gay marriage. Therefore, she is empowered to flout the oath she took.

Wrong, Ms. Davis.

You are not free to quit performing your job as long as you hold the title of “county clerk.”

With that, she joined the Republican Party. Does the GOP approve of elected public officials tossing aside their sworn oath?

Man, I hope not.

Oh well, if she feel more at home in the GOP, then that’s her call.

Just do your job, Mme. Clerk … or else quit.

 

religious news

Obama ‘pretends to be a Christian’? Really?

Bible2

How in the world does Mike Huckabee possibly know what’s in another man’s heart and soul? What on God’s Earth qualifies him to make such a claim by saying another man “pretends to be a Christian”?

That’s what the former Arkansas governor and current Republican candidate for president has done with Barack Obama.

He said the president “pretends to be a Christian,” suggesting quite openly that the president’s profession of faith in Jesus Christ — which he has made several times during his presidency — is somehow inauthentic.

Huckabee has stepped in it with this ridiculous assertion.

What’s more, he contends that the president and his administration are making it more difficult for Christians to worship as they please.

Let’s hold on here.

I would challenge Gov. Huckabee to offer a single example of how Christians these days are less able to worship in their church. He needs to provide specifics on how individuals are being punished or harassed or ostracized by the federal government because of their religious faith.

If he’s referring to the case of Democratic Rowan County (Ky.) Clerk Kim Davis, who’s made news by refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples based on her religious belief, well, that argument is a non-starter. Davis took an oath to serve all the people and she has no right under the secular law to which she swore to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

As a friend of mine noted on social media, the only authority that can judge someone’s faith “isn’t from Arkansas.”

Uncategorized

Tilting left, most of the time

1 Comment

conservative-liberal-road-sign

Readers of this blog, specifically those with a conservative political outlook, have at times accused me of being a flamer, a lefty progressive.

One reader keeps referring to “liberal logic” when trying to counter whatever argument I seek to make.

It’s time, therefore, to set the record straight on a few issues.

On abortion, I believe in a woman’s right to control her own body. Do I condone abortion? No. Neither do I believe government should set laws that criminalize someone from making an intensely personal and heart-wrenching decision. I could not counsel any woman to terminate a pregnancy, but I will never condemn her for making that decision.

Wealth redistribution runs counter to my capitalist instincts. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, makes no bone about it. He’s a socialist and he’s damn proud of it. Good for him. He wants to share the wealth. I don’t have much wealth, but my wife and I do have a nest egg that’s building and we intend to keep our hands on it.

War or diplomacy? I’ll take diplomacy every time whenever possible. I am weary of Republican critics of Barack Obama who contend he is too timid about the use of force against our adversaries/enemies. I have had a tiny exposure to war — back in the late 1960s. Some of you might remember that time. What angers me more than anything in this regard is hearing the get-tough talk from chicken hawks in Congress who fought like hell during the old days to avoid going to war while many of the rest of us were answering the call to duty.

I struggle with the term “gay marriage.” I happen to be a traditionalist on this matter. But I do know what the U.S. Constitution says about “equal protection.” It guarantees that anyone is entitled to marry whomever they wish, without regard to their sexuality. If that’s what the Constitution states — and if the Supreme Court affirms it, which it has done — then I accept the document’s intent.

I am not a partisan Democrat. Texas voting law gives people the opportunity to choose which primary in which they can cast votes. In the two-plus decades I’ve lived in the heavily Republican Texas Panhandle, I’ve cast many votes in the Republican primary. Why? Because here, the Republican primary is where the action is. Democrats often don’t field candidates for local offices. I want my voice heard on races involving county government and the Legislature. I’ll acknowledge here, as I’ve done before, that I haven’t yet voted for a Republican for president since I cast my first vote in 1972. I do, though, split my ticket liberally.

Rich people should pay more in taxes than middle-income folks. I have no difficulty insisting that wealthy Americans should pay more per capita than those of us who haven’t acquired as much wealth. I don’t want them to pay all of their wealth, just enough to help fund government. Hey, they can still be rich!

Finally, I believe in good government. I don’t believe necessarily in big government. I believe government can be a force to help people. I don’t believe, as Ronald Reagan said upon taking the presidential oath in 1981, that government “is the problem.” I want our elected leaders in Congress to stop using their anger at certain agencies to threaten to shut down the entire government. That is demagoguery at — or near — its worst.

There could be more examples. I’m sure some of you will challenge these few items. I just felt the need to lay it out there.

Do I lean left? Sure. There you have it.

legal news

The law is the law, Mme. Clerk

kim-davis

Kim Davis keeps running into that silly little thing called the law.

The Rowan County (Ky.) clerk who’s made a spectacle of herself because she refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples has been hit with yet another legal setback.

A federal court has denied Davis an exemption from a gubernatorial directive that requires all public officials to comply with federal law. The law in question, interestingly, originated in a Kentucky case when a gay couple sued to have their marriage declared legal under U.S. law. The Supreme Court ruled in the couple’s favor earlier this year.

Davis, though, has resisted, saying she follows God’s law.

Davis defeated by court

God’s law is not the law to which she swore an oath to uphold. That oath involved secular law established by the U.S. Constitution.

I’ve noted already that Davis — who spent some time in the slammer on a contempt of court violation when she refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone — has gone back to work. She still isn’t granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but she’s allowing her deputies to do so.

But she’s running out of legal options to keep fighting the law she vowed to follow.

This sideshow became a media spectacle the moment Davis started this illegal protest.

It’s time for it to end. Do you job, Mme. Clerk, or else walk away. You’ll be allowed to pray real hard for what you believe and you can become an advocate for whatever cause you wish to pursue.

You just can’t do it while you’re being required to serve the public interest.

national news

Do your job, Mme. Clerk … or quit!

Old fashionet American Constitution with USA Flag.

Dear Ms. Davis,

You’ve made a name for yourself: Kim Davis, staunch opponent of gay marriage.

You served a few days in jail because a federal judge held you in contempt of court because you failed to do the job you swore you’d do. Part of your job is to issue marriage licenses to those who request them. The law says you aren’t supposed to discriminate against gay couples if they request a license to be married.

But you did discriminate. You paid a small price by being tossed into jail for a few days.

Well, you’re going back to work Monday.

There likely will be more marriage licenses requests awaiting you; after all, you stopped issuing them to anyone, which is why the judge tossed you into the hoosegow in the first place.

What are you going to do once you show up at the Rowan County clerk’s office there in Kentucky?

Here’s a suggestion from an outpost a good bit west of you: Do your damn job or else turn in your resignation.

You say your religious teaching forbids gay marriage. Who cares? The oath you took doesn’t allow you to stand behind your faith. It says you must uphold the laws of the land. And you also ought to stop the “religious persecution” nonsense … and while you’re at it, tell your Republican presidential candidate/surrogates — such as Mike Huckabee — to can that malarkey as well.

I’m betting real money some gay couples will be at your door when it opens Monday morning.

Just remember: All Americans are entitled to be treated equally. The U.S. Constitution says so. The nation’s highest court has affirmed it.

It’s up to you now. The nation knows how you feel about gay marriage. There’s never been the need for you to use your office to make a personal statement of faith. Do not continue to abuse your public office in that fashion.

 

 

national news, political news, religious news

Cruz gets shoved aside at Davis rally

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Check out the look on Sen. Ted Cruz’s face. My guess is he’s thinking: “I can’t believe I’m hearing this … from this guy.”

What he’s hearing, apparently, is that he cannot go near the podium where Rowan County (Ky.) Clerk Kim Davis was shouting “Amen!” in the presence of thousands of supporters, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The guy blocking Cruz’s entry into the rally is a Huckabee aide.

I’m no fan of Ted Cruz, but Huckabee’s conduct at that rally was disgraceful in the extreme. This is one example of how he and his campaign sought to commandeer the rally for his own political purposes.

Huckabee shuts down Cruz

Oh yes. Huck and Cruz are running for the Republican presidential nomination.

It turns out that Huckabee got there first. Davis got out of jail, where she had sat for a few days after refusing to do her job, which includes issuing marriage licenses. She shut down the license issuing to protest gay couples who were seeking such licenses, which the Supreme Court says they are entitled to do.

Davis has proclaimed a religious objection to gay marriage. Then we heard Huckabee shout from the podium that he is willing to take Davis’s place in jail.

That, I submit, is about as tasteless an example of grandstanding as I’ve seen since, oh, when Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox went to Mexico in the late 1980s vowing to capture the killers of a University of Texas student. The issue with that showboating example, of course, is that the Texas AG has next to zero criminal jurisdiction, but by God, the fiery Democrat was going to get ’em.

Huckabee’s behavior at the Davis rally rivals the Mattox example. Then he makes it worse when his aide shuts down another grandstander, Sen. Cruz.

 

national news, political news, religious news

Gov. Huckabee makes spectacle

mike_huckabee_pac_ap_328_0

Is it me, or did I witness this week a shameful exhibition of political grandstanding by someone seeking the limelight on a stage being dominated by one or more of his many Republican presidential rivals?

There was Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who was released from jail, where a judge had sent her for refusing to issue marriage licenses, which is her job as a public official.

I’m glad she’s out of jail. I just wish she’d quit her office, given that she cannot perform the duties required of her.

Then there was Mike Huckabee, a GOP presidential candidate, welcoming Davis to the podium upon her release. He then said he’d be willing to spend time in jail in her place. Take me to jail, he said. I’ll go in Kim’s place, he bellowed. She’s a victim of “judicial tyranny,” Huckabee said.

What a disgraceful exhibition of political showboating.

Davis is a victim of nothing other than a judge believing she needs to do the job she swore she would do. And the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Constitution guarantees that all citizens are entitled to “equal protection under the law,” and that mean all citizens — regardless of their sexual orientation — are guaranteed the right to marry whomever they love.

Davis believes she is being persecuted because of her Christian faith. No, ma’am. You aren’t. You are being asked to perform your job.

Then there’s Huckabee, interjecting himself directly into this debate by declaring his willingness to go to the slammer?

Give me a break, governor.

***

Here’s a blog on the Kim Davis soap opera from a fellow former print journalist I’ve known for a number of years. Dan Radmacher nails it.

You go, Dan.

 

national news, political news

What a fantastic photo op! Well done, Sen. Cruz!

cruz with kim

I found this picture a few minutes ago on the Houston Chronicle website … and I’ll concur with the comment accompanying it that this likely is the most “epic” photo op ever taken of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

I just had to share it here.

That’s the junior Republican senator — and presidential candidate — on the left; next to him is Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses — and who was ordered released from jail earlier today; and next to her is her husband, to whom she’s been married twice.

Check out the “Live Free or Die” poster on the wall behind them.

I guess the big man’s bibs are part of his regular attire.

As for Cruz, who’s decided to make some political hay over Davis’s refusal to do the job to which she took an oath, I keep thinking how he would respond if a pacifist county clerk — who also could stand behind his or her religious belief — refused to issue a gun permit.

Anyhow, I agree with the view that this picture is worth a million — not just a thousand — words.