Tuesday, September 1, 2015

It's On in Rowan County, Kentucky (3): "Under God's Authority," Religious Freedom, and the Elite Commentariat


A YouTube user, 646guy, is uploading videos from today's events at the Rowan County, Kentucky, courthouse. The video above is more extensive footage than what I previously posted, showing Kim Davis denying a marriage license to a same-sex couple "under God's authority." It may be worth watching this YouTube page to see if 646guy uploads more videos today.


Kim Davis's statement that she acts "under God's authority" will be applauded by many in the commetariat of the elite center, which bends over backwards to find something to cheer in even the most outré ideas and utterances of those on the far rights, while working assiduously to keep those to the left of the center in check.

Most of the journalists and talking heads who occupy that elite centrist place in our culture live in places in which it would be unthinkable for them — it would be unthinkable for themselves — to go to a courthouse or a store expecting to receive services or buy goods and be told, "Sorry, no can do. I'm acting under God's authority."

I'm sorry, Sir. I may not sell you that bacon. 
You what?! What authority gives you the right to refuse to sell me  anything at all? 
I act under God's authority, Sir!
++++++++++
I'm sorry, Madam. I cannot sell you that hat. You look hideous in it, like a frog trying to pass for a daisy.
Under whose authority, pray, do you refuse to sell me a hat? 
Under God's authority, Ma'am!

+++++++++++ 
Nope, no driver's license for you today, lady. 
Why, when I passed both the written test and the driving test? 
It's that hijab.  
How can you, a public official, deny me rights and services because of how I'm dressed
Officials in this courthouse act under God's authority, lady.

If anything remotely similar to this happened to the commentators who will be cheering Kim Davis and her "religious freedom," while they themselves happen to live in enlightened and tolerant parts of the U.S., they'd demand that the malefactor be brought to justice in a heartbeat. But they have no compunction whatsoever, folks in the beltway media and centrist commentariat, about playing ugly games with the lives of vulnerable people in parts of the country where this kind of behavior, in the name of God, targets the vulnerable and does real harm to people who live far from the secure niches from which the centrist commentariat pontificates.

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