Column: Is it really ‘a decision of obedience?’

Well, a deeply religious person just put her foot down on the right for gay people to marry.

Nay, she stomped that foot!

A clerk in Kentucky decided that issuing marriage licenses to gay couples violates her right to religious freedom. So strong is her conviction that she has claimed “For me it is a decision of obedience.”

I guess obedience means different things to different people. I look at obedience as following orders. Webster’s defines it as “compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority.”

I’m not sure I know what that clerk’s definition is. If it is to follow orders, she probably practices “selective obedience” as her primary order as a clerk is to follow the law and issue marriage licenses. She claims her actions are driven by the words in the Bible, but as an elected official in Kentucky, she took an oath to uphold the orders of her job, and that oath was taken on a Bible.

I’ve heard of the Hippocratic Oath. Now we have the Hypocritical Oath.

One thing I do have to give to her is that she is well-practiced in marriage. She’s exercised her right to marry four times. Saying so many “ do’s” must have depleted her supply so that only “I don’ts” are left on the shelf. Perhaps we should set aside the fact she takes oaths on Bibles lightly and marries like she’s the second coming of Elizabeth Taylor.

This is about her not violating the tenets of the Bible. I’m not a Biblical scholar, but something tells me that adultery is covered somewhere like in a Commandment or something. Miss Hoity-Toity has flaunted that one, too, having twins by one man while married to another man. But hey, the man and woman thing is still being followed. I haven’t followed up to see if the twins are named Adam and Steve.

I can’t help but think of this woman like Dana Carvey’s “Church Lady” character.

While I find people like this to be utter fools, there are people who do lend support. Mike Huckabee hailed her as “a true hero” the other day. Yes, it is the same Mike Huckabee, with impeccable taste in who to support, for he also stood by Josh Duggar when claims of molestation were swirling. Oddly enough, he withdrew the support when it was found Duggar also was an Ashley Madison client. You have to draw the line somewhere I guess.

And that’s the problem. People draw that line. In pencil. Situationally.

This story was originally published September 4, 2015 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Column: Is it really ‘a decision of obedience?’."