{"id":64017,"date":"2015-09-21T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-21T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=64017"},"modified":"2015-09-19T19:22:32","modified_gmt":"2015-09-19T18:22:32","slug":"from-the-dept-of-sacred-satire-god-responds-to-kim-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/09\/from-the-dept-of-sacred-satire-god-responds-to-kim-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Dept of Sacred Satire: God Responds to Kim Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voice Male<\/a>\u00a0magazine, a publication chronicling the profeminist men\u2019s movement, reports that it has come into possession of a memo from God to Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who has refused to issue marriage licenses to any couples since the Supreme Court ruling affirming gay marriage more than two months ago. She was jailed for her refusal, claiming she was acting on God’s authority.\u00a0What follows is God\u2019s memo to Ms. Davis, made available by the magazine\u2019s editor.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Creation of Adam – Fresco by Michelangelo at Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, painted circa 1511\u20131512.<\/p><\/div>\n

To<\/em>:\u00a0 Kim Davis
\nFrom<\/em>: God
\nRe<\/em>: My Authority<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing to clarify my position on your citing Me as the reason you refused to issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples.<\/p>\n

From my perch on high, I watched you refusing to issue\u00a0any<\/em>\u00a0marriage licenses as a way to thwart same-sex couples. There\u2019s no way I can sugarcoat this, Ms. Davis: your argument is flawed. For one thing, in addition to the gay couples you denied, you trampled on the rights of all the heterosexual couples who wish to wed\u2014most, no doubt, brother and sister Christians like you. Invoking My name as the reason for your actions didn\u2019t keep you out of jail, and now all of your deputy clerks are issuing the licenses, anyway (except, of course, for one, your son).<\/p>\n

When that prospective gay groom shouted at you, \u201cBy whose authority\u2026\u201d were you denying issuing the licenses and you said, \u201cGod\u2019s\u201d\u2014I woke up. (Sometimes I take a Sabbath on a weekday; I think it\u2019s good to spice things up once in a while.) I checked my inbox and Twitter feed and saw there was absolutely\u00a0nothing<\/em>\u00a0from you\u2014nada. (Note to Mr. Trump: I\u2019m taking a point of personal privilege here throwing in a little Spanish). \u00a0When I heard you were using Me to justify your actions, I have to admit the first words that came out of my mouth were, \u201cWTF!\u201d (Some of the more prudish angels around here shot me dirty looks.)<\/p>\n

I have been following the gay marriage debate since, well, forever (actually, I\u2019ve been following everything since forever), and would like to enlighten you about a few things to you, including\u2014but\u00a0not now\u2014my thoughts on biblical David\u2019s\u00a0and Jonathan\u2019s \u201cfriendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the United States, clerks like you started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on May 17, 2004. A lot of people who share your convictions said, \u201cThe sky will fall\u201d and, \u201cMarriage will be irreparably harmed.\u201d Didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0\u00a0Just to be sure, over the next several weeks I frequently circled over Boston\u2014(Fenway Park, actually; you may remember that 2004 was a heavenly year for the Red Sox).\u00a0If the sky\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0fall, I wanted to be there to protect the Prudential Center. Again, nada. And, last I checked\u2014a millisecond ago\u2014there\u2019s been\u00a0zero<\/em>\u00a0impact on heterosexual marriage one way or the other. Some marriages are going strong; some are troubled; some are just bumping along. (I\u00a0did<\/em>\u00a0hear from some straight couples who opined, \u201cGay marriage? Haven\u2019t they suffered enough?\u201d I chuckled so loudly the heavens shook.)<\/p>\n

Not to pull rank on you with the old parental \u201cBecause I say so,\u201d I did a little research for your benefit. Consider: Denmark gave equal rights to same-sex partners in 1989 (if not the right to marry per se), the first country in the world to do so. Norway was second, in 1993; Sweden followed in 1994; and Greenland in 1996; the Netherlands in 1997, Catalonia in 1998, Belgium in 1999, and, Germany\u00a0in 2001. Holland\u2019s Queen Beatrix signed the first same-sex marriage bill on December 21, 2000. So, depending how you count, it\u2019s been 26 years or 15 years and, although climate change has significantly made the planet\u2019s future more precarious, the sky is still up there, fragile ozone layer and all.<\/p>\n

I know you\u2019ve been putting up a good fight, Ms. Davis, but it\u2019s time to face the music\u2014to listen to the heavenly choir, so to speak. When you said you were denying couples\u2019 marriage licenses on\u00a0My authority<\/em>\u2014without actually talking to me\u2014I had to intervene.<\/p>\n

From inside your jail cell you probably couldn\u2019t hear the happy supporters of the gay couples outside the courthouse when your deputy clerks began issuing licenses. I could hear them, though, loud and clear. They boiled this whole sorry affair down to two words\u2014two words that guide all I do: \u201cLove wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let me know if you\u2019d like to meet. My door\u2019s always open.<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

Rob Okun<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>rob@voicemalemagazine.org<\/em><\/a>, is a psychotherapist practicing in Amherst, Massachusetts and of editor of <\/em>Voice Male, a national magazine chronicling the transformation of masculinity. He\u00a0writes for <\/em>PeaceVoice<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To: Kim Davis
\nFrom: God
\nRe: My Authority
\nI\u2019m writing to clarify my position on your citing Me as the reason you refused to issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-for-thought"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64017\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}