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What Hill Do We Die On, Then? (Kim Davis and Religious Liberty)
American Conservative ^ | SEpt 4, 2015 | Rod Dreher

Posted on 09/04/2015 4:15:38 PM PDT by yongin

have said these past couple of days that as gay rights and the ideology at its heart continues to conquer our culture, I expect us small-o orthodox Christians to have to take a hard, sacrificial stand against the state and society, for the sake of religious liberty. Kim Davis’s situation, I’ve said, is not the hill to die on.

The reason for this is certainly contestable, but here it is, in a nutshell.

1. Kim Davis’s position is unwinnable. Nobody seriously expects her to get gay marriage overturned, or even to succeed in carving out a special zone of protection for public officials who, for reasons of conscience, refuse to carry out lawful decisions of the courts. Even if we believe that the Obergefell decision lacks moral legitimacy, there can be no doubt that as a matter of legal procedure, the Supreme Court’s decision is the law. Our side lost that battle decisively. Kim Davis’s stance, while it may be personally courageous, is going to result in another defeat, because it cannot be otherwise in our system. The only point of backing it is to flip the bird to the state and to the broader culture — something I have great sympathy for, but it’s a pointless gesture that can only hurt us in the battles to come.

(Excerpt) Read more at theamericanconservative.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS: homosexualagenda; idiotauthor; kimdavis
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To: caww

The failure is not just of the courts. It is of the legislative branch for not reining in these tyrants. And it is in the executive branch for violating their oaths by enforcing the immoral, unconstitutional opinions of the judges.


101 posted on 09/04/2015 7:11:49 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: caww

You are very welcome.


102 posted on 09/04/2015 7:12:13 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: EternalVigilance

Wow!


103 posted on 09/04/2015 7:12:25 PM PDT by caww
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To: yongin
refuse to carry out lawful decisions of the courts

Except that they are not lawful decisions.

there can be no doubt that as a matter of legal procedure, the Supreme Court’s decision is the law

Of course it's not the law. The law is what was passed by the Kentucky General Assembly and signed by the Governor, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, as amended. The law is also what was passed by Congress and signed by the President (The Defense of Marriage Act).

Those are the laws. A decision such as Obergefell vs. Hodges is entirely lawless, lacking both jurisdiction and authority, and it should be ignored by ANY official sworn to uphold the law and the Constitution.

That the Lord has chosen the imperfect vessel named Kim Davis - well, that IS how He works, isn't it?

104 posted on 09/04/2015 7:13:40 PM PDT by Jim Noble (You walk into the room like a camel and then you frown)
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To: yongin
Huckabee said the High Court ruling is unjust, and people should be free to ignore it. That does not make the case for religious liberty when the person is a govt official

Why not?

Huckabee, who is mostly an idiot, is exactly correct about this.

105 posted on 09/04/2015 7:15:08 PM PDT by Jim Noble (You walk into the room like a camel and then you frown)
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To: Jim Noble

Great post. Right on the mark.


106 posted on 09/04/2015 7:16:46 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: ctdonath2
SCOTUS vacated relevant KY law

They don't have the power to do that.

107 posted on 09/04/2015 7:18:24 PM PDT by Jim Noble (You walk into the room like a camel and then you frown)
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To: EternalVigilance

...”It is of the legislative branch for not reining in these tyrants.... And it is in the executive branch for violating their oaths by enforcing the immoral, unconstitutional opinions of the judges”.....

With that in mind then ...it looks like there’s no one guarding the chicken coup....it’s a free for all however they choose to “use and abuse” the system without accountability to anyone because those seats are basically non functioning as determined they should be.

Somebody is making a whole heap of money throughout it all.


108 posted on 09/04/2015 7:19:08 PM PDT by caww
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To: Jim Noble
Huckabee, who is mostly an idiot, is exactly correct about this.

I agree completely.

109 posted on 09/04/2015 7:19:24 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: caww

Yeah, that’s right.

Basically, the judicial supremacist fallacy is a coup d’etat against our constitutional, republican form of government. It’s the transforming of our free, constitutional republic, premised on the natural moral law, into a judicial oligarchy, premised only on the arbitrary, immoral whims of men.

As you said, there is currently almost no one in public office fighting the coup plotters on behalf of the sovereign people of the United States.


110 posted on 09/04/2015 7:27:07 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: caww; Jim Robinson; EternalVigilance
pinging you and couple others to what Eternal Vigilance has posted in several posts....if the Constitution does not convey such authority to the courts...then this Davis case may erupt to be far more than what imagined....I also hope Cruz is chiming in with her legal team.
111 posted on 09/04/2015 7:27:32 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww

You, and perhaps others here, may not like to hear it, but the fact is that Cruz is also a judicial supremacist.

I’ve studied his words, record, and positions very, very closely, and I have absolutely no doubt about that.

He’s really slick about it, as you would expect a Harvard-trained lawyer to be, but he is one.


112 posted on 09/04/2015 7:32:40 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (Contempt of a lawless court is not a criminal act, it's a citizen's duty.)
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To: EternalVigilance

I much prefer the way you worded it...vastly so.

It would also come to mind that this is the very thing Cruz has been knee deep trying to bring attention to and fighting....I had heard sometime back a coup de’tat had indeed happened, but I could not connect the dots fully though you could certainly see it operating, at least the end results.......but now it’s making sense.

People, myself included, have known ‘something more’ is very wrong and it’s not just about the next election..as the same thing just keeps repeating itself no matter who is in office......I believed Cruz when I first began listening to him....but even then couldn’t see very well into the fray......Cruz said that “the American people do not realize how close we are to taking back our country”...clear back after he pulled the filibuster........that got my attention and has stuck to this day....it’s how he said it with such conviction...as if he knew something the people don’t. That led me to pay attention to him and I have ever sense.

The night he filibustered should be required hearing where he layed out so clearly how our Government should be working ‘at every level’....but isn’t....the greatest instruction I ever heard on our Government in laymans terms that were understandable yet at depth ....I stayed up the entire night to listen to the man....never realizing until then how ‘little’ I really knew about our government.

Didn’t Rush mention this coup as well?


113 posted on 09/04/2015 7:43:45 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww; EternalVigilance

He’s right on some things, but unfortunately there’s no one running that’s good enough to satisfy him. And never will be. So he’ll run for president himself (again).


114 posted on 09/04/2015 7:45:50 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
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To: EternalVigilance

Well I’ve certainly been in Cruz’z court as explained in my last post....now I have to look at what a Judicial “Supremacist” IS...since I’ve seen Cruz as a Consititutionalist”.....

Thank you for your patience as I continue to learn what I wish I had known long ago....


115 posted on 09/04/2015 7:47:29 PM PDT by caww
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To: yongin

The catholic church will remain silent as usual. There won’t be any homilies about this. No prayers for her from the faithful.... and I am a catholic.


116 posted on 09/04/2015 7:48:30 PM PDT by Phillyred
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To: yongin
So, if Kim Davis isn’t a hill to die on, what is? It’s a fair question. Broadly speaking, my answer is this: when they start trying to tell us how to run our own religious institutions — churches, schools, hospitals, and the like — and trying to close them or otherwise destroy them for refusing to accept LGBT ideology. This is a bright red line — and it’s a fight in which we might yet win meaningful victories, given the strong precedents in constitutional jurisprudence.

The author is a FOOL, a complete, contemptable FOOL if he doesn't understand that churches, schools, hospitals, and in fact FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION are the ultimate targets of the gaystapo.

The left knows they win by attrition. That's their game plan, and the author above is enabling them by not taking a stand right here, right now.

117 posted on 09/04/2015 7:51:25 PM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: usconservative


The left knows they win by attrition.

Brilliantly stated. Popular culture. Given in Liberty - are we capable of adequate defense?

Have a great weekend.
118 posted on 09/04/2015 8:03:53 PM PDT by SunLakesJeff (Life)
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To: Jim Noble; Jim Robinson; onyx; betty boop; Alamo-Girl

...”Kim Davis is a controversial figure in her own time. She makes us uncomfortable because she suggests a comfortable era for Christians in America may be coming to an end. We may reach a point where we can’t dodge anymore: either we will surrender our faith for all practical purposes, or we will suffer to maintain a stand for righteousness. But she isn’t the villain.

If it’s wrong to be defiant, and if we should disagree with the government in the most quiet, unobtrusive way possible, then we can say that many of the Biblical heroes were wrong. If we were back in their time, we could set them straight.

We might say to Shadrech, Meshach, and Abednego, “You know guys, the King’s going to give you a second chance to bow down before his idol, and you should take it. It doesn’t matter if you bow, it’s just part of your job, and you know what, ‘God knows your heart.’ Try to trick the king by bowing towards Jerusalem. He’ll think your bowing to his idol but you’ll really be bowing towards the temple. Isn’t that clever?”

We’d be dismayed when instead they turned to the King and said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not fear to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 KJ21)

Daniel could’ve taken a far easier, far more palatable solution when King Darius decreed no one could pray to any God or man but him for 30 days. “This is really simple. You don’t have to stop praying. You just have to make sure no one sees you praying. Go take a nap or go out into the desert alone. Pray quietly and you’ll thwart those advisers who got the law passed.” Instead, we’d find that Daniel chose a somewhat more conspicuous route:

When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. (Daniel 6:10, ESV)

John the Baptist had a successful ministry baptizing thousands. However, he also had a problem with sin and one of the biggest sinners around was King Herod. We might say, “Teacher, we know you don’t like what the King’s done but he doesn’t care and you should do the smart thing and stay out of politics, and not say anything against him.” We’d be frustrated as we saw John’s perfectly good (though diminishing) ministry ruined by his continuing to proclaim that Herod’s marriage to his sister-in-law Herodias was unlawful.

Who was he to try and foist a biblical definition of marriage on Herod? You can’t expect sinners to follow the law of God or to act like they know God. You have to be more gentle.

Indeed, judged by modern standards, such heroes of faith aren’t heroes, only stubborn, uncooperative people who lacked the common sense to stay out of trouble.

We’ll never publicly state that. Most Christians will praise them and other righteous practitioners of the fine art of inconveniencing tyrants. We exult people for the brave and daring in defiance of wicked laws: all praise to the Underground Railroad, Corrie Ten Boom, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We even honor Christians in other lands who stand for their faith in defiance of local laws.

We only honor civil disobedience from a safe distance. In the 1850s many a good pastor in the North would say Christians should obey the Fugitive Slave Act and return abused and beaten slaves to their masters in the South. Some congregations were unfortunate enough to have their churches located near railroad tracks during the Nazi Era. They became expert in singing louder to drown out the screams coming from those being sent to the death camps in box cars.

(I ran across this site and found the entire entry fascinating and helpful....thought sharing it would be to others as well....as Christians this may very well be the time we must now stand...)

https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2015/09/the-age-of-disobedience/


119 posted on 09/04/2015 8:03:55 PM PDT by caww
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To: Jim Robinson

It’s not like I’m asking a lot, Jim.

1. Understand that our rights come from God, not from men, and order your public policies and actions accordingly.

2. Provide equal protection for every person, including little babies, as God and the Constitution require.

3. Protect the indispensable institution of marriage and the natural family, as God defined and created it.

4. Protect our right to keep and bear arms.

5. Protect our national sovereignty, security, and borders.

6. Preserve our republican form of American self-government, with its proper limitations and checks and balances.

7. Keep the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

That’s not too much to ask.

These simple, vital things should be non-negotiable for every patriotic American, I think. And they should be required for every candidate for public office, not just for presidential candidates.


120 posted on 09/04/2015 8:06:46 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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