I Fought the Law and the Law Won, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

September 6, 2015 Victor El-Khouri 2 Comments

Oy, Kim Davis. Such tsuris.

If a fundamentalist Muslim chose to be a USDA meat inspector, and refused to allow any pork to be sold in the United States because it violates the laws of the Koran (and the Torah), the American public would, rightly, object to the way this person does his job, and suggest he find another line of work.

If a fundamentalist Jew became a barber and refused to trim the sideburns of any of his customers, he would, most likely, soon need to find another job.

I don’t know enough about Hinduism to speculate (and yet, that won’t stop me), but I can imagine a Hindu medical examiner who refuses to sign someone’s death certificate because the deceased has been reborn. That Hindu medical examiner would probably be fired right away.

It’s the law of the land that you can’t be fired because of your religious beliefs. We are allowed to take time off to celebrate our most important holidays. We are allowed to keep our heads covered, if our faith demands it, as well as our elbows and knees.

Unless you’re a stripper. I would guess that most people whose religion requires modesty in dress would not apply to be strippers.

Other than stripping, however, all employment is open to anyone able to do the job. Your religion, your superstitions, your fashion sense, your choice of cologne — all are fine as long as those choices only affect you.

Which brings me to my point. If your religion will not allow you to perform the legal duties of your job, you should find another job. Kim Davis’ job included signing marriage licenses. A marriage license is a document, issued by the State, that becomes a civil contract between the two adults who sign it. It is not a sacrament, unless they formed a new religion while I wasn’t paying attention and now the United States bureaucracy is a deity.

Most people who refuse to perform their professional duties get fired, not jailed. Most people who refuse to do their jobs are not, as a result of their choice, breaking the law.

I know a lot of people who have gone to jail because they broke the law for their beliefs. One friend of mine, Ralph DiGia, was not only imprisoned as a conscientious objector in World War Two but also, while there, organized a hunger strike to integrate the prison dining room.

I have a lot of respect for people who go to jail because they won’t violate their morality.

That’s not exactly what is happening here. Kim Davis is not protesting against an unjust authority. She is the unjust authority. She is not only clinging to her beliefs (which is her right), but she is forcing them on others (which is not). For example, my religion (Reform Judaism) recognizes same-sex marriage. Her actions threaten my religious freedom.

But then, to the professional victims who lead the religious right, the only freedom that matters is their ability to impose their preferences on the rest of us.

She’s also, like so many other fundamentalist Christians, remarkably cavalier about which Biblical laws she follows. So many fundamentalists, of all kinds, care only about enforcing the laws on genitals. In Ms. Davis’ case, she seems to only care about enforcing the laws on other people’s genitals, since she, herself, has violated the Bible’s prohibitions about divorce.

I’m sorry she’s in jail, because the situation makes her a martyr. I’m sorry that I live in a society in which she will, most likely, get rich when she gets out of jail, profiting from what the Internet has dubbed Wingnut Welfare. I’m sorry I now seem to know so much about her sad little tawdry life.

On the plus side, there’s this.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, hopes everyone is enjoying Labor Day weekend, and thanking the union movement for the holiday.