There has been a lot of talk about Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, and the stance she took and continues to take against gay marriage. Citing her religion as the reason for her defying the historical Supreme Court ruling that gives gay couples the right to marry nationwide, she has become a kind of hero to the radical, republican right wing conservatives who always seem to rear their heads in situations that both give them a leverage to spew their ideology and to showcase their broken system of ethics.
And that’s what all of this is really about, a broken system of ethics. It’s a system that says things are bad and not okay to do when this happens but totally acceptable in other instances. And no group of people practice situational ethics (SE) better than the republicans.
I am going to put myself out there with this one- I voted republican… a few times before in my life. In fact, I think I might even be registered as a republican. That choice was the result of a young 18-year-old girl living under the hand of a man and religious organization that boasts itself in having “the truth,” but who’s actions proved inconsistent with their claims. It is the same religious organization that Kim Davis is a part of. In fact, I bet that she and I have been in each other’s presence at some point in time because the church I belonged to is a part of the same district in which she lives.
Because of my past affiliation with the same train of thought as Davis and the likes of Mike Huckabee, it makes it all the more disgusting to me the way that they tout their religiosity and “authority of God” all the while behaving in ways that are far from Christ-like. I have written about it before and I will write about it again, the support being shown to Davis for going against the supreme law of the land is a perfect case of situational ethics.
What is SE? It is judging the actions of a situation from “ethics” instead of from an absolute moral standard or “categorical principles.” So the context of a situation is what’s important when judging not actual guidelines that apply across the board. That’s why republicans and zealots like Davis and Hukabee can condemn a group of people who have been granted the write to partake in the institute of marriage and brake the law but expect support and love when faced with the consequences of their actions.
This is all a part of a bigger force at play here and the underlying root of people like her and their actions is actually quite dangerous. It’s dangerous not because of the nature of the thing that they deem reprehensible, but because they are behaving in the exact same way in which other countries behave- allowing their religion to be the guiding force in their destructive, loveless actions.
Notice here that I say religion for I am not talking about spirituality. Believe it or not, I do think that you can be spiritual within the aspect of organized religion. It is when the blind adherence of religious standards, practices and schools of thought replace the presence of a truly spiritual experience that you get people that only show compassion in situations that they approve of and to people that are like them.
And that is my biggest gripe and utter exhaustion with Davis and her followers. There is a lack of spiritualty in her actions thus her religious bigotry is the upmost display of hypocrisy.
What does her actions really mean for America? She and others like her believe that we are going to hell in a hand basket and they are the select few to stop it from happening so quickly. But all of this is way deeper than some delusional self-centered assertion of heroism. What it means for our country when people like this “win” is that the fabric of our constitutional rights and protection are slowly torn away. It means we get a glimpse into what it really looks like to have a president like Huckabee if he were to win the republican nomination. It means that these people become the face not just of Apostolic Pentecostal Christians but of all Christians.
The danger and affects of situational ethics on a large scale are debilitating. I don’t mean to be cynical, but I have lived that life before. A life that picks at others who don’t do as I do, who don’t understand as I understand and believing that setting myself apart from them is the best thing to do. That mindset breeds superiority complexes and a gross interpretation of what it truly means to be loving and kind and spiritual.
This is greater than some Kentucky clerk denying gay marriage licenses. The real attack is not on her or her ideals at all, but is indeed on our overall way life.