Are you supportive of Kim Davis?
As most people are aware, Kim Davis is the county clerk in Rowan County Kentucky who is now sitting in jail because she refused to sign marriage certificates that would violate her conscience informed by her religious (Christian) beliefs.
Of course many of the presidential candidates weighed in. Hillary Clinton was unsupportive of Davis, saying that she needs to do her duty. Jeb Bush said that there is enough room for Davis to uphold the law and act on her conscience. It would seem that many would agree with them citing a difference between being a baker and an elected official. Others would say this is not a hill to die on and that it is unwise tactical move in the ongoing culture war.
In contrast, Doug Wilson perceptively notes that:
whenever we get to that elusive and ever-receding “hill to die on,” we will discover, upon our arrival there, that it only looked like a hill to die on from a distance. Up close, when the possible dying is also up close, it kind of looks like every other hill. All of a sudden it looks like a hill to stay alive on, covered over with topsoil that looks suspiciously like common ground….retreat is habit-forming. (I recommend reading the rest of Wilson’s post here.)
I tend to agree with Wilson while at the same time acknowledge the complexity of the situation.
This said, allow me to try to encourage you down a different track by asking you a simple question: “How would you pray for Kim Davis?”
Let’s imagine that we can go back in time to before the SCOTUS Obergefell decision and you are a Christian living in Rowan County Kentucky. You are aiming to be a faithful believer and so you are praying for government officials (1 Tim. 2). How would you have prayed for your local officials?
You may have prayed for them to honor God in how they serve. You may have acknowledged the trajectory away from biblical morality but nevertheless asked that those who serve would do so in a way that promotes human flourishing while also reflecting what pleases God. You may have prayed specifically for those who are Christians to have wisdom, grace, humility, boldness and faithfulness in their vocations. No doubt you would have acknowledged the difficult spot they are in and even begged God that they would be salt and light in a context that is becoming so increasingly hostile to biblical Christianity.
Now, several months later you have an elected clerk who has stated that she is willing to go to jail rather than violate her conscience. If you were praying this before you would look at this and say, “God has answered my prayer. This sister is saying, ‘I’m not rolling over and dying; there are some things worth contending for. I’ll suffer the consequences.'”
It would seem to me that that we who are Christians would have to rejoice in her sensitivity to her conscience and sobriety about the issue rather than to ridicule her. Her willingness to take her lumps and be pushed out (or locked up) rather than to violate her conscience is exactly how I would pray for my local officials. She is forcing the conversation down a different track.
Wilson observes, “Don’t tell believers to stay engaged so that they can make a difference, and then, when they start making a difference, tell them that this is not a hill to die on. Make the bad guys reveal themselves. Make them crack down on evangelical county clerks, while continuing to wink at sanctuary cities and local defiance of federal pot laws.”
Likewise, I would add, “Don’t pray for believers to make a difference and then when they start making a difference tell them that the issue is not a hill to die on.”
Pray for our elected officials (and all those in the public sphere) who are Christians to be faithful, gracious, and bold. Pray that through this that the “bad guys” would in fact reveal themselves even as Christians are not ashamed to reveal themselves.
