September 2, 2015
Kim Davis
Rowan County Clerk
600 W. Main St., Room 102
Morehead, KY 40351
Dear Mrs. Davis,
When you opened this letter -- if you opened it at all -- I'm sure you did so with much trepidation. As you well know, your approval ratings have taken a bit of a tumble in recent months. I'm certain you have received plenty of angry letters from the LGBT community and from progressives.
Well, let me tell you up front that I am a progressive as well. I am a straight, married father of two living in the southeastern corner of the state, not all that far from you, and I am a passionate advocate for marriage equality. I have a number of LGBT friends, and I love them dearly. I am (probably too) protective of them, and I believe they should be able to make the same commitment to one another that I made to my wife.
I am also a Christ-follower (I generally refrain from using the word "Christian" because it has been hijacked and lost so much of its original meaning), and that is why I am taking the time to write to you.
I want to first apologize. I'm sure you are aware that many in the blogosphere are offering snarky comments regarding your appearance. This is small-minded, petty, and needlessly mean-spirited. You are a human being, and words have the capacity to hurt. So on their behalf (and mine, to the extent that I have participated), I am sorry.
Many are also commenting on your multiple marriages. I understand from reading your statement yesterday that you have been a follower of Jesus for about four years. It is unfair for anyone, and especially for other Christians, to throw this up at you as some sort of "proof" of hypocrisy. I gather from reading the statement that you are married now, and I wish you much happiness and success in that relationship.
That said, I do want to gently challenge you. I'll be honest: Until yesterday evening, I was quite cynical about your position on this issue. I thought it more likely than not that you were aiming for a book deal or something similarly lucrative out of this whole thing. Then I read your statement. I now believe that you are sincere in your beliefs; however, I believe your beliefs are hugely misguided.
First, you state that issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples would "violate a central teaching of scripture." I must strongly disagree with your use of the word "central." On several occasions, the early church fathers convened to hammer out what was essential. Look up the Apostles Creed and/or the Nicene Creed; both came from such conversations. I will bet my house that gay marriage was not part of their discussion.
The Church for centuries has debated and disagreed on any number of issues: Women in ministry, adult vs. child baptism, appropriate clothing, proper hair length, speaking in tongues, tithing, what kind of music should be played in church ... the list is virtually endless. Over time, we have agreed to disagree on these things; that's why there are so many denominations. Surely you can concede that we can agree to disagree on this topic as well -- and if so, then it must not be "central."
You also refer the teaching of "Jesus Himself regarding marriage." I assume you are referring to Mark 10, in which Jesus speaks of a man leaving his father and mother and becoming one flesh with a woman -- I assume this is because this is literally the only time Jesus spoke of anything even remotely related. However, if you don't just lift that verse out of its context, it's crystal-clear from the surrounding sentences that this is a statement on the commitment and permanency of marriage and not a statement about who should marry. Rather than condemning same-sex marriage, Jesus is condemning divorce. I am assuming that you weren't previously refusing to issue marriage licenses to divorced people; I hope you can appreciate the irony here.
I'm going to assume for the moment that you do not have any LGBT friends. If you did, I would hope that it would impact how you view this situation. Several years ago, I heard a famous pastor speak at the University of Kentucky, and someone in the audience tried to bait him into stating whether or not he believed it was a sin to be gay. His response was, "Well, I think before any pastor preaches on this topic, they ought to go out and make a gay friend." What he was insinuating was that a person's perspective changes drastically when they're talking about an actual, flesh-and-blood person rather than an abstract concept or principle.
To be clear: I do not believe that it is a sin to be gay. If you research the very few verses of scripture that condemn homosexuality -- if you dig into the historical context and original translations -- you find a quite different picture. Mark Sandlin has written a wonderful, well-researched piece about this, which you can read at http://www.thegodarticle.com/faith/clobbering-biblical-gay-bashing if you choose -- and I do hope you will. You don't have to agree with me; I have plenty of friends who don't agree with me, and I'm happy to still call them my friends.
But the practical implication of your disagreeing with me on this issue is that you are inflicting injustice -- and that is not acceptable. And as a follower of a God who is on the side of victims throughout scripture, I can't pretend that it is OK.
Let's think about this using another scripture for a moment. In Luke 17, Jesus heals ten lepers. This was much more than just healing a sickness; in that culture, Jesus essentially gave them their lives back. Lepers were isolated from everyone else -- if these men had families, they hadn't seen them since they got sick. In healing their skin disease, Jesus restored their right to live like human beings.
Only one of them came back to thank Jesus -- only one did the proper, scripturally correct thing. But ten men went home to their families. Jesus didn't undo this restoration of their lives; he allowed them to enjoy the benefits of what he had given them, even if they weren't "orthodox."
I'd also point out that many scholars believe that the Roman centurion's servant Jesus healed in Luke 7 was possibly the centurion's lover. We can't know whether this was the case or not -- but if it was, then the fact that Jesus healed the man without question speaks volumes.
My point is this: Your "participation" in allowing your gay and lesbian neighbors to enjoy the same benefits as the rest of us is not unbiblical. Even if you continue to believe their "lifestyle" is sinful, this is no reason, biblically speaking, for you to deny them that opportunity. To do so, quite frankly, is selfish -- and I know that's a sin.
I know you think you are protecting religious liberty. Please understand that you are not. Religious liberty says that a minister doesn't have to officiate, or a church doesn't have to host, a same-sex wedding. Religious liberty does not say that an elected official doesn't have to perform a duty of her office. You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation.
And I don't think that's all your fault.
You are listening to some nasty, dangerous people. I promise you that Mat Staver and his cohorts are secretly licking their chops at the thought of you going to jail. Oh, they will stand in front of cameras and talk about what a tragedy it is, but internally, they will be loving every minute of it. They will be loving every minute of it because nothing gets the media, and the money, flowing like perceived persecution.
You are merely a pawn in their game. They will be profiting from your pain -- from your family's pain. That is disgusting. I am extending grace to you because I believe you to be sincere; I have no such beliefs about Mr. Staver or the Liberty Counsel. They are political opportunists interested only in advancing their own cause.
You deserve better than that.
I hope that you have a change of heart and begin to issue licenses to same-sex couples wishing to marry in your county. I hope that you will stop choosing this course of action that is causing so much division. But if you cannot find it in your heart to do that, I hope that you will resign from your position and allow your county, our state, and our country to move forward.
Grace and peace to you.
Respectfully,
Jarrod Sherman
