September 4, 2015 – Ben and Siya Blog Shit

We saw news that the “greatest living rock star” was running for President in 2020. Of course, we also learned that the best quarterback the creator placed on turf with swine-skin was once again free to perform his ordained duty among mortals: to unleash hell on Football’s AFC East Division with the wrath of a thousand Gronk spikes. A topic that always lingered amidst that fiasco was “Kim Davis”. I thought the same thing… there’s only room for one Kim on social media, and we’re not sure why SHE’s getting attention in the first place. If you managed to ignore this one out of principle until now, congratulations. You’re stronger than I.

Basically; “Kim Davis” is this week’s hero of the so-called “silent majority”. She’s a county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples on grounds that performing that duty violates her deepest convictions and beliefs.

Ms. Davis has a principled point that is shared by this “silent majority” that has watched “their America” disappear before their aging eyes. In fact, this African might even empathize with her convictions and beliefs. This is Labor Day Weekend. So, let’s take some work and mental time off to relax while reflecting on the line in the sand drawn by these two simple thoughts:

This is embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to people of faith. It’s embarrassing to American liberty. It’s embarrassing and insulting to the intelligence of those who want to appreciate and identify with tenets of conservatism. But, mostly it is embarrassing to Conservatism at the core and how it will continue to identify itself for the next generation.
JUST THIS YEAR, we all witnessed folks standing behind the Confederate/Rebel Flag with claims that it did not stand for the enslavement, and later devaluing and disenfranchising of an entire race of people. “Southern Pride” … in the right to do just that. More than a century later, I was amazed to watch in awe as both descendants of confederate soldiers, and their non-related sympathizers banged their heads against the proverbial glass door of their conscious. Their conscious refused to let them admit and accept the truth of the DARK DARK past of intolerance invoked by a flammable mix of religious and political rhetoric that invoked hatred and divisiveness. The dixie flag was the universal symbol of this rhetoric. It was the emblem, the logo, the stamp.
TODAY – in 2015 – descendants of this past struggle to come to grips with honoring their forefathers lives, and acknowledging the moral and decay they would not claim as their own. Reading Governor Huckabee’s comments, I can’t help but wonder who will “Wake Up”…”wake up” and do what…and “who’s next” in what from whom exactly.

The biggest influence of my understanding of faith has always been my mother. One of her favorite scriptures was at one point or another on posters on the front door, stitched into the welcome mat that greeted house guests, and probably served as the screensaver to our first desktop if memory serves us. “As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord Joshua 24:15“.
Back then coming up, that read more like the long-form, non-secular version of “my house, my rules”. But, Today and in this particular context, it takes on a meaning reaching far past the walls and doors of mama’s house. “as for me and my house”…the precursor to that statement today is a deeply personal declaration of faith and family. It’s a declaration Kim Davis made, and best selling Christian author, Rachel Evans takes exception to.
Reading her words, I can’t help but refer back up to Governor Huckabee’s words. If Kim Davis sympathizers believe it is a mark of conviction to wield the power of the collective people through rule of law to deny constitutionally afforded civil rights to those outside “your house”, or “my house”, WHO’S NEXT?

Update: Kim Davis was released from jail a few minutes ago, and barred from denying marriage licenses. So there’s THAT