Litany Of Lies: FRC's Perkins Packs An Email With Copious Falsehoods
Rob Boston printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 11:58:11 AM EST

I realize that people may be tired of reading about the saga of Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Ky., clerk who is in jail because she ignored a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But on Friday I received a blast email from Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), that is so littered with lies that it demands a reply.

Headlined "Help free Kim Davis from jail," the email takes the form of a petition to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, demanding that he spring her from the Carter County Detention Center.

Before I go any further, I should point out that Davis' legal defense, such as it is, is being handled by the Liberty Counsel, a Religious Right legal group headed by Mat Staver that operates out of Liberty University. The FRC has nothing to do with her case. Perkins is popping off in in the hopes that he can hog some of the limelight and perhaps shake a few bucks from his gullible supporters.

Perkins writes that Davis is being persecuted because the same-sex couple that sued Davis with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union "have had many other options for obtaining a license and have, in fact, now gotten one."

That's a bald-faced lie. The truth is that unless they were willing to travel to another county, couples in Rowan County had no other option because Davis had refused to issue licenses to all couples (straight and gay) rather than allow same-sex couples to get them. Yes, same-sex couples can now get licenses in Rowan County - but that's only because Davis is in jail. Junior clerks in her office are now issuing the licenses. They had been willing to do it before, but Davis ordered them not to.

Perkins goes on to imply that Davis is some type of prisoner of conscience who has been denied "her deeply-held Christian convictions." Wrong again. Prior to her incarceration, Davis was free to attend church, read the Bible, sing hymns, pray, etc. No one interfered with her religious faith. She got into trouble because part of her job involved granting marriage licenses to couples who had the legal right to get them, and she refused.

We need to be clear about why Davis is in jail. It's not because of her religious beliefs. And it's not even because she refused to issue the licenses, really. She is in jail for contempt of court. U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning noted that same-sex couples have the legal right to marry under the recent Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges and that Davis' office must, accordingly, issue the licenses.

Davis, an elected official who can't be fired, publicly announced that she would not respect and abide by this court ruling. She said this in open court. That's contempt of court; judges frown upon it. Anyone who engages in contempt of court must understand the consequences: fines or imprisonment.

Some have asked why Davis could not have been accommodated, since there are five other clerks in her office, and at least four of them were willing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The simple truth is, she did not want to be accommodated. Remember, Davis ordered her staff to not to issue the licenses. Accommodation was not her goal; right-wing martyrdom was.

In fact, Davis had to work very hard to end up in jail. She had numerous opportunities to avoid it. As recently as Thursday morning, Bunning (who, by the way, was appointed by President George W. Bush and has been described as a "devout Catholic"), offered her another chance to avoid punishment by letting her staff issue the licenses. Davis again refused. Bunning, who to my mind has displayed the patience of Job, finally had enough. He summoned federal marshals, and Davis was taken to a jail in a nearby county.

Perkins beseeches his followers to bombard Beshear's office with petitions demanding Davis' release. This is a cheap stunt so common among the Religious Right. The governor does not have the power to free Davis. He can't overrule the decisions of a federal court. Sending him petitions is a waste of time, and Perkins knows it. (I can't include a link to the petition because, in another move of FRC sleaze, they've set it up in such a way that if you click to learn more, you're automatically listed as a signer.)

To be clear, there is one person who has the power to free Kim Davis: Kim Davis herself. All she has to do to walk out of jail is agree to abide by the law and allow members of her staff to issue marriage licenses to all couples who are legally qualified to marry, including same-sex couples.

One can't help but wonder if this wasn't all a set-up. We were told by the various and sundry Religious Right blusterers that members of the clergy would be imprisoned for refusing to officiate at same-sex weddings. It was nonsense, of course. The Obergefell decision was handed down in June, and since then we've had exactly zero pastors put behind bars for declining to officiate at a same-sex wedding.

So Staver and his gang found a clerk to convert into a martyr instead. I can almost hear her now pouring out her tale of woe at the next Values Voter Summit and making the rounds on Fox News. Can a book deal be far behind?

Some on the far right may consider Davis a hero, but anyone with a lick of sense knows better. She's a lawbreaker who used her official position to deny an entire class of people their constitutional rights. Her case has nothing to do with religious freedom and has everything to do with religious imposition.

For the Religious Right, that is an inconvenient truth indeed - and it's also one that no amount of lying from Perkins can mask.

 




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that makes a great deal of sense regarding this case.

He (or she - I forget and it's not important) said that it would like a person disobeying a restraining order keeping them away from their spouse and children, because "That would violate their religious beliefs about the importance of family".  Never mind that they were restrained because of violence and abuse.  Never mind that their presence put the children (and maybe spouse) at risk.  Their religious ideology trumped all other concerns.

People wouldn't go for that, but the parallels are (IMO) quite strong - they just don't see them.  In this case, she's going out of her way to force her ideology on others and to deny a segment of the population rights that she enjoys - making them second class citizens at best (and I would remind people how holocausts can begin - by stripping a group of more and more of their rights, followed by denial of their basic humanity - oh, that's right, you'll already hear that in some quarters regarding LGBT folks, "Illegal Immigrants", Muslims, and atheists).  

I also agree, I think this was deliberate - but I think it is an attempt to push more people into the militant (even potentially violent) Christian camp.  I see this is another step in ramping up the heat... trying to force this country into theocracy.


by ArchaeoBob on Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 03:05:00 PM EST


It appears the reason she is in jail lies at the feet of Staver who gave her bad legal advice.  Moral to story is get good legal council, not someone from Falwell's school.  I would venture to say Staver and crowd have reaped a huge harvest in fund raising from this event.  PFAW has Barton telling Beck the founders set up a system where a person's view of God's law trumped the nation's laws.

by wilkyjr on Wed Sep 09, 2015 at 12:11:12 PM EST

That's what the grandstanding is about. Davis wants to be on TV. Staver / Liberty Counsel is fund-raising. Various Republican presidential primary candidates are getting a little extra exposure by commenting on the kerfuffle. No-one can remember the names of the gay couples and their lawyers, because they didn't want fame or funds, just the licenses.

by NancyP on Wed Sep 09, 2015 at 12:33:48 PM EST

The religious right has perfected the art of "tilting at windmills", but in those battles it is important that the windmills don't fight back! We are in danger of becoming no more than scare-crows, flopping in the wind if we fight their imaginary battles. It's long past time for people of faith - for followers of Jesus, to speak truth in love and refuse to mock - or fight the imaginary "dangers" that dominate the news cycle. Life can not be lived as a "reality show". Don't misunderstand, I'm not calling for people to shut up and go away - support the poor - defend the weak - liberate those imprisoned (both by culture and government) and allow the truth of authentic discipleship to stand in contrast - to the constant demands for attention, control, and dominance which characterizes the political aspirations of Christians who know little of following Jesus.

by chaplain on Thu Sep 10, 2015 at 10:45:25 AM EST
"It's long past time for people of faith - for followers of Jesus, to speak truth in love and refuse to mock - or fight the imaginary "dangers" that dominate the news cycle"

Jews are people of faith.  Muslims are.  Many if not most pagans are (maybe all - I'm not an expert on pagan religions).  "Non-religious" people may actually have faith even if they don't necessarily believe in God.  Faith is not limited to Christians, which is the message that I (a person who is no longer Christian but that doesn't mean I lack faith) "receive" from your words.  In a sense, the words tell me I don't belong - that I should be some sort of outcast because I don't believe in "Jesus".

Also, I would disagree with you regarding answering the false charges and statements put forward by the Dominionists/theocrats.  That's how Kerry lost, he tried to be above the lies and slander directed at him and people got turned off because what they heard were the lies about him and no response to them (a lot of people assumed he didn't respond because the lies were truth).  Scientists also are learning if they don't speak out against the nonsense - such as against the creationists, the people speaking lies about the Other (e.g. regarding LGBT folks and Muslims), and so on - the facts they can relate get buried in propaganda and lies and people start paying more attention to the lies as compared to the truth.  We need to respond, but with facts, data, research, and so on.  That doesn't mean we have to be insulting or abusive - but sometimes you can't sugar coat reality.

I recently told a person (a Good Christian) they were lying, because they insisted something was fact when the opposite was actually reality - yeah, I know it probably made him or her (it was online and I don't remember any suggestions of gender) angry, but the truth was just the opposite of what they were claiming and allowing the lie to be unchallenged could empower the people we resist.  We will run into that more and more as time goes on... and it's already been happening for some time.  As an example, during the Jena Six protests, the reporting and commentary on Fox news was almost exactly the opposite of what could be found in official documents (court testimony, eyewitness statements, and so on) - that was the project I took on for one graduate level course (doing content analysis on the reporting of the situation).  Some people still believe the Fox version and don't realize just how little justice was done in that situation.  This sort of thing is growing (and from a social scientist's perspective, staying in the Ivory Tower may be comfortable, but it's letting the walls get eroded at ground level).  Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade because otherwise people might get the wrong idea.


by ArchaeoBob on Sun Sep 13, 2015 at 04:30:06 PM EST
Parent



Truth must be spoken, and even friends and family confronted - but we need to be careful to choose wisely when to confront "outrageous" attacks. It is not wise to give them more power than the sight of a lonely knight tilting at windmills deserves. To become a part of the fight in the public stage often makes it simply entertainment for those who watch, and the truth is lost. My caution is that the message of hope/freedom/acceptance which calls resonates with people of faith - specifically those who identify as "followers of Jesus", is not about winning public debate. It is about working consistently to demonstrate that the truth itself has the power to change people. It's not about defeating a specific right wing leader or his/her position - it's about offering a clear choice from a consistent message both in word and life. Forgive me, if my comment seemed to criticize those who work so hard to keep me and others informed about what the right wing is doing and saying. We need that information, I just don't want to transform the old "fighting fundamentalist" description to "fighting progressive" or "fighting liberal".

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If you guys have junk piling up outside your house, you don't have to worry about it anymore because the platform of the junak away northern virginia will do the job for you. They are pretty professional in their work and this platform is really worth it too.


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