…but we didn’t miss the headlines about the county clerk who has gone to jail because it’s against her religious principles to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. I don’t think she’s being asked to violate her deep religious convictions. I think she’s being asked to do her job. If it’s against her religious convictions to do her job, then she should have a different job. Stand up for your principles. Take a moral stand. But don’t use a government position to advance an individual conviction. Extend the logic a little. If a clerk can use a government position to impose a particular religious value on everyone else, then our entire government can be held hostage to any random religious conviction. But we could do that if we wanted. We gather up all the religious convictions, throw out the conflicting ones, and impose the rest. But wait. Some are widely held; some are downright crazy. We need someone to pick which convictions we impose; someone impartial, so one religion doesn’t get to dominate. Hey, that sounds like me! I should be the one who gets to decide. We’re stopped for the night at the Rock Springs KOA. 2015 summer trip map You might not think much of Rock Springs, Wyoming, but walk out the back of the KOA, up into the hills a little, and it’s a glorious high-desert scene.
