Ted Cruz Offers the Most Absurd Response to Arrest of Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis
No, she's not some sort of pioneer of religious victimization.
In response to the arrest and imprisonment of Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis for refusing to grant marriage licenses due to her religious objections to including gay couples, we've seen everything from culture warrior glee over her predicament to culture warrior outrage, and everything in between (including complete culture war exhaustion).
Perhaps nothing tops this remarkable bit of historical revisionism coming from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in his call for all lovers of religious liberty to "stand with Kim":
Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America.
For the first time ever, folks! Forget the Quakers! Forget the Mormons! Forget religiously motivated abolitionists and the religious components of various civil rights movements! Davis is a pioneer of victimization.
Cruz wears his faith on his sleeve and has made religion an integral part of his presidential campaign. As such, it's difficult, if not impossible, to dismiss such an outrageous quote as a mistake borne of ignorance. He defends Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, for heaven's sake! Where did he think they came from?
No, this was a deliberate, calculated choice to elevate the detention of Davis above and beyond what it is and obliterate history for purposes of political populism. It's a deliberate decision to ignore the difference between personal (and public) practice of religion and the duties of government officials. He, like many others, are deliberately ignoring that Davis didn't just refuse to give out licenses herself—she also forbid her deputy clerks to do so. She refused religious accommodations that were presented to her.
But this morning, as Davis sits in prison, her deputies have decided to comply with a judge's order and issue licenses. Gay marriage recognition has come to Rowan County, Kentucky.