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Politics, Religion, and the Great Lie of Martyrdom

Politics, Religion, and the Great Lie of Martyrdom

Last updated on: September 9, 2015 at 3:27 pm by Susan Cottrell

Politics, Religion, and the Great Lie of Martyrdom 2015-09-09T15:27:05-05:00 Susan Cottrell

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Photo: Carter County Detention Center

Kim Davis is not a martyr. She is more like the bus driver than Rosa Parks.

Can a waitress take a paycheck for working at Red Lobster and then refuse to serve shellfish? Can a member of the military take a paycheck from the government and then say they will not fight? Can Kim Davis take a paycheck to issue marriage licenses and then pick and choose who she will and won’t do that job for? The answer to all three is no.

And it is the right answer.

Her refusal to issue a license to gay couples has absolutely nothing to do with her religious beliefs. If they did, she would refuse a license to an interfaith couple, or to someone who divorced their spouse to marry someone new. The hypocrisy reveals much.

Maybe Kim does indeed believe this is in line with her religious beliefs, but that is only because she is being mistaught and manipulated, and is being used by those with an agenda of power, success and control.

And if she were truly following her religious beliefs, she would be quiet and not speak up like this. It is, after all, what the Bible tells her to do. Right? Or maybe she is just submitting to men and church leaders who are rightfully telling her what to do.

Oh that pesky patriarchy.

If I could just get 30 minutes with Kim… just the two of us. I really believe I could reveal how out of step her actions are with the Jesus she is claiming. I believe I could change her heart.

So is Kim Davis like Rosa Parks? Not at all. If anything, she is the bus driver, just toeing the company line.

So, if this is NOT about religious beliefs, what is it about?

Fear. As it was with women’s rights, as it was in the 60’s with blacks, as it is now with same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights, it is about fear of change, fear of losing power, fear of losing influence. And for a church who follows a God who says, “Do not be afraid,” it is so unlike the Jesus in whose name they stand.

I have no anger towards Kim. The accounts of her court presence indicate she is very quiet, almost fearful, as if she is bewildered that she is in this place. Again, she is being mistaught and manipulated. Oh, if only we could just sit over a cup of coffee and talk…

But it was her choice to follow and trust the wrong person, and that person is not Jesus.

There is no Christian persecution going on here. The anti-gay forces are using her and this situation to say, “See! We were right. Look at what marriage equality has done… we are being persecuted!”

Kim Davis is not being persecuted, she is not like Rosa Parks, she is not a martyr. Compared to Rosa Parks—and real martyrs—the comparison is an embarrassment.

She is being exploited by more powerful people with a political and power agenda. This is a reaction, a gigantic elaborate lie, a scene that has been set in an attempt to convince us, because those in power are afraid. Church leaders and politicians have taken such a stance on this because they are in panic mode. They do not like their power, or funds, to diminish. They see this as an opportunity to make Christians afraid.

What Christians should be afraid of is how Christianity has become so unlike Christ.

I have heard from thousands of you whose hearts have been freed. Who have become openly affirming, who are loving as unconditionally as they have been loved, who are radically including as they have been radically included.

There are plenty more of you. The pews and the pulpits are filled with people whose hearts have been touched and who are just waiting on “permission” to stand up and love as Jesus loved—waiting to stand against the false unbiblical anti-gay church teaching and actions.

Let me encourage you, let me give you that permission. You are not alone. You are on the right side of Scriptural truth, in line with God’s heart, and the right side of history.

What to do next? The cliché of “What would Jesus do?” is actually not a bad place to start.

Listen to the still small voice of the Spirit inside each of us.

And get plugged in. We have private secret Facebook support groups for Moms, Dads and those in the LGBTQ community.

You are on a journey that will free your heart, and it is more glorious and wonderful than you can ever imagine.

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