#436: Public Officials Cannot use Faith to Justify Violating their Oath of Office.

   The  public memory of most people is pretty short. Too often, if it happened before you were born, it's in the history books but not in your mind. Yesterday this public amnesia led to a crisis that never should have happened.
 
    Rowan County (Kentucky) Clerk Kim Davis was jailed after U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning found her in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and for saying through her lawyers that she would not authorize any of her employees to issue licenses in her absence. 

    "My conscience will not allow it," Davis told Bunning. "God's moral law convicts me and conflicts with my duties."

    Of course, Davis is entitled to her beliefs--and many Catholics join her in believing that same-sex marriage is wrong (although, as I've often written, they may fail to distinguish the Sacrament of Matrimony from mere civil marriage). Same-sex marriage, though legal, remains controversial. But the conflict between faith and official duties should NOT be a matter of controversy these days, even if the likes of Ted Cruz claims that  “This is wrong. This is not America." He is a Presidential candidate, yet he too forgets the lesson of the 1960 Presidential election.

   Fifty-five years ago next week (September 12, 1960) John  F. Kennedy spoke before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers concerned that a Catholic President would impose his religious beliefs on the rest of the country. JFK took the opportunity to spell out his views on how public officials manage to balance faith and their duties. His explanation stands as the moral standard for all officials today:

    “I do not speak for my church on public matters,” Kennedy said, “and the church does not speak for me.” He said that he would always make his decisions “in accordance with what my conscience tells me." 

    Finally, Kennedy acknowledged the possibility of a circumstance where his Catholic conscience might conflict with his oath of office. “And if that time should ever come,” he said, “when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office.”

    Kim Davis, like JFK, was an elected official who had  to take an oath before assuming her office. She now says her faith "conflicts with my duties." I respect both her faith and her acknowledgment of such a conflict, which JFK also recognized.

   But JFK had it right: in case of such a conflict, if a public official cannot perform according to their oath, they must resign. We can accept that Ms. Davis cannot, in conscience, do what God forbids. But she also vowed to follow the law, and if she cannot, she also cannot claim that breaking her oath is God's will. She cannot violate her conscience--but neither can she violate her oath of office. Her moral duty, therefore, is to resign. 

    In America, public officials have a right to their personal faith, but they cannot hold the law hostage to that faith. They must follow the law, or relinquish their office.

© Bernard F. Swain PhD 2015