Pope Francis reportedly met with Kim Davis on his recent trip to America. Kim Davis is the Kentucky court clerk who refused to give same-sex couples marriage licenses, as the law now requires, based on a recent Supreme Court decision.
Like many of the Republicans running for president, the Pope considers Davis a “hero.” He declared support for her based on a “human right” to conscientiously object to signing same-sex marriage licenses. [Newsmax.com 9/30/a5]
Whenever someone uses the term “human right” in place of an actual right, or an individual right (the only kind of right there is), then watch out.
“Conscientious objection” is a concept whereby one resists the use of force. For example, an individual drafted into the military will conscientiously object by burning his draft card, or seeking a legal means out of compulsory military service.
The Pope likens Kim Davis’ refusal to issue same-sex marital licenses as the equivalent. But they are not the same at all. In the case of a military draft, the individual is forced to take part in activity against his will, at the very possible cost of his own life. The military draft is a blatant violation of individual rights — the very things that a military in a free country are fighting to defend.
However, Kim Davis is not forced to do anything. She is free to resign from her job. She’s free to enter a different line of work, if she does not wish to uphold laws or policies she does not think are right.
The Pope is quoted as saying:
It [conscientious objection] is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying “this right that has merit, this one does not.”
And that’s precisely where Pope Francis’ position leads.
If the Supreme Court decision requiring states to accept gay marriage were to be overturned, what then? Would gay or lesbian individuals who work in county courts, or others who support the idea of gay marriage, be permitted to conscientiously object by granting those licenses anyway? Would the Pope, presidential candidates and others hungry for the attention and approval of others rush to their side and demand this human right be upheld?
“Religious liberty” has become a code word for: “If I like a law, I will be a strong advocate of the law of the land. If I do not like a law, I will disregard it, and call it principled idealism.”
Yes, this is the very thing Obama does, and that conservatives are right to condemn when Obama does things like ignore immigration laws, turn the Affordable Care Act on and off at will, utilizes the EPA to enforce laws that do not yet exist, attempts to take over the Internet by an FCC vote, and so forth.
What you think about the morality or legality of gay marriage is an important but separate question. What you cannot do is elevate Kim Davis to the status of a victim. She’s not a slave; she’s not a victim of the military draft; she’s not a victim of government coercion requiring her to pay for the health care, education, farm subsidies, corporate bailouts and all the other sort of compulsory, socialized activities Pope Francis is happy to advocate in other contexts.
Unlike America’s liberals and conservatives, Pope Francis is, at least, consistent. No matter what the issue, he’s always against the principle of life on earth and always against the right of the individual. He places both religious liberty and collective will above the spirit and letter of the American Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. That’s why, like other collectivists, he uses the phrase “human rights” rather than individual rights. He only views rights as applying to people as a group. In his view, both economic “rights” and religious “rights” trump the right of the individual to simply be left alone, both by government and church.
The Pope hates capitalism because it celebrates and champions man’s effectiveness at creating an always rising standard of living on earth. The more human beings do this, the less they feel a need for God or the Pope. The Pope hates unconventional arrangements like gay marriage because they celebrate the idea of love and sex for their own sake, rather than for the purposes of reproduction, raising a family, and so forth.
At the root of these attitudes is a belief that individual human lives are not ends in themselves, but ends only to serve another Purpose.
Religionists want individuals subordinated to the will of religious authorities or God; socialists want individuals subordinated to the will of a government who sets economic priorities and redistributes wealth.
Pope Francis wants it all. He’s the biggest and most consistent dictator of them all.
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