The fact that divorced and married three and four times, with children out of wedlock, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis violated the law by refusing marriage licenses to gay couples, is a good thing. It brings to light an issue that needs clarification: the difference between being free to practice one’s religion, and what the conservatives are calling ‘religious freedom’. While the distinction is obvious to many of us, there are large groups of people who don’t seem to understand that the US is not a theocracy.

The crux of the issue is that we are free to practice our religions in ways that don’t violate the rights of others. God’s law does not supersede our secular law as U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning, who jailed Ms. Davis, correctly pointed out. There is an excellent discussion of the topic in this Washington Post article:

Legally, ‘God’s authority’ is a tough issue

To simplify it in a way that even the former governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee can understand, with a little humor:

As for the claim that we are a Christian nation, here’s Hitchens explaining  to an obstinate Ken Blackwell, of the Family Research Council, why this is not the case.