Hello, WORLD! Unless you've been living under a rock, you know who Kim Davis is. Just in case you've been under one, Kim Davis is a county clerk in Kentucky who just recently found herself in the national spotlight for not issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples, even though that's part of her job as a county clerk. She argued that issuing those licenses went against her religion. Of course, wouldn't you know it, she claims to be Christian. She was adamant about not issuing the licenses & because of that, was found in contempt of court and consequently threatened with jail for her actions. She did not given in and was in fact was jailed for it; as of today, she has been released.
I try not to speak on the actions of religious people, since according to them it's not their actions to begin with, but over the weekend I heard of another woman in a somewhat similar situation, this time the woman is a Muslim named Charee Stanley. Stanley, a flight attendant for a small airline company called ExpressJet was suspended by her employer for refusing to serve alcohol sense it's against her religious beliefs.
Whereas the Davis situation could almost be deemed to have a bit prejudice, the Stanley situation is less likely to offend any one except maybe a traveling passenger who paid for his or her trip and assumed that they'd get the best possible customer service, which they won't...if they asked for a drink. Since ExpressJet is such a small airline, they typically only employee one flight attendant per flight. While one issue is much bigger than the other, they both are in essence the same story: a woman refuses to do part of her job because of her religious beliefs.
What do I have to say to that?
Well, first I'd give both ladies kudos for their strength in their convictions. I truly believe if you stand for something, then take a stand for it and both ladies have done this. I will give them that. After that, I'd add that they both need to look for new jobs or new religions. Maybe both.
If your religion prevents you from being 100% effective at doing your job, the bottom line is you've got a job that you really shouldn't have. Can you see a man of the cloth working at an abortion clinic? How about a nun working as a stripper, or anything for that matter, at a strip club? A Muslim working at a rib tip joint? No, right? Of course not! It would go against everything they stand for, wouldn't it? It would be virtually impossible for anybody in these three examples to be true to their job AND their religion. Furthermore, I find it highly unlikely they'd even entertain the thought of working at those establishments just cause of the fact these establishments would clash with their ideological beliefs.
The Davis case and Stanley case only slightly differ from the above examples because it would seem religious tolerance, or intolerance, would have a minimum affect on these ladies doing their jobs. Had there been another flight attendant on board with Stanley, would she have delegated that alcohol serving duty to her coworker? Davis wasn't the only clerk on duty; why didn't she allow her coworkers to serve the marriage license to the same sex couples, which is what happened when she was locked up? That would have freed her from that obligation and she would've been kept out of the national spotlight if she had done so.
I'm not arguing that these ladies are in the right. As I said, if they truly believe in their religions, I applaud them for their convictions but I'm not condoning what they've done in the least. Especially Davis. See, in Stanley's case, she couldn't have delegated her duty to another flight attendant because there were no other flight attendants working with her. And her employer was very aware of this because she had approached a supervisor with her issue with alcohol once she herself had found out about it. She's a recent convert to Islam so she was not aware of the alcohol issue at first. She went on to say "I don't think that I should have to choose between practicing my religion properly or earning a living", which I would agree with if she had already been a Muslim when she started at the job. Once she converted to Islam and she realized that serving alcohol, part of her job duty, wasn't allowed per Islam, she should have started looking for another job.
Davis though DID in fact have coworkers who she wouldn't allow to do their jobs because of her beliefs. That's a very Christian thing to do in my opinion. Davis has that same audacity I see that most Christians I know possess; if they believe something wholeheartedly (which is me only assuming that's how they feel), they'll do their best to force said belief upon you like their belief is the only belief that matters. If Davis or Stanley felt like they didn't have to do their jobs because of their beliefs, they should both be comparing said beliefs with each other in an unemployment line. If you're belief is more important than your livelihood, quit and pray for a better job that will allow you to make money and still worship whoever you worship. Most deities would agree with that before they agree you that you should be a dick about doing your damn job. Ok, maybe dick is the wrong word to use but it is the right word to use when somebody comes up with an excuse not to do their duty AND still expect to get paid for it. Do you got a better word for it?
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