Don't break down church-state wall

"Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?"

- Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

Imagine for a moment you go to Sisters City Hall seeking a permit. Suppose, hypothetically, someone wants to build a small mosque in Sisters. Further assume it is to be located in a place zoned for a house of worship and there are no legal impediments or hurdles: federal, state or local. But, a city official, elected or otherwise, decides not to issue the necessary permits stating religious grounds as the basis for denial. They plead they are following a higher authority and denying such a permit is motivated by their deeply held beliefs.

What should happen to this individual?

I can tell you my view: they should either be fired or recalled if they are an elected official. This is not what is happening to Kim Davis, the county clerk in Rowan County Kentucky. In fact she is being celebrated and held out as some kind of hero for denying a court order requiring her to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. We are treading on very dangerous ground here.

The issue is not the appropriateness of same-sex marriage (or building the hypothetical mosque). The issue is whether an elected official (or appointed public official) can selectively choose what laws they will enforce and which ones they will not enforce. In short, the rule of law is at stake here. The rich and poor, pilots and presidents have to accept the rule of law and, in this country, when the Supreme Court makes a decision it has to be followed.

Change the Constitution if you must, but when the Supreme Court strikes down a law then it is no longer law. We have checks and balances that have to be preserved. For sure some presidents, notably FDR, did not like some of the Supreme Court decisions. Many presidents have chastised them but all followed and accepted their decisions.

The separation of church and state has always been tricky and mired in all kinds of shades of gray. Tacking through the myriad of legal issues over the past two-hundred-plus years has been formidable. It has been a fundamental premise of this democracy and a doctrine held dear since its inception. Our Constitution is notably short, one of the shortest in the world and, although it is a document which can be changed, some things are the bedrock of what we hold dear. If you want to change it then proceed to amend it. There is Caesar and there is God, remember?

What I find particularly scary is that some of the Republican candidates are lining up behind Kim Davis and they are being very vocal about it. Some candidates for president are basically saying it is OK to ignore the law. Wow!

Mike Huckabee walked out of the courtroom with Davis. Rand Paul gave his support to her decision and, most scary of all, is Ted Cruz's support of Davis. In his career, he has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court and he even clerked for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of law teaching constitutional issues. He should know better. I guess it speaks to how far some will go to pander to the fringe elements of the Republican Party. This is unconscionable.

If you support Kim Davis then don't run for the presidency. You will take this country down a slippery slope from which there is no return. As Sandra Day O'Connor said, let's not trade what we have for something much, much worse.