Dear Ms. Davis,
Congratulations on your release from jail. I’d throw you a party, but it looks like a few other’s beat me to the punch.
Jail doesn’t seem like a fun place to hang, however, I’d imagine it’d provide for some serious contemplation. Sadly, it appears your time in jail only ignited your fire even further.
My newsfeed is full of articles about you; ones applauding and cheering you on for standing up for God’s Word, and others chastising you for not doing the job you were elected to do—which, as we all know by now, includes issuing marriage licenses to all couples.
However, what I’d like to say to you today is that while you are being cheered for standing up for what you believe in, for standing up for religious freedom, what you fail to recognize is that it’s people like you that create this awful divide between the Christian community and those who do not follow the Christian faith.
You know what this is? This is a show—You’ve now got politicians involved, people with banners cheering you on, wars on Twitter and Facebook, and news coverage, among many other things.
While I respect your religious beliefs, why couldn’t you have just done your damn job? No one asked you to agree with every person’s faith, sexual orientation, or favorite ice cream flavor that walked through the doors of your office, they asked you to just do your job. If your job, ultimately, ended in “violating your conscience and going against your religion,” why didn’t you just hang up your hat and leave?
As I read in an ABC article, you even said on your way into jail: “God’s moral law conflicts with my job duties,” “You can’t be separated from something that’s in your heart and in your soul.”
As a human being, I respect that. If that was the situation you found yourself faced with, that is your problem, not any one else’s. And surely, not something that you should have forced upon other people. Your religion is your business, just as the beliefs of every other human being to walk this Earth are their own.
If my job asked me to do something that I didn’t feel was right in my heart, or went against what I believed in, I would leave. I would find something else, not make a complete spectacle and create a political parade.
Instead, you put on a huge parade, one that you seem incredibly proud of, and one that did none other but further the divide.
Ironically, I am a Christian, I believe in the same God you do, however, I don’t believe in what you did, as I know it is not in my hands to judge and determine what each person is entitled to, not only in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of the government, too. I’ve decided to take the “Love thy neighbor” and the “I’d rather not go to jail” approach to my life as a Christian and as an American resident.
I recognize that putting on a show like this does one thing only: it brings the like-minded people in waves, and it pushes the rest to the opposite side of the spectrum, the ones who don’t believe in, or know Jesus.
Who wants to know more about Jesus when this is how He is represented?
As much as you think you may be “standing up for the Word,” or possibly even, “spreading God’s love”—-this is NOT how it’s done. If you’ve done anything, you’ve likely made more people dislike the idea of religion, Jesus, God, and Christian’s, as your actions are breeding hate, not love.
I respect each and every person’s choice to believe in Christ, or whatever God they deem fit, or don’t. In America, it is our job to obey the law. In our profession, it is not our job to decide who can and cannot have what the establishment we work for provides to everyone. No government establishment can hang a “We Refuse the Right to Deny Service To Whoever The Hell We Want…at this particular office.” It doesn’t work that way! Your religion, your rights as an American are yours, and just as you are entitled to a marriage certificate, and the decision as to what God you chose to follow, so is every single other person in this country.
If a pharmacist was Catholic and decided to refuse birth control pills to all patients, do you think that would go over well? No. She would be fired, as she should be.
Ms. Davis, you were hired to do a job, and you should have done it. We all saw the Supreme Court ruling coming from a mile away. If this was going to destroy you so deeply on a religious level, then you should have packed up and left your office a long time ago.
Instead, you’ve done this. It’s ugly and it’s really sad.
You want to know the first thing I learned when I decided to follow Jesus?
“God is Love.”
Do you think you’re spreading that?
You should probably think on that.
Sincerely,
Ashley Alteman
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