by Lou » Thu Sep 10, 2015 8:52 am
One component of this situation that I don't think I've seen addressed here is this: Mrs. Davis would have been required to swear an Oath of Office before officially holding her County Clerk position. I was able to locate on the Kentucky state legislature's official website a copy of the Oath that Mrs. Davis presumably would have sworn, which I've linked below. (It was, to use Stephen's oft-used phrase, 'easily googled.')
Among other things, Mrs. Davis would have sworn to "faithfully execute the duties of [her] office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God." Therefore, her conscientious refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples puts her in an untenable position, since that refusal requires her to violate the scriptural command against swearing falsely (while invoking the name of God, at that!).
So--all legal wrangling and political posturing aside--since Mrs. Davis cannot conscientiously do something that she swore in God's name she would do as long as she holds office, the biblical thing for her to do is to resign.