An unusual agenda item appears before the Blount County, TN Board of Commissioners Agenda Committee meeting this evening. Tucked between a resolution on School Board members’ compensation and a letter from the State Treasurer’s office regarding the 2016 budget, New Business item no.7 reads
Resolution condemning judicial tyranny and petitioning God’s mercy. (Resolution No. 15-10-006) (Karen Miller)
The Huffington Post provides some background.
The “resolution condemning judicial tyranny and petitioning God’s mercy” was written by Blount County commissioner Karen Miller and will come up for consideration at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Miller’s resolution claims the “so help me God” part of the oath taken by lawmakers means they are committed not only to upholding the U.S. Constitution but also “higher Natural Law.”
As such, the resolution calls on lawmakers throughout the state “to protect Natural Marriage, from lawless court opinions, AND THE financial schemes of the enemies of righteousness wherever the source AND defend the Moral Standards of Tennessee.”
A local paper, the Daily Times, warns that the debate could be impassioned, as groups disappointed in Miller’s approach recruit members to attend the meeting and speak against the resolution.
Ginny West Case, a retired Christian educator in the United Methodist Church, said the God of Miller’s resolution doesn’t sound like the God she knows.
“That is not a primary characteristic of the God I know and love,” she said. “I’m tired of God being used as a battering ram. The Bible, over and over, tells us God is the God of love and grace and mercy.”…
Gwen Schablik of the Tennessee Equality Project is planning to attend the meeting to speak against the resolution. She said she is recruiting others to come as well and wear red to show their support for marriage equality.
“Being a resident of the county, it’s just shocking,” Schablik said. “… You just can’t pick one religious view and let it dictate marriage laws for everyone. In our county, there are same-sex couples, there are same-sex families. The law should protect them. It’s really said.” [sic]
The text of Resolution 15-10-006 provided by HuffPost Gay Voices concludes in dramatic language:
“WE adopt this Resolution before God that He pass us by in His Coming Wrath and not destroy our County as He did Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities. As the Passover Lamb was a means of salvation to the ancient Children of Israel, so we stand upon the safety of the Lamb of God to save us.
WE adopt this Resolution begging His favor in light of the fact that we have been forced to comply and recognize that the State of Tennessee, like so many other God-fearing States, MAY have fallen prey to a lawless judiciary in legalizing what God and the Bible expressly forbids.”
Commissioners will consider the resolution at the Agenda Committee meeting at 6:30 tonight, in the County Courthouse. Read the HuffPost story here, and the Daily Times here.
Photo: Blount County, Tennessee