BLOUNT COUNTY, TN — They say it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Tonight, a Tennessee county wants to do just that.
The Blount County Commission has a full agenda planned at its meeting tonight: Deal with budget issues. Restructure committees. Approve a resolution condemning judicial tyranny.
And petition God’s mercy.
Apparently some in Blount — a county of 122,000 people, just south of Knoxville — still aren’t happy about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this summer that legalized same sex marriage nationwide.
So, Commissioner Karen Miller has sponsored a resolution that both slams the Supreme Court and begs for God to spare the county when He eventually, goes the reasoning of the resolution, destroys America over same sex marriage.
Forced to do it
“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,” Miller’s proposal reads.
Apparently no one in Blount County government is going the Kim Davis route and actively trying to stop same-sex marriages from taking place. But the resolution makes clear that some in the county feel they’re being forced to go along with something that’s sinful.
“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” states the resolution.
The resolution also acts as a call to arms for opponents of same sex marriage:
“We the Blount County Legislature call upon all of the Officers of the State of Tennessee, the Governor, the Attorney General, and the members of the Tennessee Legislature, to join us, and utilize all authority within their power to protect Natural Marriage, from lawless court opinions.”
The resolution fires away at that “lawless” federal judiciary, accusing federal judges of using “power not delegated to them,” alleging the Supreme Court was stepping on states’ rights and insisting that “it is high time that the Court be so reminded” that it’s there to judge, not legislate.
‘Waste of time’
A rural county in a red state, it’s no surprise the same sex marriage ruling isn’t widely popular in Blount County. But there does seem to be some blowback to Miller’s resolution.
Ginny West Case, a retired Christian educator, told local newspaper the Daily Times that God’s coming wrath may have a different target.
“I think the wrath of God is more inclined to fall on those people who are so condemning and judgmental,” she told the newspaper.
Another county resident, Brett Rich, told the Daily Times the whole endeavor was “a ridiculous waste of time and tax dollars.”
Public input on the resolution should be lively — and colorful. The Tennessee Equality Project, an advocacy group that fights for gay rights in the state, is urging people to speak out against the resolution at tonight’s meeting and wear red to show support for same sex marriage.
