It was important for me as a Jewish woman to locate common cause with Pope Francis on compassion. It is equally imperative for me as a person of faith to speak out when the pope supports people like Kim Davis who, in the name of religious sin, act to restrict human right and deny marriage licenses to citizens of the same sex. Kim Davis and those who support her insert their religious notions of sinning into the legal domain and defy the American separation of church and state.

Constructing “sinning” behavior must be distinguished from legal rules. Kim Davis’ notion of sin in its religious framing, in this case that marriage between persons of the same sex is a sin, goes against the law of land. She and her supporters conflate their right to hold notions of sin with their right to religious freedom. Let’s be clear about it, no one is forcing Davis to abandon her religious conception of sinful behavior, which she has every right to hold and observe. She cannot however, as a public official break the law of the land since as of June, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the same rights to marriage as heterosexual couples.

During his American visit Pope Francis called for compassion for the marginalized. Compassion has only one direction and it is forward, toward full equality. Compassion cannot reside with oppression. We cannot go backwards, no more persecutions, witch-hunts and bigotry in the name of religion in this country. People of faith and non-believers alike recognize that the time has come to grant all citizens equal rights, which means that we all need to make sure that we don’t regress, falter, or become silent when rights are being denied. We must be clear that when Pope Francis met with Kim Davis, religious sin crushed human rights.