As Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis continues to bar her office from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in defiance of the Supreme Court, the Religious Right is attempting to turn her into the latest martyr in the supposed persecution of Christians in America.

Davis’ attorneys at the far-right legal organization Liberty Counsel have urged her to break the law, insisting that any court ruling in favor of gay marriage is inherently illegitimate because it violates religious precepts. Another Kentucky clerk who is also refusing to issue marriage licenses boasted that he is willing to lose his life over the matter.

While violating court orders is a bridge too far for some Religious Right activists like Maggie Gallagher and Ryan T. Anderson, other conservative pundits see Davis as a hero for taking on the “gaystapo” and Satan himself.

Franklin Graham took to Facebook today to congratulate Davis for “standing up against the evil being forced on us,” warning that if others don’t emulate Davis, “we won’t even recognize the America that our children and our grandchildren will be left with.”

In a fundraising letter yesterday, the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown called Davis “the latest victim of gay intolerance and government discrimination and persecution of marriage supporters,” defending her defiance by explaining that the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage was “illegitimate” since “two men cannot be married to each other, nor two women — regardless of what any court states.”

The Foundation for Moral Law, the group founded by Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who led his own battle in defying the federal court system on marriage, issued a statement from its president — Moore’s wife Kayla Moore — commending Davis as an example for all Americans and arguing that the Supreme Court’s ruling can be flouted since it defies divine law.

Anti-gay pundit Bill Muehlenberg similarly hailed Davis as a “supersaint” for refusing to “submit fully to the homosexual jackboot” and “the gaystapo,” claiming that she is among the “modern day Christian martyrs.”

When the militant homosexual lobby and its supporters tell you no one will be adversely impacted when homosexual marriage goes through, they are lying. They knew full well that everything changes – for the worse. Everyone must bow the knee and submit fully to the homosexual jackboot. … Try telling these folks that homosexual marriage will not impact them. And while you are at it, try telling Kim Davis this. She is a committed Christian and a Kentucky county clerk who will not allow her faith to be violated by the militants. She has been another supersaint, standing strong for her faith in the face of severe persecution. … Yet again we see the intolerant activists, coupled with the heavy arm of the rainbow state, seeking to break the will and the resolve of ordinary men and women who choose to put the Lord Jesus Christ over and above the tide of filth and perversion sweeping the land. These are modern day Christian martyrs, standing steadfast for biblical truth despite everything the gaystapo can throw at them. I and others have been warning about this for many years now. We said this is exactly where we would get to when we start granting special rights to this militant sexual lifestyle group.

Not to be outdone, BarbWire content editor Gina Miller said that the embattled clerk is waging a spiritual war against Satan’s gay army.