Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) said on Sunday that state marriage clerks should issue same-sex marriage licenses even if they morally oppose the practice.

Kasich added that government employees are responsible for obeying the law upon assuming their positions.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Now, I respect the fact that this lady doesn’t agree, but she’s also a government employee,” he said of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who is currently jailed in Kentucky for being in contempt of court after refusing to sign same-sex marriage certificates

“She’s not running a church,” Kasich told host George Stephanopoulos George Robert StephanopoulosMurkowski: Supreme Court nominee should not be taken up before election Cruz says Senate Republicans likely have votes to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee Pelosi: House will use 'every arrow in our quiver' to stop Trump Supreme Court nominee MORE on ABC’s “This Week.” “I wouldn’t force this on a church, but in terms of her responsibility, I think she has to comply.”

“I don’t like the fact that she’s sitting in jail, that’s just as absurd as well,” added Kasich, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate. “But I think she should follow the law.”

U.S. Marshalls took Davis into custody last Thursday following her steadfast refusal to obey court orders. Rowan County then began issuing same-sex marriage licenses last Friday during Davis’s absence from its offices.

Kasich admitted on Sunday he is worried the standoff is alienating people from observing any religious beliefs.

“I believe in traditional marriage, but the court has ruled,” he said, citing the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legitimizing same-sex marriage nationwide last June.

“We have a lot of young people who sit on the fence on an issue like this,” Kasich said. “And when we see these kinds of battles going on, I get a little bit afraid that it turns people off to the idea of faith in God, what it means to be a Christian.”

“For me, it’s giving me a solid foundation to deal with the strong winds in life, to be a better person, a better guy,” the Ohio governor added.