Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s welcome veto on Monday of the legislature’s religious exemption bill should put to rest the concerns of Georgia’s major employers (and thousands of Georgians) that such a law could have led to discrimination against the gays – and potentially cataclysmic damage to the state’s economy.
Members of Georgia’s churches may not realize it but Deal’s veto message could be useful in strengthening not only their own faith but also their relationships with communities statewide – including those of gay and lesbian communities – and even with fellow believers. Deal spoke to that point in arguing that “[we don’t] have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia.”
That should have been obvious but the effort to enact the legislation was overwhelmingly ironic. As in other states, Georgia’s bill would have allowed pastors to opt out of performing same-sex weddings and enabled religious organizations to refuse certain services (including charitable ones) to gays lest such a provision violated their religious beliefs. The opt-out language implies pastors could be required to perform same-sex weddings, the First Amendment notwithstanding. Deal spoke to that point, saying that “if indeed our religious liberty is conferred by God and not by man-made government, we should heed” the amendment’s “hands-off” admonition.
Besides, he argued, Georgia already provides robust protections for people and faith-based organizations and the bill “could give rise to state-sanctioned discrimination,” even if that was not intended. That, he said, “is too great a risk to take.”
Anyone familiar with how legislation is produced knows that unforeseen results are commonplace, and could in this context lead to discrimination. That apparently was lost on Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Commission. He tweeted: “GA Gov. Nathan Deal sellout to big business pressure on religious freedom one more example of what serving Mammon does to the common good,” an inane criticism if ever there was one.