Governor Deal Vetoes House Bill 757
In his announcement, he cited concerns of the religious community over the case of a New Mexico photographer who refused to take pictures of a same-sex wedding, and a baker in Colorado who refused to bake a cake for a same sex ceremony. However, Deal noted that both states had civil rights or public accomodations law that Georgia lacks.
“Had the bill been the so-called Pastor Protection Act that passed the House of Representatives, I would have signed it,” the governor said. “However other versions of the bill contained language that caused me some concern as it caused many others concern,. that they may in fact encourage or allow discrimination that is sanctions by the state.”
Governor Deal said he appreciated the efforts of the General Assembly to come up with a bill that would not allow discrimination, noting how difficult it is to legislate something that should better be left to the broader protections of the First Amendment. He referred to the concept of “Negative Protection” adopted by the Founders, which rather than specifying what the state can do to guarantee religious freedom, instead mandates what the state cannot do — establish a religion or interfere with the free exercise thereof.
“In light of our history, said the Governor, “I find it somewhat ironic that some in the religious community today could feel that it is necessary for government to confer upon them certain rights and protections. If indeed our religious liberty is conferred upon us by God and not by man made government, then perhaps we should heed that hands-off admonition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
Governor Deal noted that for laws regarding the expression of religion, inclusions and omissions in their statutes can lead to unintentional discrimination.
The veto is likely to increase the friction between the governor and the General Assembly, which has tried for three legislative sessions to pass some form of religious liberty legislation, ranging from a state version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act to this year’s effort led be Sen. Greg Kirk to pass a state version of the First Amendment Defense Act. Legislators have threatened to attempt to override the governor’s veto of the measure, however the success of such and effort is uncertain.
And much like the split between the Republican establishment and the grassroots that led to Donald Trump becoming a leading contender for the GOP presidential nomination, the split between the business community in Georgia and the party’s base has exposed a wound that is unlikely to heal for quite a while.
About Author
Jon Richards
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
……..“In light of our history, said the Governor, “I find it somewhat ironic that some in the religious community today could feel that it is necessary for government to confer upon them certain rights and protections. If indeed our religious liberty is conferred upon us by God and not by man made government, then perhaps we should heed that hands-off admonition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”………..
Sen. McKoon and company you should this over and over again!
The great sigh of relief is from those yea votes not wishing this to be the hill to die on.
Has the damage been done? Have enough conventions decided to take their business elsewhere? Enough businesses decided to locate somewhere less backwards?
Preach whatever hatred your little heart desires inside of your church building. But keep it to yourselves when you step outside into the secular world. This country was weary of centuries of European religious wars and was founded on secular principles to avoid giving power to the religious hardliners.
Time to solve real problems that Georgia faces.
Amen. 😉
Would have been worse had our friends in NC scooped us…Thanks NC!
sorry…friends in NC NOT scooped us
Do you have examples of churches in our area preaching “hatred”? Or is your definition of hatred a conservative church (say Baptist, Catholic or Eastern Orthodox) denouncing activity which traditionally has been referred to as “sin”?
Aug,
Ihop is all over Georgia, would you call this hatred?
…..A few weeks ago, we noted that Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign had proudly announced the endorsement of Mike Bickle, the head of the controversial International House of Prayer and an extremist pastor who believes, among other things, that Oprah Winfrey is a forerunner to the Antichrist.
Among Bickle’s more radical views is his prophecy that as the End Times approach, all Jews will be given a chance to accept Jesus, warning that if they do not accept “the grace” of Christ, God will then “raise up a hunter” who will kill two-thirds of them “and the most famous hunter in recent history is a man named Adolf Hitler”:
– See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/cruz-campaign-defends-controversial-pastor-who-says-god-sent-hitler-hunt-jews#sthash.7Qxafc4t.dpuf………..
Note that the above is from the International House of Prayer, not the famous pancake chain that is, indeed, all over Georgia.
My bad if anyone is confused. Her is link you can see they are all over the country and internal as well.
http://www.prayerforallpeople.com/hop.shtml
Just so everyone knows how far Josh McKoon is driven by hate, you can see he was the key note speaker for the international House Of Prayer on the issue. Sen McKoon now supports KKK style religion that promotes Hitler killed Jews in the name of Christianity. McKoon bill was designed to protect them, so they could legally discriminate in the name of Christianity. WOW you cannot make stuff like this up! Jon, you are way better to be associated with this bill.
SEE LINK!
http://www.cwfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/GA-ReligiousFreedomRallyPrayer.pdf
Once again Josh you are spewing hate! You really need to read what Gov. Deal said over and over again.
……..“In light of our history, said the Governor, “I find it somewhat ironic that some in the religious community today could feel that it is necessary for government to confer upon them certain rights and protections. If indeed our religious liberty is conferred upon us by God and not by man made government, then perhaps we should heed that hands-off admonition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.”………..
Thank you Governor Deal. Hopefully the Gold Dome bible thumpers have not done irreparable harm already with their single minded mission to destroy Georgia’s economy.
“the split between the business community in Georgia and the party’s base”
Jon, my view may be distorted but I think the real split is in the legislature, with one group willing to exploit differences for political gain and another group afraid to tell the first to behave themselves. Instead of making clear the consequences of inflammatory and unneeded legislation, the second group decided to appease the first by letting them push their bills. That worked about as well as appeasement ever does. The firebrands are the clear winner here–they get the discriminatory bill they want or they have another issue to pound to raise more money. Meanwhile the majority of citizens wish the legislature would make up its mind and either stick to passing effective and needed bills or just close up shop.
While there’s no doubt that some legislators are capitalizing on the religious liberty issue for political purposes, there is a substantial number of people in the Republican base who absolutely supported this bill, and who are now mad as hell that the governor vetoed it. There are legislators who voted for the bill largely because they were worried about a primary challenge from the right.
Will the concerns of the base be amplified by certain politicians and outside organizations? Sure. But I do think there is genuine anger / frustration within the base in the same way that frustration and anger with politics as usual is driving the Trump movement.
Out of touch with who or what? It is fashionable to bash legislators from the “other Georgia”, the outside metro Atlanta part—the smaller cities and counties—but the rural sections of the state still pack a punch at election time. Just ask Roy Barnes, or look up the results from the November 2002 general election…