Tag: Georgia

On Monday, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal vetoed the Free Exercise Protection Act, House Bill 757, following intense pressure and dishonest rhetoric from corporate bullies and the political left. Disney, Salesforce, and Apple all publicly criticized the bill, and corporate mainstays like Delta and Coca-Cola, through the business coalition Georgia Prospers, condemned the legislation and threatened punitive measures.

Ironically, these same corporations have, to date, expressed no reservations about making money in countries that put LGBT individuals to death.

But ultimately, Governor Deal caved. And Jane Robbins, a senior fellow at American Principles Project, told The Pulse 2016 that she is incredibly disappointed by Governor Deal’s veto:

HB 757 is a reasonable bill that was crafted to address the concerns the Governor had previously expressed, while protecting Georgians of faith from government discrimination. Polling data shows overwhelming support for the bill from across the state. Two-thirds of Georgians support it, and even a majority of Democrats responded that they wanted the Governor to sign it. The bill passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of the Legislature.

But Governor Deal has chosen to disregard the desires of the vast majority of Georgians and their elected representatives. Instead, he is siding with the Hollywood lobby and corporate bullies who want to coerce Georgians into uniformity of belief on issues related to religious exercise. This position violates not only conservative principles, but American principles.

Robbins has been on the attack elsewhere, too. Continue Reading

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced this morning that he will veto HB 757, the Free Exercise Protection Act, which was passed by strong majorities of both legislative chambers. Deal has thus shown where he stands when the heat is turned up — and it’s not with Georgians of faith.

The battle to protect religious liberty in Georgia has been waged over three legislative sessions. Throughout that time, Deal refused to lift a finger to help get a bill passed. If a mega-corporation or an LGBT pressure group threatened to punish the state for daring to enact free-exercise protections, Deal scurried into hiding.

Despite his tacit opposition, HB 757 passed this year. The bill — which a new poll shows is supported by two-thirds of Georgians — combines pastor-protection provisions with elements of a First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) and Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). (Twenty-one states have RFRAs, and 10 more have RFRA-type protections through judicial decision.) The FADA provisions are less extensive than those in the pending federal FADA and merely protect individuals and faith-based organizations from being coerced into violating their deeply held religious beliefs. For example, they prohibit the government from forcing someone to attend a religious service to which he or she objects.

Although this bill represented a compromise from the stronger bill that passed the Senate, the political and corporate Left went predictably berserk. Companies that rake in profits from countries that execute homosexuals announced that the line must be drawn at U.S. Continue Reading

Last week, Georgia’s legislature passed House Bill 757, a bill that would protect the right of faith-based groups, including churches and religious schools, to freely exercise their religion without fear of government persecution. The bill now awaits the signature of Governor Nathan Deal.

Soundly rooted in the forgotten First Amendment, House Bill 757 provides critical religious freedom protections for pastors, faith-based organizations, and individuals, preventing them from being forced to perform or participate in wedding ceremonies, or otherwise provide services, that violate their sincerely held religious convictions. The bill also replicates — with respect to state and local governments — the protections that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act provides against the federal government.

Of course, the idea of religious freedom has drawn the ire of both the political left and corporate America. Disney, Salesforce, and Apple have all publicly criticized the bill, and corporate mainstays like Delta and Coca-Cola, through the business coalition Georgia Prospers, have condemned the legislation and threatened punitive measures. Ironically, these same corporations have expressed no reservations about making money in countries that put homosexuals to death.

America rests on the bedrock understanding that individuals can flourish each day according to the dictates of their conscience. Because of this, the concepts of ‘religious freedom’ and ‘America’ have always been virtually synonymous.

That is no longer the case. Anti-religious bigots, emboldened by corporate America and the political left, are now waging all-out war on religious freedom. Continue Reading