Georgia’s Religious Liberty Bill: Why The Governor Was Wrong — And Christians Are Now In Peril

Another one bites the dust.

Coming right on the heels of North Carolina’s bold stance for gender-exclusive bathrooms, Georgia governor Nathan Deal, facing immense pressure, made headlines last week when he caved and promised to veto what could have been a substantial stake in the fight to protect religious freedom.

House Bill 757, which has stirred up a firestorm of liberal criticism, would have protected pastors and expressly religious entities from being forced to perform same-sex marriages, hire gays and lesbians, and offer other services against their faith-based beliefs.

In other words, it’s a proposed measure to help Christians practice Christianity. That’s seriously it. But, of course, practicing Christianity is one of the staple sour subjects of the far-left media and all its supporters.

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We knew the war on Christendom was coming once the US Supreme Court redefined marriage last June, but what has become somewhat surprising and appalling to Christians and other faith-practicing citizens is the lack of fight demonstrated by their elected officials in the conservative wing.

Taking heated threats of boycott from such well-respected companies and entities as Time Warner, CBS, Viacom, Starz, and even AT&T, Governor Deal, a professing Baptist Christian, was forced in front of the entire nation to confront the act with no easy way out.

Signing it into law would have inspired believers everywhere to stand for their faith, encouraged the ministers of Georgia in their calling to uphold the Bible’s teachings as the Word of God, and sent a clear message across the U.S. that faith comes first and whichever faith you’re practicing, you don’t have to violate your belief system.

However, this action would, of course, invoke the mass hatred and condemnation of Hollywood, the LGBT community and liberal companies who believe ministers and religious organizations should marry and hire anybody, even if it violates their conscience. The NFL threatened to revoke any possibility of Georgia hosting the Super Bowl in the future, and many mainstream film companies vowed a stoppage of on-location filming in Georgia, which is third in cinema business only to New York and California.

With all this action taking place, you’d think the bill called for barring gays and lesbians from drinking out of the same water fountains as straights and denying them equal-hire rights in the private sector. But it just wasn’t so. This bill was about religious organizations, churches and ministers not getting grilled by the government for saying no to same-sex marriages.

Governor Deal, a second-term elected official, finally broke silence and delivered a highly controversial press conference on Monday, saying, “I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia.”

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And just like the, the domino fell.

Many in Georgia are grieving after the veto, and Christians, ministers, and people of all denominations were very outspoken, expressing explicit frustration with their governor’s decision.

Even though culture is waging an all-out war on the Christian faith, its primary argument is driven by a message of “tolerance,” which, of course, Christians favor. After all, the message of tolerance suggests that we can coexist, regardless of our beliefs and practices, as long as we’re not forced to adhere to another practice.

But once again, corporate America, the gay community and the far-left movement have made evident that “tolerance” is not at all what they are after, but rather conformance, adherence and ultimately, affirmation and approval.

Governor Deal could have stood hand in hand with the majority of Christians in Georgia and demonstrated that, to him, faith comes before business. But it doesn’t.

He could have been a forerunner in the conservative movement and sent a message loud and clear across the country and globe that Christians deserve equal protection and opportunity. But he wouldn’t.

Instead, like many before him, the pressure was too great and while faced with the overwhelming support of the bill from the grassroots he was sworn in to protect, he caved. He bowed. He let the left-wing agenda win, and he turned his back on the voters who trusted him. He bowed his knee to business and to religious discrimination in a panicked effort to avoid a culture of discrimination.

Now, the pastors of the Peach State are ripe for an all-out war on biblical values and with no shield or defense of any kind.