"Religious liberty" supporters left no question Friday that they will fight on in Georgia, as several hundred people braved a steady rain to rally across from the state Capitol over what they said was a war on Christian values.
“The battle is not over,” warned Gerald Harris, the editor of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s Christian Index. “In fact, it has just begun.”
The "We Stand with God Pro-Family Rally" in Liberty Plaza had been planned months ago, but it gained prominence after Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed House Bill 757 a little less than a month ago. The "religious liberty" legislation had been strongly opposed by the state's corporate and entertainment communities, as well as gay rights groups that warned that the measure amounted to legalized discrimination.
Deal said he vetoed HB 757 because the bill did not reflect the state's image as home to "warm, friendly and loving people." The bill he rejected was a fusion of several different religious liberty ideas and would have, among other things, protected faith-based groups' ability to fire employees because they are gay and prevented anyone from being forced to attend a gay wedding.
On Friday, speaker after speaker denounced Deal’s decision as “kowtowing” to threats and bribery, as Harris put it.
The Rev. Paul Smith of the religious advocacy group Citizen Impact talked about what he called the “three false gods of America:” sports, money and the entertainment industry. Noting that many of Georgia’s major sports teams also opposed the bill, Smith said: “We have a culture war going on in America today. And we must decide who is going to be our God.”
The friendly crowd praised the message, which came amid hymns and what amounted to mini-sermons from several of the presenters. Several also touched on social issues they said posed a threat to people of faith. Harris mocked those who insisted “Darwinism is a fact,” and he said the same people believed “pedophilia is a sexual preference.”
The Rev. Garland Hunt, a former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, derided issues championed by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, telling the crowd: “We’re not concerned about being politically correct. We’re concerned about being spiritually correct.”
The governor, he added, should be put on notice that “God will have the last word on the greatness of this country,” as some in the crowd agreed that Georgia’s faith community faced a wake-up call.
“We have our voices and our votes, and we’re going to use them,” said Pastor Will Allen of White Graves Baptist Church in Ranger, one of a number of people in the crowd who said Deal’s veto gave the event added importance. “We want to show state government we’re going to stand with God as a church.”
Keith Haddock of the Smithboro Baptist Church in Monticello said the message of the event for him was “about gay marriage: it’s biblically wrong.”
His friend Jimmy Whitley, also of Monticello, said simply that “our foundation is around the King James Bible — that’s where we stand with Jesus.”
Conservatives and some religious groups in Georgia have vowed to keep Deal's veto in the spotlight through this year's state election season and into January, when those groups expect to again push legislation they say would protect religious viewpoints and prevent discrimination against faith-based groups, particularly those opposed to same-sex marriage.
A majority of grass-roots Republican activists in Georgia’s 14 congressional districts last weekend passed resolutions urging lawmakers to revive the “religious liberty” legislation when lawmakers come back to the Capitol next year — and blasting Deal for vetoing this year’s version of the measure.
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