ATLANTA — Republicans in the legislature have introduced a religious freedom bill – a measure that has divided lawmakers for most of the last decade. The bill is designed to protect people of faith against discrimination.
Mike Griffin – a Baptist preacher -- has spent much of the last decade trying to get the state to enact a religious freedom bill. He’s now backing a religious freedom bill introduced by Sen. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth).
"I am happy because I stand for the Constitution and I’m for the First Amendment," said Griffin, a Baptist preacher who lobbies on the behalf of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
Setzler said religious freedom is the least protected of the First Amendment protections that include speech, assembly and the press.
"The right to free exercise is just a very, very, very minimal right in Georgia," Setzler told reporters Wednesday. "There’s really no framework for policymakers to decide what's the right balance? How do we resolve this?"
Setzler’s bill says “the government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion,” and allows for civil penalties if it happens.
If it sounds simple, but Jeff Graham says it isn’t.
"Certainly if someone feels that they have been discriminated against because of their religious beliefs I take that seriously and they should be protected," said Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, which lobbies on behalf of LGBTQ rights. "But they should be protected on an even playing field with other people."
When the legislature passed a similar bill in 2016, Republican Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed it, he said, out of "concern that (it) may in fact encourage or allow discrimination, that it be sanctioned by the state."
Backers said this year’s bill is less broad than the bill Deal vetoed.
"Somebody just going out and wanting to be prejudicial or judgmental, that’s not what this is to protect," Griffin said. "This is to protect a genuine religious conviction."
But critics said the bill can give genuinely religious folks a license to discriminate.
"I understand where [Setzler] is coming from. I still think there are a lot of concerns about how this bill, when put into effect, would particularly affect the LGBTQ community and other communities," said Sen. Kim Jackson (D-Stone Mountain), an LGBTQ senator, who said she spoke to Setzler about the bill Wednesday.
Sen. Jackson and other critics of the bill said instead of a religious freedom bill – the legislature should pass a broad anti-discrimination bill that covers more than just folks who are religiously devout.