Opinion

There is freedom from religion, too

Nathan Deal announces his decision to veto religious liberty legislation at a news conference on Monday. Business community pressure helped convince him to make the right move. Nathan Deal announces his decision to veto religious liberty legislation at a news conference on Monday. Business community pressure helped convince him to make the right move. Photo: Bob Andres /TNS Photo: Bob Andres /TNS Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close There is freedom from religion, too 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The Georgia governor was correct in vetoing a law that opponents saw as license for those claiming religious beliefs to discriminate.

The veto and what prompted it — significantly, opposition to the legislation by the business community — should be an object lesson for the Texas Senate. It is signaling that it will consider similar bills.

And the problem here, there and everywhere in the United States is that there really isn’t any assault occurring on religious freedoms, the alleged motivations for such laws.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has tasked the Senate State Affairs Committee with studying whether religious liberties are being infringed upon by local, state and federal law. In February, the committee held a hearing and appeared to be aiming for a piecemeal approach that might include protecting opponents of same-sex marriage.

If such measures amount to a license to discriminate — in commerce, adoptions and in hiring, for instance — they shouldn’t be considered.

But let’s be clear about the goal of such measures. It is to unsettle what was clearly settled by the U.S. Supreme Court in its historic ruling in June that made bans on gay marriages unconstitutional.

Texas’ Religious Freedom and Restoration Act and the First Amendment offer substantial protections for people to exercise their religion as they see fit. But the RFRA is also clear that it cannot be used to disregard civil rights protections. And the First Amendment also means religion cannot be imposed by government on others. Laws enacted by the government to allow discrimination would allow just that — license for the imposition of religious beliefs on others.

In Georgia, business pressure was key to Gov. Nathan Deal vetoing the Free Exercise Protection Act approved by that state’s House and Senate less than two weeks before.

North Carolina’s Gov. Pat McCrory is experiencing the same kind of pressure after he signed a law March 23 that eliminates anti-discrimination protections for all lesbians, gays and bisexuals, and bars transgender people from using public bathrooms that do not match the gender they were born with.

The Human Rights Campaign tracks major businesses and scores them on what the group calls its Corporate Equality Index. Of the 789 major employers it tracks in Texas, 51 have domestic partner benefits. These businesses know that their employees are affected when states pass laws that open the door to discrimination.

But business pressure aside, the Texas Senate should shy from such laws for the simple reason that many of their constituents could also be affected. Last we looked, gay Texans are also entitled to representation.