The Georgia Baptist Convention is again lobbying for legislation they say is needed to protect Christians from religious discrimination.
The head of the Georgia Baptist Convention led a morning devotional Feb. 2 in the State Senate as pastors rallied in support of “religious freedom” legislation that critics claim would allow discrimination against gays.
Georgia Baptist leader Robert White discusses religious liberty in a press conference at the State Capitol. (Georgia Baptist public affairs photo)
For the second year in a row Georgia Baptist leaders are lobbying for passage of a state Religious Freedom Restoration Act that would bar laws that substantially burden religious exercise unless there is a compelling government interest and by the least restrictive means.
“Let’s pray together that God would bless Georgia with religious freedom for all people,” Robert White, executive director/CEO of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said during a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol marking Georgia Baptist Pastor’s Day. The event, in its second year, was for leaders and ministers from around the state to learn about the legislative process and to meet their representatives.
Other speakers included Mike Griffin, head of the Georgia Baptist Public Affairs Ministry, and Justin Rich, high school and college and career pastor at First Baptist Church in Villa Rica, Ga.
Georgia Baptist leaders described controversy last fall over a mass baptism on the football field at Villa Rica High School as an example of discrimination against people of faith.
“It’s a shame that we’ve got to come underneath the Constitution to provide additional protection for citizens in Georgia and across the country,“ White said in an interview aired by Atlanta television station CBS46.
Critics say there is a hidden agenda, allowing business owners to deny services to the LGBT community citing their religious beliefs. White downplayed that concern.
“If a homosexual couple wants to engage a florist for the wedding and the florist says: ‘I don’t provide flowers; I don’t believe in homosexual marriage,’ I think at that point if I was in the position of that couple I would just turn around and walk out,” the Baptist leader said.
Georgia Baptists are also among sponsors of a Georgia Religious Freedom Day at the State Capitol on Feb. 10. Speakers include Franklin Graham, who will make a stop during his 50-state Decision America Tour 2016 encouraging Christians to engage in the political process by voting and running for office.
The lineup also includes David and Jason Benham, twin brothers who lost their HGTV television show after being criticized as anti-gay; former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran, who was fired after writing a book that described homosexuality as a perversion; and Villa Rica Pastor Kevin Williams, whose church was threatened with lawsuits after online video showing students and a coach being dunked in a makeshift baptistery on the public high school’s football field.
The state convention recently offered a resource suggesting six “Ways to Make Your Voice Count,” including: “Actively oppose legislation that gives special status and special rights (such as affirmative action in employment) to those who participate in the homosexual lifestyle.”
Invited by Sen. Bill Heath, a deacon at First Baptist Church of Bremen, Ga.; and introduced by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a member of Blackshear Place Baptist Church in Flowery Branch, Ga., White opened the morning Senate session with devotional remarks quoting Bible verses including Micah 6:8.
“White then admonished the Georgia State senators to walk humbly with God, to love mercy, and to do justly — to simply do what is right in the strategic role they hold as representatives and servants of the people of Georgia,” Christian Index Editor Gerald Harris described the scene.
“The message was a pointed and poignant challenge to the members of the senate,” Harris reported Feb. 3, “and it was good to see Georgia Baptists in such significant roles of leadership — presiding, introducing, and preaching all from the podium of the Georgia Senate.”