Representative Sam Teasley (R-Marietta), along with fired Atlanta Fire Chief Kevin Cochran and Concerned Women for America of Georgia, is misleading about the purpose and effects of legislation Teasley is pushing. His "Religious Liberty" bill, HB 29, is presented as needed to protect the religious liberty of conservative Christians, but that is not the aim. The religious liberty of all Christians, and of all the rest of us, is protected by the First Amendment. What Teasley's bill would do is downright unAmerican: it would protect the "right" of some--but only some--religious believers to use the power of government to promote their religious beliefs. There are many examples that would make this point, but just consider these:
1. Chief Cochran published a book expressing his religious beliefs and used the power and title of his office to give those beliefs credibility and a captive audience. He passed out copies of his book to Atlanta firefighters who served under him. The chief has, under the First Amendment, every right to whatever religious beliefs seem right to him and to express those in whatever ways that suit him--but he does not have the right to use his secular, tax-funded job to proselytize. If you're not convinced, imagine a Muslim fire chief publishing a book on the need for sharia law and distributing it to his firefighters.
2. Tanya Ditty, in her letter to the Marietta Daily Journal (9 January 2015), cited three Georgia cities where she claimed religious expression had been curtailed--Savannah, Ellijay, and Pine Mountain. In all three cases, the restrictions imposed were on governments, not on individual citizens. Every American citizen has an unrestricted right to support Christianity, Islam, or atheism. No American citizen has the right to use governmental power to support religious or irreligious beliefs.
Ironically, to truly protect religious liberty for all Americans, we have what we need: the First Amendment. "Adding" a state law pretending to expand rights in fact endangers those rights.
