Religious Freedom,
Round 2
Published in Marietta Daily Journal Jan. 1, 2017
Deplorables
in Georgia will probably make some noise when the General Assembly convenes. Deplorables, remember, are the unwashed who
voted for Donald Trump. Unwashed, uneducated,
unthinking … all of these fit, of course.
The deplorable-elite divide has
another context besides the Trump-Clinton presidential race. That context is the religious freedom and
transgender issue that still simmers across the heartland. The 80% of evangelicals who voted for Trump
are sure to be emailing and ringing up their state legislators in a matter of
days. They still believe it’s indecorous
and dangerous for a man to enter a women’s restroom simply because he
“identifies” as a woman.
Watch and see where deplorables and
elites stand when these issues are resurrected in state legislatures across the
country. Governor Nathan Deal already stands
with the elites, in this case the corporations.
Some state-level leaders like Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick are
standing firm with the deplorables. “Transgender
bathrooms are a public-safety issue,” Patrick says. “It’s about common courtesy and privacy,
particularly for women.”
The
elites in the religious freedom and transgender debate are, among others, the Chamber
of Commerce, corporate heads, the National Football League, the National
Basketball Association, and The National Collegiate Athletic Association. The deplorables are ordinary citizens who
believe that pastors should not be punished for preaching what they believe
Scripture teaches, that pastors, bakers, and florists shouldn’t be required to
violate their religious convictions by participating in homosexual weddings,
and that parents and husbands shouldn’t have to be fearful when their daughters
or wives are in a public restroom.
It appears that Senator Josh McKoon
from Columbus will again front the religious freedom cause in the Georgia
Senate. Most likely he will be aided in
the House by Rep. Sam Teasley from Marietta.
Both of these men are heroes to deplorables like me. McKoon is a lawyer, Teasley a clear-headed
thinker and businessman.
Striding confidently toward these
two good men and loaded with cash will be the groups named above. Just how representative of regular folks, who
have neither time nor money to lobby, do you suppose corporate CEOs and
lobbyists are? Regarding pastor
protection legislation, just how out of touch is the Georgia Chamber with
Georgians who carried the state for Trump?
How is it the NCAA considers itself the nation’s moral arbiter, having
pulled all 2016-17 national championship events out of North Carolina because
North Carolinians didn’t want men in women’s restrooms?
There is evidence that the
Democratic Party has learned a lesson about identity politics. Not so the NCAA, the NFL, or the NBA. These three economic powers are still pushing
gender identity politics. They will be
ready for McKoon and Teasley, though I suspect McKoon, Teasley and their
comrades will be fired up and prayed up as well. Besides, no silver-tongued devil can convince
me that a majority of Georgian men who love and watch sports are supportive of
the aims of the LGBT lobby. Real men
don’t like being bullied by corporations and their sycophant politicians.
The NCAA is a huge apparatus that
draws its yearly multi-billion-dollar paycheck from the sweat and injuries of
poor minority athletes, many of whom have trouble passing college courses. Yet it moralizes on gender equality. Google Father John Jenkins, president of
Notre Dame, if you would like to see the NCAA properly chastised on this issue.
Georgia’s corporations will be geared
up for the legislative session, against pastor protection and for transgender
rights. No need to name them, but one is
an airline, another a home improvement store.
Another delivers packages. Like
other corporations, they like to threaten governors and legislators with “Our
way or we’re leaving the state.” They
bluff.
Time is not on the side of those who
oppose the legislature’s religious freedom bills. Ordinary people are emboldened. As in America, the populist movement is
upending Britain, France, Germany, and most recently Italy. Moral, fiscal, and immigration issues are all
involved in the emerging populism. Joe
Lunch Box, Eli the electrician, and Paul the plumber are registering to vote
across America and Europe. They want
common sense and freedom from the intelligentsia so long in power.
The world order is in flux. Across the industrialized world populist
trends are moving. Amazingly, America’s
Rust Belt is now Republican gold. Her
Bible Belt is politically energized.
Georgia legislators know this. I predict they will stand with McKoon and
Teasley and withstand the bullying corporations and sports titans. If so, then bully for them.
Roger
Hines
12/28/16
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