One man’s freedom
Religious liberty and irreconcilable divisions among Republicans
JOSH McKOON feels misunderstood. A state senator for a prosperous, very Republican part of western Georgia, he has twice sponsored a state bill to protect religious folk from coercion by the government. Explaining its purpose, he cites a pair of recent controversies combining two Southern institutions, faith and American football: rows over an on-field baptism of a high-school coach and players, and about a school band playing “Amazing Grace” at half-time. The bill, Mr McKoon says in Columbus, a pretty riverside city in his district, is modelled on a federal law of 1993. It is not, repeat not, meant to enable discrimination against gay people, or as a form of resistance to same-sex marriage.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “One man’s freedom”
From the September 12th 2015 edition
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