YOUR SAY: Georgians shouldn't be afraid of Religious Freedom Restoration Act

That proposed House Bill 757, pending the governor's signature, commonly called Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is some kind of trouble it seems. It allows ministers to perform weddings, or not, based on the sacraments of their religious tenets. While a government official would still be obliged to perform a wedding for all comers, ministers would be able to perform the nuptials based on adherence to beliefs. If said minister declined to perform the marriage, the law gives the minister immunity from suit. Further, the church doesn't lose its tax status as a result of practicing its tenets. It even says people can attend, or not attend, a wedding. What a concept.

The bill also allows a business to close on Sunday and/or Saturday, if it so chooses. Breaking new ground here? You mean, if I own the business, I can decide to close on the weekend? A faith-based organization can now decline to lease its property to an organization that violates that faith-based organization's tenets. So the Catholic Church wouldn't have to lease their bingo parlor to Muslims. And the Baptists don't have to lease their gymnasium to the Methodists.

A faith-based organization that exercises its right to provide service to people it so chooses will be immune from suit and can't get their charity designation revoked and can suffer no tax penalty as a result of their decision to abide by their mission statement.

Then it gets really sticky. The new law says that before the government can burden our religious beliefs, it has to have a compelling government interest and that any such burden has to be the least restrictive means available. While this may seem cutting edge, turns out it is almost verbatim what the federal law and about 30 other states already have on their books. It was President Clinton who signed the federal law that mirrors Georgia's RFRA.

Yet only we in Georgia are the bigots? True, the timing of Georgia's RFRA is a bit tardy, but being timely has never been our strong suit. The proposed law expressly prohibits invidious discrimination prohibited by state or federal law; does not create special rights of an employee against an employer (who is not the government); and does not give a public officer or employee a pass for failing to perform their official duties.

I keep hearing that the NFL will possibly yank the Super Bowl from Atlanta and send it instead to New Orleans, Tampa or Miami as a result of this RFRA. It's obvious the NFL doesn't have the brightest lawyers (Deflategate anyone?), but even a first year law student knows that both Florida and Louisiana have RFRA in place.

Look past the hype, look at the law. It's common sense and should be signed by Gov. Deal.

Kelly Burke is the former Houston County district attorney.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "YOUR SAY: Georgians shouldn't be afraid of Religious Freedom Restoration Act ."