- And conservativecolumnist Erick Erickson

with The Resurgent is also concerned

and wrote an opinion piece called

The Left Tries to BanChristianity in Texas,

and he joins us now.

Erick, thanks so much for coming on today.

- Thanks for having me.

- So Republicans outnumber both Democrats

in both Texas chambers,

but if these bills passed,

how might they play outfor people of faith?

- Well in particular theywant to exempt, initially,

nonprofit Christian organizations

and go after for-profitChristian businesses.

That is, small family associations,

small businesses thatidentify as Christian.

Essentially the butchers, the bakers,

the photographers, the florists,

requiring them to serve gay marriages,

to honor transition ceremonies

for the transgendered community,

and even some private schools

that operate on afor-profit basis in Texas

would be effected by thisand be required to change.

Additionally, any Christian businessman

who is a contractorwith the state of Texas

would be required to have anaffirmed transgender policies

and support and pay for the surgeries

on their insurance plansof any transgendered person

whether the owner of thebusiness wants to or not.

- Do you see these bills going anywhere

given that Republicans arein control in both chambers?

- No, I really don't in Texas,

but the issue is that ifthey're so bold in Texas,

there are a lot of states thatare 50/50 or leaning left.

What's going to happen in those states?

I mean, we see in Georgia,for example, where I am,

the Republicans being very recalcitrant

on the idea of religiousliberty legislation

because they have such a large

film industry commitment in the state.

They don't want to affect the bottom line.

- Yeah, and really fascinating.

Well, let me ask you too, weknow that a lot of discussion

or some of the discussionin Texas right now

has to do with freedom to worship

which is what we heardabout more in the Obama era.

It's more restrictivethan freedom of religion.

- Right.- Do you see that

as being a motivating argument in Texas?

- Yes, in fact, we're hearing this

more and more from Democrats,

though the first amendmentof the Constitution

says that we have freeexercise of religion.

The Obama administrationactually was struck down

nine to nothing by the Supreme Court

even by Obama era appointees

when they tried to argue that it

was just a freedom of worship.

Well, the Democrats areresurfacing this argument

even though it was rejected by Elena Kagan

and Sonia Sotomayor or Ruth Bader Ginsburg

on the Supreme Court.

They're trying to resurface the argument

that what free exercise really means

is just on Sundays when you are in church

you're allowed to worshipwithout interference,

but if you're in the town square

or if you're a public business,

if you're a publicly traded company

or even if you're a small company,

but you use public roads,

then you can't exerciseyour religious convictions

in the practice of your business.

- Well there's a lot tokeep an eye on in Texas.

Looks like the state is goingpurple in some respects.

Erick Erickson, thanks for your time.