The Republican governor of Georgia recently vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would protect the right of clergy and houses of worship not to perform same-sex marriages, as well as the right of religious organizations to refrain from hiring individuals who openly disagree with their principles. Ryan T. Anderson comments:

[The veto] shows the lack of courage of many in the political class, and it also highlights the extreme nature of the left and the business community. . . . Executives from dozens of big-name companies, including Disney, Apple, Time Warner, Intel, and Salesforce, called on the governor to veto the bill. The NFL warned it could risk Atlanta’s bid for the Super Bowl and the NCAA hinted it could influence the state’s ability to host championship games. . . .

In explaining his veto, [Governor Nathan] Deal argued that the religious-liberty bill “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people.” Leaving people free to act on their deepest religious convictions apparently isn’t one of those values. . . .

[P]rotecting minority rights after major social change is . . . a hallmark of American tolerance and pluralism. But Deal seems unwilling to do anything that might protect such people and their rights. . . . Good public policy is needed at the local, state, and federal levels to protect cherished American values. These policies would help achieve civil peace amid disagreement, maintain pluralism, and protect the rights of all Americans, regardless of what faith they may practice.

If there is to be peace, Palestinians will have to unlearn the hatred of Israel they have imbibed during nearly two decades of Hamas rule. This will be a difficult task, but Cole Aronson argues, drawing on the experiences of World War II, that Israel has already gotten off to a strong start:

The population’s compliance can . . . be won by a new regime that satisfies its immediate material needs, even if that new regime is sponsored by a government until recently at war with the population’s former regime. Axis civilians were made needy through bombing. Peaceful compliance with the Allies became a good alternative to supporting violent resistance to the Allies.

Israel’s current campaign makes a moderate Gaza more likely, not less. Destroying Hamas not only deprives Islamists of the ability to rule—it proves the futility of armed resistance to Israel, a condition for peace. The destruction of buildings not only deprives Hamas of its hideouts. It also gives ordinary Palestinians strong reasons to shun groups planning to replicate Hamas’s behavior.