The hysterical reaction to Georgia’s religious liberty bill can be interpreted no other way. Governor Nathan Deal has now decided — just one day after Easter, no less — to veto the bill because the outrage was so severe. In his statement explaining his decision, Deal insisted that religious liberty doesn’t include the right to “discriminate against anyone.” He took a steadfast and courageous posture, declaring that he refuses to be intimidated by “insults and threats” from pastors, nuns, and his local baptist church. On the other hand, for gay groups and large progressive corporations, he will fall to his knees in trembling submission and polish their boots after they finish kicking him repeatedly in the ribs.

On a day when we hear reports of a Catholic priest being literally crucified by Islamic State because he refused to abandon his faith, perhaps we might hope Christians in this country could at least withstand mean insults and online petitions. But we’ve learned not to expect anything — not even one minuscule, microscopic shred of bravery — from Christians like Deal. They will surrender every time, without fail.

And that’s not to downplay the pressure he faced. It was substantial, though not enough to justify his shameful capitulation. Hollywood was leading the charge, with heavy hitters like Disney, Time Warner, Starz, The Weinstein Company, AMC, Viacom, Marvel, CBS, MGM, NBC and other companies threatening to boycott if the bill passed. The NFL got into the action, promising to bar Atlanta from hosting the Super Bowl.

If you didn’t know any better, judging by the universal conniption fit it provoked, you’d think the bill must have mandated that all homosexuals be drowned in the sea or deported to Mozambique. If that were the case, I’d understand why it worked dozens of billion dollar companies into such a fantastic tizzy. But, contrary to reports, that’s not what the bill was designed to do. Not exactly, anyway.

In reality, the bill that the left called “horrific” and “heinous,” would have primarily accomplished the following:

- Protect a pastor from being forced to perform a gay wedding against his will.

- Protect religious organizations from being forced to host gay weddings against their will.

- Protect religious organizations from being forced to hire someone who opposes their fundamental tenets, beliefs, and goals.

There you go. That’s all, folks. That was the whole bill, or at least the relevant portion. And it was narrower than that, in fact, because it provided loopholes and escape hatches where a court could still potentially punish an organization for “discriminating,” even if they fell into one of the above categories. Again, this is the bill that brought upon the wrath of every liberal in the country and resulted in threats of boycotts and other punishments from many major corporations.