When asked whether he supports a proposed “religious freedom” bill, Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal answered that the founding fathers “came down on the side of religious liberty.”

The bill would allow a private company that objects to marriage equality on the basis of religion to not offer the same benefits to a married gay couple. A federal court last year upheld Louisiana's gay marriage ban as constitutional. Plaintiffs appealed the ruling to an appeals court, which could hand down a ruling at any time.

Jindal, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, made his comments Sunday during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.

“So this is beyond just denying services as a business,” host Chuck Todd said. “This would also be denying benefits to an employee who happens to be in a same-sex marriage. Are you going to be able to support a bill that does that?”

“I think we can have religious liberty without having discrimination,” Jindal answered. “I think it is possible to have them both, and it's desirable to have them both in our society. We need to remember, this is a not a new debate. The founding fathers recognized the importance of religious liberty. They put it in the First Amendment in the Constitution. They anticipated some of these conflicts. They came down on the side of religious liberty. Indeed, religious liberty is why we have the United States. We, as a country, didn't create religious liberty. Religious liberty created our country.”

Todd then asked Jindal whether he supports a New Orleans ordinance prohibiting LGBT discrimination in the areas of employment and housing.

“I don't think, certainly, that there should be discrimination against anybody in housing and employment. … The good news is our society is moving in a direction of more tolerance,” Jindal said. “My concern about creating special legal protections is historically in our country we have only done that in extraordinary circumstances. It doesn't appear to me we're in one of those moments today.”

“I will say this, I think there are many that turn to the heavy hand of government to solve society's problems too easily. I think, instead, we need to be working with people on their hearts and minds. I have faith and confidence in the people of America, the people of New Orleans, the people of Louisiana to not tolerate discrimination, to not support businesses that want to support discrimination. So, absolutely, we need to have a society where we are not discriminating against people. I do think we need to be very careful about creating special rights,” he added.