AL Gov Bentley: Proselytizing from the Very Start of his Administration **Updated**

Jason Attermann — January 18, 2011 – 2:22 pm | Republicans | Separation of Church & State Comments (0) Add a comment

Further illuminating the chasm separating the vast majority of American Jews and too many Republican elected officials, Governor Robert Bentley (R-AL) engaged in proselytizing statements - in which he asked his audience to “accept Jesus Christ as their savior” - just an hour into his governorship:

So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.

During an event celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Bentley spoke of his responsibility to be “color blind.” However he failed to show his own ability to be blind to people’s religious beliefs and respect those differences. Bentley stated that he divides his constituents into either his “brothers and sisters,” or “not my brother and you’re not my sister,” based on whether they are Christians and are “saved.”

But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister.

Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.

Bentley’s words, which he delivered an hour following his swearing in as governor, are a stark reminder of the Republican Party’s track record of religious preference and exclusion. This is just another example of certain Republican leaders being out of touch with the American Jewish community and working to chip away at the separation of church and state. 

**Update January 21, 2011**

Following a meeting with Jewish leaders, Bentley rightly apologized for his remarks. According to ABC 33/40:

Bentley was already scheduled to meet with members of the Birmingham Jewish Federation within the next week.  But given the concerns from Monday’s remarks, the governor’s office moved the meeting up to Wednesday afternoon.

‘I would like to say that anyone who heard those words and felt disenfranchised, I want to say that I’m sorry,’ Bentley said during the meeting.  ‘I don’t want to be harmful toward anyone else in anything that I may say.’

Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Birmingham’s Temple Emanu-El was among those concerned about the remarks.

‘I found it to be very troubling, and I shared it in an honest and forthright way with our governor,’ Miller said, describing Bentley’s comments Monday as a ‘difficult misstep’ at the beginning of his term.

However, Miller was comforted by Bentley’s apology.  Miller told reporters he felt satisfied that the governor did not intend any malice or ill will with his statements.

‘I think he now understands,’ Miller said.  ‘And be careful of his words, as I have to be careful of my words, too.  And we’re moving forward.’

‘Having been asked by members of my community here what we’re going to say and how we’re going to take it, I am very impressed with what the governor brings to this conversation,’ said Rabbi Elliot Stevens of Temple Beth Or in Montgomery.  ‘He does have an open mind.  He has an open heart.’

When asked if Bentley would consider the Jewish leaders in the room to be his brothers and sisters, the governor replied, ‘They are my brothers and sisters.  Certainly they are.’

 

 

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