Perhaps you want to wait until your second day in office to ask the citizens of your state to accept Jesus in to their hearts, but then again, I don’t live in Alabama:
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley told a church crowd just moments into his new administration that those who have not accepted Jesus as their savior are not his brothers and sisters, shocking some critics who questioned whether he can be fair to non-Christians.
“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 said Monday, his inauguration day, according to The Birmingham News.
[…]
“If the Holy Spirit lives in you that makes you my brothers and sisters. Anyone who has not accepted Jesus, I want to be your brothers and sisters, too,” Bentley said.
Responding to questions about it, Bentley’s office released a statement Tuesday saying he believes “he is the governor of all of Alabama.”
“The governor clearly stated that he will be the governor of all Alabamians — Democrat, Republican and Independent, young, old, black and white, rich and poor. As stated in his (inaugural) address, Gov. Bentley believes his job is to make everyone’s lives better,” the statement said.
[MSNBC]
This article appears in Jan 13-19, 2011.
As some who is proud to say ‘i don’t know if there is a god or not,” (altho my best guess is that there is no god) I used to tolerate religious people more. But lately, I realized that that religious people want you to think like them. It’s not just their ‘personal beliefs’. They vote to get you to do what they want you to do.
That being said, it’s amazing that this country has held together all these years with all the diverse racial and religious groups here. It kind of feels like it’s falling apart now, tho – so many factions that only demonize the other side.
I think it’s all about power. Some groups want more power because they have been oppressed (Latinos, Gays, etc) Some groups don’t want to lose existing power (Whites, Christians, etc.)
We as Americans used to pride ourselves on our country as a “melting pot”. To me this meant that we tolerate our differences in light of the whole society we are trying to create.
not sure anymore…