Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Is Your Daddy Jesus? Only in Alabama

Stroll on!

Governor: Only Christians are my brothers

Robert Bentley, the new Republican governor of Alabama, (IQ 47) delivered an oddly exclusionary message on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Birmingham News (via Political Wire) reports:

"I was elected as a Republican candidate. But once I became governor ... I became the governor of all the people. I intend to live up to that. I am color blind."

"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."

Bentley added, ''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."

His press secretary later told the News, "He is the governor of all the people, Christians, non-Christians alike."

This is hardly the first time a Southern governor has gotten in trouble for making statements that offend non-Christians. At a 1992 Republican governors conference, Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice famously said:

"The United States of America is a Christian nation, which does not mean in any way to infer any kind of religious intolerance or any kind of particular dogma that that is being forced on anyone," Fordice said. "It is just a simple fact of life in the United States of America. ... And the less we emphasize the Christian religion, the further we fall into the abyss of poor character and chaos in the United States of America."



At that point, South Carolina's Carroll Campbell stepped up to the lectern and hastily extended that point to include America's Judeo-Christian heritage. The Washington Post reported what happened next:

Campbell then stood back, put his arm on Fordic's shoulder and said quietly: "I just wanted to add the Judeo part." Fordice, appearing to glare at Campbell, said: "If I wanted to do that, I would have done it." Salon


I was looking through the library for bit of something to decorate the post, and came across the churches of Clinton above. Clinton, where? wondered I. Google images gave me a choice of ten or so Clintons USA, so as you do, you start with the redneck states. Lo and behold, Dairy Queen, Clinton North Carolina.

Who says them good old boys ain't got a sense of humour?



See comments.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not religious, but I like this comment from Salon.

"He's lucky
Fortunately for him Jesus doesn't use the same criterion for His brothers and sisters or this guy would be an only child."

—Texas Aggie

Himself said...

Well Texas Aggie, you ain't religious, I sure hope you don't actually live in Texas, because Jesus sure gets his freak on there. With the help of a few Jesus freaks of course.

I have featured this short clip previously on one of my numerous blogs, but for the life of me I can't find the thing.

So for your amazement, and telling me all I need to know about Texas, I have upped it here.