AND here’s why the fundie fool takes the prize: just moments into his new administration he he told a church audience:
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.
Dr Robert Julian Bentley, knocking on 70, was speaking on Monday at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Church in Montgomery after his official inaugural ceremony.
Alabama's new Governor kicked off by insulting non-Christians
According to this report, the Anti-Defamation League called Bentley’s remarks “shocking”. Said Bill Nigut, the ADL’s regional director:
His comments are not only offensive, but also raise serious questions as to whether non-Christians can expect to receive equal treatment during his tenure as governor.
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights discrimination against Jewish people, said it sounded like Bentley was using the office of governor to advocate for Christian conversion. Nigut added:
If he does so, he is dancing dangerously close to a violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which forbids government from promoting the establishment of any religion.
But after his speech, Bentley did some neat back pedalling, and said he did not mean to insult anyone. His office released a statement yesterday 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.
Ashfaq Taufique, President of the Birmingham Islamic Society, said he wasn’t sure how Bentley’s remarks were intended.
Does it mean that those who according to him are not saved are less important than those who are saved. Does he want those of us who do not belong to the Christian faith to adopt his faith? That should be toned down. That’s not what we need. If he means that, I hope he changes it. We don’t want evangelical politicians. They can be whatever in their private life.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 19th, 2011 at 9:56 am
“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.”
I notice even when he “backpedalled”, he didn’t include other relgions or those without belief. So not really backpedalling at all.
January 19th, 2011 at 10:30 am
Yeah, I noticed the lack of ‘of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Atheists…’ too.
Clearly deserves his ‘imbecile’ award and is just one more scary reminder that age, position and presumably experience are still no guarantee whatsoever of sense coming out of the mouth.
January 19th, 2011 at 11:31 am
What has the First Amendment got to do with it?…”Congress shall make no law etc.”
What part of “All Alabamians” don’t you understand? There is no need to go into ever finer sub-divisions, “All” literally encompasses all.
One would have thought though that everyone in a church would have accepted Jesus as their saviour; I think that is what is called ‘preaching to the converted’.
He is no more or less an imbecile than members of the Anti-Defamation League or the Birmingham Islamic Society, it is just that you ‘freethinkers’ don’t have the guts to take on Jews and Muslims in the USA.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
MaryD
What exactly do you mean by “take on”? I think you’ll find most contributors to this site don’t discriminate, we will happily mock any religion. The chap Bentley is trying to bring religion into politics and whether he’s (insert religion of choice here) makes no difference.
January 19th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
MaryD, ALL religions are delusions. Is that any better for you?
January 19th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
MaryD. From your religious fantasy you select what you want to believe in the same way you select what suits you in the bible. When the bible is quoted as an authority christians – other than members of the KKK – overlook its views on slavery, working on a Sunday and much else. No chance of your waking up to the freedom of rational thinking, I suppose?
January 19th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Uzza’s Law
“For any ongoing criticism of Christianity, the probability of a claim that it would not be applied to Muslims approaches 1.”
January 19th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
Broga’s Law
“The claim that a criticism of Christianity would not be applied to Muslims neither adds to nor detracts from that criticism.”
January 19th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
Mary D – I think you’ll find that here we are more than happy to ridicule imbecile proponents of all religions as and when they start trying to foist their beliefs on everyone else – not to mention making fools of themselves, inciting hatred, engaging in child abuse, blowing people up, embezzling church funds, damning others for their sexuality, making ludicrous predictions about second comings and the end of the world, stoning people to death for breaking archaic laws, wasting millions of pounds of tax payers’ money on pointless ‘state’ visits, imposing iron-age dress codes on their women, murdering ‘blasphemers’ in cold blood, going on the rampage when someone dares hold views different to their own, constantly bleating about being ‘persecuted’, claiming (in the face of every scrap of evidence) that the earth is 6,500 years old, building theme parks with the sole intention of brainwashing children with superstitious hokum, passing laws which forbid different peoples and genders from mixing freely, and generally mouthing off like they are sole possessors of the truth.
Of course, there are a million and one other ways that religiots everywhere leave themselves wide open for all the criticism we level at them. The above is just a small selection which I hope will convince you that your last comment is erroneous.
January 19th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Much of the US of A is oddly like Iran, only with slightly nicer suits. It’s strange the two republics should be at loggerheads when they’ve so much in common. Government by the bigots, for the bigots.
January 19th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Guys: if you keep feeding this mindless troll, she (probably he, in reality) will keep barfing up this stuff.
“MacAllister’s Law: ignore trolls unless you are within punching distance.”
January 19th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
Indeed, Chris. That said, Marcus’ comment at 2:15pm rather hits the nail on the head.
Slightly off-topic, just come back from a long trip, looked at the BC website and found this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12222612
Arrrgh! These bastards show their true colours. Haven’t had time to read it properly, and so I’m not sure if it’s the smoking gun exactly, but hopefully it can be used as another sharp instrument to hammer the RCC. All those poor kids. All those lies. All that money in the Vatican.
January 19th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
He’s not the imbecile. It’s the twats who voted for him who need their bumps felt.
January 19th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Uzza/Broga: At least she hasn’t likened us to Nazis – yet!
PS It still annoys me to be considered a member of some “movement”, whereas I am an individual now with my own personal views – albeit happy to find that there are others who share many of them!!
January 20th, 2011 at 1:50 am
He is simply going too far. This man should not be allowed to hold office and he should be impeached immediately. No government official should ever promote a religion and they should NEVER tell the people they lead how to worship, when to worship or who to worship.
January 20th, 2011 at 2:23 am
Mary D…I don’t suppose I’ll read this, but here goes anyway:
seeing that you’re a good Christian, I suggest that YOU take on the Muslims and Jews etc, as after all, it is the duty of all Christians to go forth and preach the good news to the world. it is YOUR job to take on the Muslims and Jews etc, in order to convert them from the wrong delusion, to the correct delusion…opps, sorry, religion.
So, as an atheist, I don’t give a monkey’s bum about Jesus, but you do. It’s your job to go into their communities and countries to convert them to the word of Jebus…Jesus Christ, the one true religious fanatic…
So pack your little bags, gather up your bibles, and head off to Tehran or Islamabad to do some Christian evangelising, or else, you’re not a true Christian, are you?
f&^king hypocrite…
January 20th, 2011 at 1:46 pm
That imbecile is typical of militant Christian fundamentalists here in the US. There’s a reason why so many of us refer to them as the Christian Taliban.
January 20th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Forgive me for being a bit dim here. He says:
“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.”
Though members in the congregation, who have not accepted Jesus as their saviour are not his brothers and sisters, but he wants to be their brother. I think that is an act of remarkable kindness.
Just leave out a few words:
“Anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you I want to be your brother.” Rallying call of an atheist?
(I know he really wants to use his persuasive powers to help them on the path of righteousness so that they can become his siblings. But this is an example of how loose talk can be interpreted in various ways.)
January 20th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
MaryD. I would hate to be seen as discriminatory in my views. Christians, Jews and Muslims are ALL delusional fuckwits.
Does that help?
I do hope so.
January 24th, 2011 at 7:08 am
Oops!
http://www.secularnewsdaily.co.....cond-time/