Alabama governor says his only “brothers and sisters” are Christians

January 19th, 2011, 11:22 am · 4 Comments · posted by

Alabama Republican Gov. Robert Bentley has caused some controversy after his Monday talk at a church that kicked off his first term.

As governor, Bentley leads and must listen to the cares (ideally) of all Alabama citizens, regardless of their faith or lack of faith.

I’m sure Bentley is aware of this, but he puzzled many when he said at the Baptist church in Montgomery that Christians are his only “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,” The Birmingham News reported Bentley saying.

Do you agree that only Christian believers are brothers and sisters?

Are we all brothers and sisters at some level?

Should the terms only be used for blood brothers and sisters to avoid implying a closeness that simply isn’t there?

Bentley’s people cleaned up the governor’s intent later. “Bentley is the governor of all the people, Christians, non-Christians alike,” one told The Birmingham News.

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wharmaster says:

January 19, 2011 at 12:10 pm

This is symptomatic of the xian attitude of “you are either with us, or you are against us” that is emerging in the country.

Pastor Roy says:

January 19, 2011 at 3:16 pm

Yes, that is clear in Paul’s writtens

Donavan says:

January 20, 2011 at 9:53 am

Just because you are not my brother or sister does not mean you are against us. Why would anyone believe it that way? And yes, he is right about Christians. We are known as brothers and sisters as no one else is. This does not mean that we care less about everyone else. God called us to be brothers and sisters in Christ. This is something that seems to be hard to understand for someone who is not a Christian. And this idea has not “just emerged”, it has been around since the time of Christ.

DisputeTheLies says:

January 20, 2011 at 5:04 pm

I always thought that was understood. Not sure why anyone would have a problem with this. But that does not mean that people outside of the Christian family will be treated any worse.