robert bentley

Robert Bentley apologized that two days after he was sworn in as governor of Alabama, Wednesday to announce to the public the Baptist Church that Christians only, brothers and sisters and vowed to work for people of all faiths and colors.

His comments Monday were shocked and offended some of the faithful of other religions, but the backlash does not seem to be a serious political wound for retirement dermatologist and South Baptist deacon.
In the case of the governor and some of the highest levels of church attendance in the country, and some Christian leaders defended the remarks and the Republican is likely to get a fair opportunity to pursue his agenda in the next legislative session.
"If the hair of any person deprived of other religions through language, and I want to say I'm sorry, I'm sorry if I offended anyone in any way," he told reporters Wednesday after meeting with leaders of other religions in his new position.
After taking the oath on Capitol Hill of Alabama on Monday, headed by Bentley's across the street to a service honoring Martin Luther King in the Church of the First King, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
During his speech, he said: "Any person here today who did not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, and I'm telling you, you do not, my brother and you're not my sister, and I want to be your brother."
The former director of the center for the study of law and the Church at the University of Samford, Chris Doss, said he believed Bentley stumbled briefly, partly because of the Baptist deacon who was speaking at the Baptist Church.
"He was talking to his own flock," said Doss. But he added: Bentley will need to be careful that it does not repeat this error.
Bentley apologized for his remarks, but not for being a Christian. "I will not deny being a born again Christian. I have core beliefs, and will die with those basic beliefs," said Bentley. "But I do not want to be harmful to others. And I will die if I have to Ldvaa another person the right to worship as they please."
The sponsor of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, the Rev. Jay Wolf, it was believed that he misunderstood the note by Bentley and the media.
"He was trying to relay what is essential in our faith, that are related to people who believe in Jesus," Wolf said. "He does not mean it is not part of the brotherhood of humanity."
Wolff said in the Bentley, 67, spent his career as a doctor to help people.
"To say now that he is being excluded, and this is ridiculous," said Wolf.
The head of the National Alliance between religions, and the Rev. Welton Gaddy, Bentley "went too far."
"I thought that with his statement that creates two classes of citizens in the state of Alabama, those that were his brothers and sisters in Christ and all. As an elected official, he bears the responsibility to serve all people, and to treat all people equally," said Gaddy.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish group that fights discrimination, it looks like a Bentley was used as the governor's office to defend the Christian convert.
"If he does so, he is dancing dangerously close to violating the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the government from encouraging the establishment of any religion," said Regional Director for the Anti-Defamation League Bill Nigut.
Said retired University of Alabama political world William Stewart told was a mistake.
"I do not think the governor needs to get to things like who will be in the Kingdom and which will not be in the Kingdom," said Stewart.
But he believes Bentley will be able to recover.
"There will be lapses by anyone," said Stewart. "Once that gets in its policies and the essence of his administration, and I think he can turn around."
Said Candy Gunther Brown, an associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Bentley was making a statement, "theological" to mobilize the church. Bentley called the data "altar call classic" of evangelicals.
"He says I want to be your brother, and this invitation, but mainly in the way that I heard as an exclusion," said Brown, who teaches literature Evangelical Christian.
"My guess is that the expression of shock and concern by critics, it is perhaps disingenuous, because this can hardly be the first time that I heard a similar statement, and if you are in Alabama, I've heard this before, I have heard many times before, and perhaps even by political leaders. "
He called for a Jewish leaders who met Wednesday with Bentley, Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple of the company - Emanu in Birmingham, the new governor's remarks as a "slip of a difficult" at the beginning of his administration. But he said he was pleased with the apology the Governor and said "I hope and pray that we come together in the next four years."
Another rabbi called for, Elliot L. Stevens, a temple or a house in the city of Montgomery, and meeting with Bentley is a positive step.
"We gathered all of us here at the table in the first days of his administration, and we are talking about dialogue between religions," said Stevens.