Alabama Governor Rep. Robert Bentley is in hot water for saying on Monday that he does not consider non-Christians to be his brothers and sisters.
Speaking at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached a colorblind equality, Bentley talked about serving all races equally before turning to religion.
"There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit," Bentley said shortly after taking the oath of office, according to the Birmingham News. ''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."
''Now I will have to say that, if we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters," he continued. "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."
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish rights group, condemned the governors comments.
"It is shocking that Governor Bentley would suggest that non-Christians are not worthy of the same love and respect he professes to have for the Christian community," ADL Southeast Regional Director Bill Nigut said.
