Alabama Gov: OK, You're All My Brothers!

Robert Bentley's really sorry if he offended non-Christians
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 20, 2011 7:45 AM CST
Alabama Gov: OK, You're All My Brothers!
Rev. Steve Jones, left, Gov. Robert Bentley, center, and Rabbi Jonathan Miller attend a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011, in Montgomery, Ala.   (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Amanda Sowards)

Robert Bentley is quickly getting the hang of being a politician: Alabama's new governor stuck his foot in it in his first hour in office, and now he's rapidly mastering the art of apologizing. "If anyone from other religions felt disenfranchised by the language, I want to say I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone in any way," Bentley said yesterday. Just after his inauguration, he told a congregation in a Baptist church that "If we don't have the same daddy, we're not brothers and sisters."


Bentley isn't backpedaling all the way, though: "I will never deny being a born-again Christian. I do have core beliefs and I will die with those core beliefs," Bentley said. "But I do not want to be harmful to others. And I will die if I have to to defend someone else's right to worship as they choose."
(More Robert Bentley stories.)

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