Legal Commentary

In Alabama--and elsewhere, too, it seems--there has been a fair of amount of reporting about a speech our new Governor, Robert Bentley (AKA "Dr. Robert Bentley"), gave yesterday at the famous Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where he said that anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as his or her savior is not Bentley's "brother" or "sister."  (His communications director later added that Bentley is "the governor of all the people, Christians [and] non-Christians alike.")  Of course, the news of his non-familiar relations with many Alabamians did not sit well with everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike.  The incident reminds me of then-governor George Bush saying, in response to a question, that only those who have accepted Christ are saved, implying that other Americans will spend eternity in torment.  That remark didn't go over well with everyone either, although I had no problem with it.

As a non-Christian and therefore non-gubernatorial-fraternal Alabamian, I might be expected to be a little upset myself.  I'm not sure I am.  It's not that I think my friends who are upset are over-reacting.  It's that I expect the governor to govern as if all men and women are his brothers and sisters, not to believe in religious terms that they are.  Governor Bentley was stating, however well or clumsily, a basic article of faith for many Christians, in a speech directed primarily at a religious audience (points to the Alabama news story above, as opposed to the TPM story, for putting it in religious terms by saying Bentley's words sounded like an "altar call").  The belief that he shares a unique relationship with his Christian brothers and sisters does not preclude the governor's acting well on everyone's behalf, and many Christians would argue that he is in fact obliged to do so.  Nor does his having taken office, in my view, preclude him from continuing to bear religious witness.  We should hesitate before assuming that the language of religious relationships implies anything about the governor's political relationship to the people.

That said, I think there is room for the governor to reflect, both prayerfully and politically, about his language.  To say that Christians, as Christians (perhaps more precisely, saved Christians as Christians), are his brothers and sisters is not to say anything about the the sense of connection or relation the governor feels toward his fellow citizens, Christian or otherwise, as citizens--and as neighbors, friends, and so on.  If he revisits the issue, perhaps he will find more powerful language to characterize that relationship--words like "community," "service," "stewardship," and so on.  I don't begrudge Bentley his eloquence in describing his relationship with those who share his religious beliefs.  But I do think there is room for him to devote the same amount of reflection to the nature of his political relationship with and obligations to all citizens.