Preaching from Public Office

[Board]

Source:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_alabama_g ... christians

The newly elected Governor of Alabama on his inauguration day made the following statement in his speech to a church crowd.

"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,"

Questions for debate:

1. Does his statement violate the first amendment?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

2. Can non-Christians expect equal treatment from a governor who holds these views?

3. Is it a misuse of public office to preach to the people you are governing and attempt to convert them?

[Board]

1. I don't think so, however he is walking fairly close to that line...

2. I do not see an immediate reason why they will not. However, non-Christians have every right to question his motives following that statement.

3. I think so and this is that fine line between freedom of speech and misuse of power. People who hold positions of power need to be more careful about the words they speak from their office.

Pretty sure he will have a challenge come re-election...

[Lux]

2. Can non-Christians expect equal treatment from a governor who holds these views?

No. I think he was out of line.

I don't consider it wrong at all for elected officials to profess their faith, but there's a difference between doing that and this. The elected governor is basically stating that he prefers a group of citizens over others. That is not ethical.

[flitzerbiest]

What a moron. Count on him to become the darling of the Religious Reich, but after such an inaugural speech, how can anyone seriously doubt that he is going to use his position to advance the interests of his own particular faith?

[Grumpy]

I think maybe too much is being made of this. He was speaking in religious terms to a religious audience and being a "brother or sister"in Christ seems to have been his motive. Give him the benefit of a doubt, we will know soon enough if it was more than garbled in translation between religious speech and political speech.

Grumpy

[Board]

I think maybe too much is being made of this. He was speaking in religious terms to a religious audience and being a "brother or sister"in Christ seems to have been his motive. Give him the benefit of a doubt, we will know soon enough if it was more than garbled in translation between religious speech and political speech.

Grumpy

Where I agree with you that this is likely inflated by the media because lets be honest... what news story isn't? I do feel that this does top-toe the line between church and state a little too close.

You do bring up a good point though. He was speaking to a "church crowd" after the official inauguration ceremony. However, he was not just professing his faith. He was promoting his religion and seeking conversions by his statement. So on one hand the setting makes it slightly more acceptable but the language and his position are what makes the comments controversial.

We will have to wait and see. Would be interesting to see a report of the religious beliefs of his staff and if he shows preferential treatment to those of his religion.

[cnorman18]

If nothing else, it was, shall we say, unwise. If he IS ever sued in a religious-discrimination case, he has shot himself in the foot in advance and handed over some really powerful evidence that can be used to good effect by the plaintiffs. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

He should have studied his own Bible a little more closely:

Proverbs 21:23 -- "Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble."