Bradley Byrne, a Republican candidate for governor in Alabama, made a mistake in November. He said this in a Mobile Press-Register interview:
“I believe there are parts of the Bible that are meant to be literally true and parts that are not.”
That made the whole world mad, apparently. How *dare* he not take the whole Bible literally?!
Last week, he made amends… by standing outside a Piggly Wiggly grocery store and announcing:
“I believe the Bible is true… Every word of it.”
Oh yeah. I feel much better now.
I actually don’t see hypocrisy in the two statements. Byrne believes in the Bible, but he interprets it in different ways — some of it literal, some of it figuratively, but all of it is “true” to him. The “controversy” that’s being reported about is not really there.
The controversy reporters should be talking about is just not getting much attention: It’s a sad state of affairs when a candidate has such little respect for reality.
I’m glad voters are taking his comments seriously… but they’re doing it the wrong way! They should be appalled that he believes that anything in the Bible is literally true. Why would you want someone like that to be the leader of your state?!
Oh, right. It’s Alabama.
In case Byrne’s quotations didn’t make you weep for society, check out what one commenter said at the newspaper’s website after hearing about Byrne’s “corrected” quotation:
“Just got a call from a person at my Church letting me know about this,” said uafan1198. “My family will not be shopping at Ragland Piggly Wiggly stores anymore or anything else they own. I don’t shop at places that think it is OK to stand next to people who don’t believe the Bible is all true.”
He’s taking his frustration out in on the store?! He won’t shop anywhere where he might catch rational-cooties?!
That has to be a Poe. Right? Right. (Right?)
Sandhya Bathija of Americans United explains why this shouldn’t be an issue in the election:
Our Founding Fathers made it clear when they wrote the Constitution that there would never be a religious test to hold office. That ban doesn’t apply to voters, of course. They are free to cast a ballot for someone because of religion. But it certainly violates the spirit of the Constitution to vote for or against a candidate solely on the basis of religious belief.
Let’s hope, in the coming weeks, Alabamians come to their senses and realize what should really be important in a gubernatorial election.
None of this would be a big concern except that Byrne’s faith influences his policies. I don’t blame him for that, but it’s all the more reason not to vote for him.
He’s guided by a Holy Book and a church — Equal rights and freedom of choice be damned.
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