The people of Alabama may have thought they were electing a Governor, but they got a Republican Ayatollah.

Alabama Republican Governor Robert Bentley said in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day message Monday that he does not consider Americans who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior to be his brothers and sisters.

“There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit,” [Gov. Robert] 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.”

It’s not often that top GOP politicians come right out and say stuff like this, but this kind of Dominionism is a very strong influence in the current conservative movement. Normally they’re a bit better at hiding it.

In Alabama, though, Bentley’s bigoted remarks probably won’t be much of a problem.

During the Alabama GOP gubernatorial primary, candidate Bradley Byrne was attacked for allegedly suggesting that evolution, as opposed to creationism, “best explains the origin of life.”

His response was to deem the ad awash in “despicable lies” and insist, “As a Christian and as a public servant, I have never wavered in my belief that this world and everything in it is a masterpiece created by the hands of God.” He went on to tout his efforts to ensure creationism be taught in public schools.

Governor Bentley is also a creationist; it’s the default position for right wing politicians.