Gene Policinski: New governors stumble over First Amendment

  What’s in the gubernatorial water supply out there, when it comes to matters of the First Amendment?

  Just 45 words setting out five essential freedoms as part of the Bill of Rights, the amendment has been around for — as of next Dec. 15 — 220 years. But several newly inaugurated state leaders have stumbled in word or fact over how to live up to that guarantee of our basic rights.

  Alabama’s new Gov. Robert Bentley, minutes after being sworn in, told a church crowd on Jan. 17 that non-Christians were not his brothers and sisters — creating concerns that non-Christians wouldn’t receive equal treatment from state government. Two days later, he met with leaders of other faiths and then told reporters that “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.”