Article: I swear to Go....umm....Allah

Here's an interesting article. Many of you probably already know that the first Muslim was recently elected to congress. Keith Ellison was chosen by the folks of the 5th congressional district of Minnesota to represent them. Here's the kicker....upon his oath of office, he wishes to place his hand upon the Quran instead of the Christian bible and, of course, every sicko is crawling out of the woodwork to send him death threats.

The article points out some parts that stick out from the Constitution...

1. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (First amendment)
Translation: The government shall not condone or mandate any religion and shall allow any to be exercised freely.

2. "...but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI)
Translation: Nobody will ever have to jump through religious hoops to assume his/her position.

3. "The Senators and Representatives... shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution." (Article VI)
Translation: An oath must be taken to honorably serve the office which they will occupy. (No mention of a bible)


The funny thing is that people are still under the impression that it is a civic duty to swear on the holy bible upon taking office. They don't understand that that is simply a tradition and that there is no constitutional authority that will be undermined by allowing the use of any other (or no) book for the oath. The person isn't saying that they will administer the will of their god(s) while they are in office. They are simply willing to swear an oath and do so in the eyes of their respecive deities. It adds a personal and spiritual component to the oath to go along with the civic component. For some strange reason, people have a problem with that. Seriously though....does it REALLY make sense to have a Muslim swear an oath on a bible?? If it makes sense to you, then you are probably visiting the wrong blog.

There are also some great quotes in the article that make analogs between Ellison and terrorism. I use the word "great" here because I think that they not only lack any kind of credibility, but they also serve to undermine the intelligence of their respective authors. My favorite quote is...

"This country was not created on religion but on Christianity."

Come on....TELL me that's not funny!!!