A couple of nights ago, I was forwarded an American Family Association (AFA) Action Alert about the decision of Keith Ellison, a newly elected Democrat from Minnesota and the first Muslim elected to Congress, to use the Koran for his swearing-in ceremony rather than the Bible. The email reprints the entire text of an article by Dennis Prager, who says that the act – using the Koran instead of the Bible – “undermines American civilization.”
Who knew that using a different holy book could undermine our civilization? After all, wasn’t this country founded on freedom of religion? I guess “freedom of religion” really only means freedom to choose a Christian religion. The AFA recommends that you send an email to your Congressional representatives and urge them to pass a law that makes the Bible the book to be used.
Personally, this intrusion of religion into politics scares me, enough to consider invoking the N-word regardless of Godwin’s Law. As others have pointed out, while the use of the Bible is traditional, requiring it is unconstitutional.
I’ll be writing my Congressional representatives as requested by the AFA, but my message will be a bit different from the one they wanted. In this constitutional repulic of ours, I’ll be asking them to uphold the law and not pass such a bill.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Gah! Don’t ever trust anything that liar says. To wit:
Hacks like Prager (and George Will, to give another recent example) don’t just spin – they out and out lie.
I hadn’t seen that. Thanks for the link. Certainly puts another whole spin on this.
And we all see how well they’ve held to that vow. McCain-Feingold guts the 1st Amendment, assorted laws gut the 2nd, Crime Bills routinely violate the 4th, and just about every other law violates the 10th.
Furthermore, every idiot Senator who voted to acquit Clinton because, “The offense doesn’t rise to the level of impeachment,” should be thrown out of office. The House decides whether the offense is worth of impeachment; the Senate judges guilt or innocence.
MB’s information pretty much answers my question because I was thinking that there have been Members of Congress who were Jewish. Therefore, there probably would have been someone who wanted to take the oath of office using a Torah instead of a Bible if a religious book was used during the ceremony.
I’ve never seen a Bible used in a courtroom oath, either. Guess that’s undermining our civilization.
They do swear in on a bible (normally) in a seperate ceremony. There are two – one where they use nothing, and are sworn in all at once, then another, where a book is used.