I do not know if anyone has seen or heard this, but Keith Ellison was the first Muslim elected to Congress. He says he will do the swearing in on the Quran and not the Bible. It has created some stink. That has left me thinking.
I always thought you swear that you are going to uphold the Constitution to your best possible means and to your god. So to me it does not matter if he swears it on any holy book or what ever.
I saw many muslim folks quite happy taking the oath and swearing to god without someone wanting to take it to court or something lol
But I also see some people in the Middle East looking at this as America being intolerant to the Muslim culture and not that free after all.
I can't even see some muslim country even allowing a christian on one of their congress type institutions, let alone swearing on the bible.
Do you mean this guy?
http//www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20061206-1404-ellison-quran.html
yep thats the guy Annie.
Whilst I agree with your statement Scramble. If we are meant to be winning the hearts and minds game and telling the middle east to be more tolerant and democratic etc, this would show us to be abit 2 faced.
surprised no one had posted on this earlier lol
They guy who made the comment is obviously just an ignorant prat. Removing him from office will only serve to martyr him. Pointing out that he's an ignorant prat and then ignoring him is the best policy. The muslim gentleman's image would be better served by publicly expressing pity for said prat's blinkeredness, then moving on to prove him a prat by doing an excellent job, not spending his first weeks in office bogged in some nastly little testosterone battle, giving the blinkered-pratophiles more ammunition and more exposure.
(in my opinion ;))
I'm with Monster. I'm guessing Joe Lieberman does not swear his oath on the bible either. I'm further guessing that no one takes any notice of this and if they did they's keep quiet so as to avoid the wrath of the Anti Defamation League.
It should be anone issue and letting some ignoramus turn it into one just feeds the prats...
I can't even see some muslim country even allowing a christian on one of their congress type institutions, let alone swearing on the bible.
Doesn't matter. Its about American freedom of religion. I read that the 'official' swearing in occurred without anything at all, its just the informal swearing in to the House Speaker thats at issue. I still don't know what Joe Lieberman uses for a similar ceremony in the Senate, or for that matter, any Jewish congressman - the Christian Bible, the Torah, or nothing at all??! I know atheists use nothing.
Absolutely stupid situation with flames being regularly fanned by the right wing/conservative media hosts/rabble-rousers.
You don't even have to swear on the bible in a court of law if you choose not to so why the big deal?
I laughed when Alan Colmes pointed out to some self-righteous talking head the other night how people like Billy-Bunter-Delay had sworn on the Bible and then turned out to be a corrupt bastard.
If the general public is so horrified when people who are "practising" Christians (and presumably swore on the bible when they came to office) turn out to be corrupt and immoral, why are they not equally horrified when atheists and people of other religions (who do not swear on the bible) turn out to be good eggs? Oh wait.... ;)
I'm with Monster. I'm guessing Joe Lieberman does not swear his oath on the bible either. I'm further guessing that no one takes any notice of this and if they did they's keep quiet so as to avoid the wrath of the Anti Defamation League.
It should be anone issue and letting some ignoramus turn it into one just feeds the prats...
Why would Joe Lieberman, or any other jewish representatives not swear on the bible? Surely the Old Testament is their bible, no?
That said, I think he should be allowed to swear on the Koran, in fact everyone should be able to swear on the holy book of their choice. Presumably the atheists would have to use Richard Dawkins' "God is Dead" :grin:
I'm with Monster. I'm guessing Joe Lieberman does not swear his oath on the bible either. I'm further guessing that no one takes any notice of this and if they did they's keep quiet so as to avoid the wrath of the Anti Defamation League.
It should be anone issue and letting some ignoramus turn it into one just feeds the prats...
Why would Joe Lieberman, or any other jewish representatives not swear on the bible? Surely the Old Testament is their bible, no?
I think the bible consists of the 'old' and the 'new' testaments... the latter is not something adopted by the Jewish tradition..... so Joe probably wouldn't want to swear on it.
I maybe completely wrong but wouldn't a person of the Jewish faith want to swear on the Torah??
I maybe completely wrong but wouldn't a person of the Jewish faith want to swear on the Torah??
I Jewish collegue just shrugged his shoulders when asked, and said "I'd swear on the old testament"
Being a constitutional lawyer, he went on to point out none of them will 'officially' swear on any religious book or anything else.....