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Swearing in on the Quran?

Submitted by IrnBru001 on Thu, 12/21/2006 - 08:00.

The right wing fundamentalists are up in arms over the fact that Minnesota congressman-elect will, in his unofficial ceremony, swear in on the Quran and not the Bible.

Now it's clear that the wing-nut outrage over this is nothing more then bigotry, and ethno-religious centrism. It isn't however clear what the appropriate response should be.

This is a tough issue for a committed secularist. How do I resolve the conflict between wanting a tolerant multi-cultural society, with my dislike of mixing religion and politics?

I am, on the one hand, disgusted and un-shocked, by the reaction of those on the extreme right. This is not a Christian country, and shouldn't be, but many don't realize the desire, by some, to make it one.

On the other hand it bothers me that any public official, Christian, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise, would take an oath of public office, regardless how ceremonial, on a religious text. There is, as enshrined in our constitution, no religious test for public office, let's not add one.

It is fine that Congressman-elect Keith Ellison is Muslim. There is no reason why a Muslim would be any less (or more) qualified to served as an elected official. As a democrat, and a Minnesotan, I'm thrilled he is in office. I would however prefer religion stay in the heart, and home....not in politics.

If this is truly to become a multicultural society, as I hope it will, we should be separating religion from politics entirely.

Old Comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel that this blog is offensive, you have no right to talk about Christians just as I have not right to talk about Muslims. You are not the one elected to office and you are not in congress so why does it bother you either way.

Or is it that you feel that yes we have the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion as long as it is your opinion. Well my friend it does not work that way.

As far as the teacher in the last post you wrote about , what he should have said was, on September 11,2001 none of the hijackers were Christians, and none of the people that are attaching bombs to themselves and killing innocent people and our troops are of the Christian community. That says it all right there. Merry Christmas and God bless you. Every time you look at a calender remember that you are looking a Christian based object. The calender is based on the Birth of Christ.

IrnBru001 said...

Why do I have no right to talk about Christians?

Jon said...

The the problem is this person wants to change the way that he is sworn in just be of his religion. The oath of office is a set in stone way of accepting the oath of office and just because he is a Muslim we shouldn't be changing the set rules, no more than we would allow an atheist not to lay their hand on the bible to swear into office. By the way you didn't have to explain that you were a Democrat, it is obvious by your post that you are a liberal and don't care much about traditions and rules

IrnBru001 said...

I care about the constitution which set a separation of church and state. Acts like (forcing religious beliefs on others) this undermine what it means to be American.

And for the record this is not the first time someone use a book other then the bible to swear in... or refused to swear in at all... and finally this is not an official act, it has no legal or governmental purpose.

Anthony Lemons said...

irnbru001: I have nothing but respect for your opinion, however, the United States was founded under the principles of the Holy Bible, and is a symbol of the principles this country was established under. It is not an issue of freedom of religion, it is about recognizing the pillars of which this country has stood on for centuries. Ellison may swear in on the Quran, but he needs the Bible present and needs to understand that the Bible is the basis of this free land. If one can not see that, than they will fail as a public servant. Great blog by the way. Merry Christmas.

IrnBru001 said...

Thats nothing more then revisionist history. America is not a Christian nation nor was it founded on the bible or the Christian faith. Learn your history. This post I did a while back gives some of the
relevant quotes. Other wise there are tons of good books on the subject.

Chandira said...

I feel that this blog is definitely non-offensive. ;-)

Absolutely.

I think though, that if this is his unofficial swearing in, it's fine. If it was the official one, I'd feel a little more like religion (any religion) ought to be kept out of it.

This country wasn't founded under any religion, that was the whole point of the constitution, wasn't it? I don't know, being a Brit, but this whole religion thing in this country is so damn weird.
I always wonder what all that intolerance, fear and ill-feeling has to do with Jesus.

Salihah صالحه said...

I'm with you! I'm a Muslim and I don't think any public official should be swearing on any religious text, Qur'an or otherwise. Even in a private ceremony, they are still doing it representing their office. They should be using the local laws, statutes, and constitution to fall back on as their guide and strength as a political officer...not their religion. When they are at home, they are an individual with their individual beliefs. But at work, they operate as as office, not an individual, and a public servant. It's about state not faith.

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