by Taylor Marsh
First we had Glenn Beck, now it's Dennis Prager. Rep. Ellison wants to take his oath of office with his hand on the Koran. Now all hell has broken loose among the wingnuts.
Multiculturalism is coming! Multiculturalism is coming!
This has nothing to do with multiculturalism. It has to do with religious freedom and equal respect among all religions. Oh, and the Constitution. The last time this came up was in a North Carolina courtroom in 2005, when the judge in that case refused the request, which ended with the state's highest court also throwing out the lawsuit that followed.
Via Mahablog, here's a run down of what presidents swore on and when they didn't.
Here's what the Constitution has to say:
Article VI. - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Republicans are continually heading straight on into what our Founders meant for this country. The GOP doesn't much like our Constitution, whether it has to do with the First Amendment, or unlawful domestic spying. Republicans basically want to police the world to make it in the image they see fit for the rest of us. It's now reached full throttle.
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.
He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.
First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book. ...
Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?
This is just the beginning.
I don't know if you saw "Hardball" today, but Ed Rogers insinuated that Barack Obama is Muslim, through the use of his middle name, which is Hussein. However, when Rogers threw it out he said it like it were profane. C&L has the video. There is going to be racist swiftboating of Barack Obama like we've never seen if he decides to run in '08, but the religious bigotry now on parade is equally heinous and anti-American. For future reference, what Republicans intend to do is blast Obama's full name across airwaves hoping that average Americans will be turned off by "Hussein," playing the religious bigotry card on top of everything else they'll throw at him. But the real reason Ed Rogers did this today was to send a warning shot across Obama's bow. Beware, Senator Obama, we've already got our robo-calls and push polling lined up.
All you have to do is look at the hundreds of comments to Prager's column to see where we're headed.
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