Date: 2006-12-04 10:53 pm (UTC)
I've mentioned this too many times to make the links, but: Two presidents have been affirmed, not sworn in (Pierce, Hoover), and the Quaker Nixon was sworn in on two Bibles. The oath is important, not the symbol. And besides (as someone else in LJ wisely pointed out), wouldn't you want someone to swear an oath on a book which they held as holy?

I could swear on the New Testament (if it didn't include the Old) and while I respect the words, it wouldn't regard my oath as binding in a Ten Commandments sort of way. Indeed, if they forced me to take an oath on something I didn't believe, I wouldn't respect the oath. To insist otherwise indicates religious fanaticism, not devotion.

One of the great lessons of 9/11 is that the convictions of misplaced faith is as strong or stronger than the convictions of faith. Ellison is my Congressman. In the Shockwave Radio interview of Keith Ellison, I asked him about being a Muslim. He said the subject had never come up in his elections to the MN State legislature. I don't recall it being an issue in the election (except to note that he would be the first Muslim in Congress). Every now and then Minnesota Nice means something.

Aside: Iirc, Ellison is also the first black Congressman from MN. No one's even talking about that. Even Sphincter Conservatives have moved on, at least for now.
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