Swearing on the Book
Behold Dennis Prager embracing his inner Christianist and planting the Christofascist flag down — declaring Christianity to be America’s official belief system… at least for politicians. Believe anything you want to believe, as long as you swear on the Bible!
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.
Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison’s favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.
James Joyner wonders what happened to the First Amendment and Article VI of the constitution. Perhaps Mr. Prager wasn’t aware of these silly restrictions on government-mandated religion.
Ellison’s doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal — the Islamicization of America.
Yes, because we all know that freedom of religion is one of the central tenets of Islamic extremists. They’ll stop at nothing to advance the book-choosing rights of oath swearers worldwide!
Or, Dennis Prager is an incomprehensibly clueless fool. If anything, it’s a blow to Islamic extremism, because it shows that Islam and America are not inherent enemies, but can peacefully coexist. Dennis Prager and his Muslim-flavored extremist counterparts find references to this sort of compatibility incredibly caustic to their respective causes.
It also bears repeating: America is a nation of (mostly) Christians, but not a Christian nation.
