Keith Ellison and Religious Pluralism

Keith Ellison was recently elected to represent Minnesota's 5th district in Congress (thanks to a reader who corrected my misidentification of Ellison being from Michigan). He will be the first Muslim to serve in Congress. As a Muslim, Ellison has raised a stir across the land, by being so bold as to request that his oath of office be administered on the Koran, rather than the Bible. This simple request is being deemed by many as an attack on America. How could he do this? Well, he's a Muslim, and as such the Bible is not a sacred text to him, at least not directly. Already word is out that one group is calling for another constitutional amendment that would require that oaths be sworn on the Bible.

Such ideas are in my mind not only silly, but they're un-American. The Constitution prohibits religious tests and to require a person to use the Bible to swear an oath is to do just this. Dennis Prager, who is Jewish, has said blatantly that if you can't swear on the Bible you shouldn't serve. That's a religious test and its unconstitutional. It's unfortunate that Prager has lots of supporters in the United States.

I applaud Keith for his consistency as a Muslim. I expect that others will follow suit, eventually making the use of a Bible as some kind of talisman that protects honesty a thing of the past. Why not use a copy of the Constitution. I swear on this document that I'll abide by its principles in all that I do. Wow, that might be revolutionary. Swearing on the Bible, as we've seen in countless cases, makes little difference to great numbers of people.

Jesus said:

Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:33-38, NRSV).

Yes, let your word be yes or no! That's pretty good advice!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Correction: He represents the 5th Congressional District in MINNESOTA, not Michigan.
Robert Cornwall said…
Thank you for the correction. I guess I was going on memory when I wrote that part. I appreciate your response.
Mystical Seeker said…
I just stumbled on this entry. I agree with your comments completely. I made similar comments in an entry in my own blog.

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