Posted by
JDComments on Friday, January 05, 2007 8:59:46 AM
The Islamic Congressman Keith Ellison , who has refused to swear on a Bible during his induction into Congress, has pulled off a public relations coup by
deciding instead to use a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. For some reason this is supposed to make everything right . Why?
As wonderful as this moment seems as a paean to American idealism , the reality of the situation is very different.
Firstly, Congress, not Ellison, should decide the rules they operate under, and if he doesn't choose to play by them he should be sent packing. After all, in the countries that practice the religion he espouses, just having a Bible is a punishable crime. If this is his ideal, he should understand the concept of
authority very easily.
Second, as I discussed in a previous
post , it may be irrelevant what Ellison swears on since he seems to adhere to a sect that refuses to recognize any law that contradicts sharia, the Muslim code, and therefore his allegiance to the Constitution would be a charade. Unfortunately I suspect he may just be one of many Congressmen in this regard.
Lastly, as wonderful as it sounds to trumpet Jefferson's owning this Koran, which Ellison is using to make the case of the all encompassing nature of our democracy, the truth is that sometimes a book is, well, just a book to paraphrase Groucho Marx. After all, the Library of Congress must have a copy of Mein Kampf too, but I don't think the American people would use that to argue for a Nazi in Congress.
At least, I hope they wouldn't.