America, Not Keith Ellison, Decides What Book a Congressman Takes His Oath On

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18217

 

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I do not know the legal history of swearing upon the Bible, but does it not become moot when one has no reasno to believe in it? The idea is that one would not profane one's holy book by affirming a lie upon it.

 

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He should be able to use whatever text his faith requires to take the oath.
Plus it pisses off all the whiny Christians and the perpetually terrified conservatives.

 

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It don't matter, he's a politician ....and there ain't no ethics or morals or anything else that he won't violate in order to fill his pockets with more money!

Baron Max

 

Unfortunately very true.

 

The Kama Sutra? The Anarchist's Cookbook? One's Reader's Digest-rejected Humor-for-a-Day submission?

I'm an Atheist who doesn't do the Bible. Or the Qur'an.

And the Constituion/Bill of Rights/Federalist Papers say nothing about swearing an oath on a volume of Gravitation.
So, the world ain't perfect, and the Universe -- to rephrase -- is a harsh mistress.

We all don't get the book we want in the public square -- in exchange for the freedom to have whatever book we want in private.

Well, in the West, anyway.

 

I would also prefer a BAN on all religious references and inclusion of religion in govt. but inside Christian America, where they are pushing for a theocracy and intrusion on personal rights I see no problem allowing this man to take this oath with the book of his faith. It is one of the 3 major Abrahamic faiths, not kama sutra, etc.

 

If he were Jewish and insisted on a Torah being present this debate would have never surfaced, and I'll bet there are alot more Muslims in the world than Jews.

 

With confused logic such as you display, no wonder your point of view has earned the respect it's due.

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Uhh, OK, discussion over.

 

another glorious and splendid reason religion has no place in politics.

as to the question, if he can't take the oath he can't be a congressman.

 

I thought it was not required to take an oath, merely to affirm?

 

What? You don't get the confirmation you feel you so amply deserve, so you take your ball and leave the playground declaring the game over -- because someone actually showed up to compete?

I bring a pair of balls to every competition.

 

If you don't want to swear on the bible in a court of law, they allow you just make a promise to tell the truth. In the bible, Jesus says that we should take no oaths, let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.

He should be allowed to chose his own holy book if he wishes, because the United States (which isn't America, there's central and south America too), isn't a Christian nation.

 

if this man is so afraid the bible will give him cooties maybe he should go to where he can be a "real man".

as to your question, if he can't (or in this case refuses) be affirmed then he can't be a congressman.

 

It's unprincipled to swear on a book you don't follow. It's not a matter of bravery.

 

It's funny that the Jews never bitch about swearing on the Bible.

I don't hold on to any specific religion, but should I ever have to swear an oath... I wouldn't bitch about using the Bible.

It's a standard... changing this because a few people are "offended" just puts us that much closer to our own down fall.

Plus, most of this country is Christian... I think as a whole, they would be more willing to accept one's word as trustworthy if one swore on a book the majority trusts. I mean, a jury is going to be biased to some extent. If some of the jury members feel the man swearing on the Quran is evil because of his book and beliefs, he is more likely to go to be found guilty. However, if he were to swear on the Bible he is likely to have a "more fair" trail. Yes, the jury will still be biased towards their own beliefs, but the odds are a bit better.

Regardless of the county where an oath is required, one should go along with the county's customs. If I were in Turkey and I had to swear an oath on the Quran... I would do it out of respect and for the symbolism of it all. Whether I tell the truth or not is a different story...

 

The Jews fucking wrote the bible!

 

Of course... but they are swearing on the Christian Bible... not their own Bible. There is a key difference between the two. Though it could be argued it does not apply.

 

I just thought we were finally elevating from exchanging missles to a real discussion. I meant that while the US uses religious texts during an oath that the guy should be able to bring his koran thingy. Even though I would love to see a religion free America. Thenya got all snarky and I chose to go to my end of the court and pout rather than fire more missles.