Ellison’s oath on Quran roils conservatives
-- Abdirahman Aynte
Before he became the nation’s first Muslim elected to Congress, Democrat Keith Ellison (Minn.) was called "unfit" for Congress by Alan Fine, his republican opponent. And that was just the beginning...
Ellison is setting yet another precedent in January when he takes the oath of office on the Quran—Islam’s holiest book—an event that induced conservatives to accuse him of deviating his allegiance from the United States Constitution to Allah.
Conservative radio talk show host and columnist, Dennis Prager, wrote in his internet column earlier this month, "America is interested in only one book, the Bible."
Directly addressing Ellison, he added, "If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress."
Ellison said that he’s not changing his mind about the sacred text he’s swearing on. Prager was quickly rebuked by fellow republicans, including Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.).
"The Constitution guarantees for everyone to take the oath of office on whichever book they prefer," said Representative Ellison in a telephone interview.
"And that’s what the freedom of religion is all about."
According to Roll Call, Capitol Hill’s newspaper, swearing on a particular sacred text is a symbolic, optional affair for House members who would like a photo-op with the Speaker of the House at the end of the mass swearing-in ceremony, which has no specific religious denomination.
In his scathing article, Prager barely stopped short of calling Ellison a racist, but he said that allowing Ellison to swear on the Quran is akin to allowing a "racist" to choose "the Nazis’ bible for his oath."
And though he suggests that the Bible is the exclusive book in which Americans should swear on, plenty of elected officials locally and nationally have taken their oath on the Hebrew Bible.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), who is Jewish, refused to use the Bible in her swearing-in ceremony in 2005. Eventually, she borrowed a Hebrew Bible from a colleague.
Other officials, including four U.S. presidents, have skipped swearing on the Bible altogether.
The foray into Ellison’s oath on the Quran, led by Prager and a cadre of conservative bloggers, is seen as rapacious by Muslims and tendentious by most experts.
"It’s a clear double standard in our society," said David Landry, associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. "There’s a lot of anti-Muslim bigotry in it."
"Ellison is swearing on the Quran to uphold the Constitution of this country," said the Rev. Meg Riley, director of Advocacy and Witness programs at the Unitarian Universalist Association. "He’s not swearing on the Constitution to uphold the Quran."
And by doing that, he’s just using his desired sacred text to affirm his allegiance, said Riley.
For Muslims, Prager’s column not only rekindles old wounds sustained during the campaign but reflects a faith that is increasingly becoming a public prey.
"It’s ridiculous and utterly offensive," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation, based in Washington D.C.
"But what’s more saddening is that no prominent person is able to respond to those conservatives, because Muslims are easy targets."
When asked if he’s disappointed with the criticism that seems to be glued to each step he takes, Ellison said that this particular outcry will eventually wane down.,/p>
Is Ellison’s plan to be sworn-in on the Quran a byproduct of illegal immigration?
At least one republican congressman thinks so. Rep. Virgil Goode, Jr. (R-Va.) believes that Ellison’s plan to use the Quran in his private swearing-in ceremony has something to do with the rise of illegal immigration in the U.S. It’s the latest twist to what’s become the most intriguing political rollercoaster of the season.,/p>
In a letter to a constituent, five-term republican Representative Goode, who, like Ellison, represents the Fifth District in his state, said that he fears that "if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt [my] position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Quran."
"We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country," said Representative Goode.
A vast majority of the estimated 12 million undocumented people in the U.S. are Latin immigrants who cross the border from Mexico, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on Goode to apologize.
"Representative Goode’s Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office," said Corey Saylor, CAIR government relations director, in a statement on their Web site.
"There can be no reasonable defense for such bigotry."
In 2004, Goode co-sponsored a bill that would designate English as the official language of the U.S., according to his Web site.
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