Lest anyone think I’m taking sides, I don’t think our congress men and women should put their hand on any religious book when they are sworn in. Or, to take a step back, they can put their hand on any book they want when they are sworn in.
But this retarded opinion is moronic and un-American. America, my friends, does not have a state religion. In fact we put it in our god damn constitution that it is illegal to have a state religion.
Prager says:
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.
Fuck him. Only Christians and Jews are allowed to serve in Congress? Fuck him. You better go brush up on the Constitution of the United States of America. I think the Koran is just as dumb as the Bible, but I believe in religious freedom, unlike much of the radical right wing.
lolife 
nice to see your doing your part to increase the level of civilty then. not to mention the level of discourse.
in case you missed it, i was agreeing with you. just seemed to me YOUR level of hostility was somewhat unnecessary.
now, take a deep breath.
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unnecessary hostility?
that is what this country was founded on.
Hey look indians, lets kill them.
Hey look taxes, lets kill them
Hey look stop that shit with the slaves,kill them (actually as much a trade issue)
Americans are unnecessarily hostile, and if you don’t believe me? “bike racks! 3:30”
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well, aside from the unnecessary hostility, i actually think he’s got a good idea.
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I think you are all fucked.
They should put their hand on whatever makes them not be complete asshole, self-serving, crooks.
Maybe it’s not a book at all. Maybe in implant at the base of their necks that instantly explodes the second they behave without ethics.
It could be designed to detect un-ethical rat bastards at the actual swearing in. Can you imagine the ratings cspan would get?
“hey, bubba switch off NASCAR, turn to cspan and lets see if congressman fucktard explodes when he takes the oath”.
might get this country back on the right track.
that is all, as you were.
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Real quick, to clarify.
As I said, I’m conflicted. Part of me could not care less because I, like lolife, think that most religious texts are a bunch of hoo-ha for the most part. I’m just trying to illuminate the other side of the argument. If I don’t there just seems to be a lot of agreement, tacit or otherwise.
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I’m a little bit conflicted on this myself.
If the book in question that the person wants to “swear on” espouses beliefs and practices that are in direct conflict with the US constitution (such as the subjugation of women and the forced conversion “by the sword” to a religion, not to mention the fact that Muslims really don’t seem to buy into the “all men are created equal thing,” just ask the Jews about that) isn’t that a problem? I think that is the sticking point for a lot of folks. Now, I’ve never read the Qu’ran but I’ve heard passages read from it that seem to profess the ideas above. The practices of subjugation and extreme prosthletizing by the sword are certainly carried out in the real world, that’s for sure.
Also, how come the left are so defensive about a religion that is anti-free speech, anti-women’s rights, and anti-freedom of religion? Seems like you guys should really be taking stands against this type of ideology.
What if a person wanted to take the oath of office with his hand on a copy of Mein Kampf? Would that be OK too? You know, there is a reason for tradition. Like it or not, our system of laws are largely informed by Judeo-Christian ethics and morals. This is why many agnostics, atheists, Jews, etc. have taken the oath with their hand on the Bible, as a matter of tradition and because of the historical significance. Some folks have chosen to not place their hand on any book and just affirm their allegiance and dedication to upholding the constitution, what’s wrong with Ellison just doing that?
You know, I’m not a Christan as I’ve said before but I’m down with stuff like “thow shalt not murder,” “thow shalt not covet,” “thow shalt not steel,” “respect thy mother and father” and other crazy shit like that.
And before you start with it, yeah, there’s other stuff in the Bible that’s not so pleasant but remember, Christanity went through it’s reformation to discard that crap. The Muslim religion really needs to go through that same sort of reformation to cleanse itself of it’s most heinous practices. And yes, there are still some wacky Christians out there that hang on to some really crazy shit but it’s a small, small fringe. It is not a major faction of Christians like the radical Muslims which are a very significant part of that religion.
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I agree with you here, 100%. For me, freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. If the newly elected congressman wanted to place his hand on a copy of any book, that’d be fine with me.
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