Blues reader Del sent me this story about a congressman who’s all bent out of shape because the people of Minnesota elected a *gasp* Muslim to represent them and that it could happen again. Oh, the horror!
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 — In a letter sent to hundreds of voters this month, Representative Virgil H. Goode Jr., Republican of Virginia, warned that the recent election of the first Muslim to Congress posed a serious threat to the nation’s traditional values.
Mr. Goode was referring to Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Democrat and criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam as a college student and was elected to the House in November. Mr. Ellison’s plan to use the Koran during his private swearing-in ceremony in January had outraged some Virginia voters, prompting Mr. Goode to issue a written response to them, a spokesman for Mr. Goode said.
In his letter, which was dated Dec. 5, Mr. Goode said that Americans needed to “wake up” or else there would “likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.”
Hmm. Can you say pandering? I knew you could.
I’ve heard numerous right-wing talk show hosts hyperventilating about the idea that Keith Ellison might take his oath of office with his hand on the Qur’an rather than the Bible. Other, more reasonable, people have pointed out that if we want someone to take an oath seriously, we might prefer that he swear it on a book that is holy above all others in his faith tradition. And it’s also been noted, but apparently not understood by people like Congressman Goode and some of his constituents, that new Representatives aren’t required to place their hands on any book when they take the oath of office.
And there is this little tidbit, which makes Rep. Goode’s little crusade (and I don’t use that word lightly) completely anti-American:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States [emphasis added]. (United States Constitution, Article VI)
I think that’s pretty clear, Rep. Goode. Maybe you need to take a constitutional refresher course over the holiday break.
That makes me violently ill.
How can someone that “cares” so much for their country that they would out and out attack someone like that.
It makes me want to move to Canada.
What next? are we going to let women and blacks vote???
Well to my knowledge we’ve never had an open atheist elected to Congress either, so I think this is the first time anyone has asked to swear on anything except a Judeo-Christian text. I think Ellison should walk right next to Goode’s seat on the first day of the next session and perform Salat right next to him.
Dan, if he did, Rep. Goode would probably leave this mortal coil from the shock. And get an earful from God about stupid religious bigotry when he showed up in the afterlife.
[...] It seems Rep. Goode (R-VA) isn’t interested in a procedure that would connect his brain to his mouth, perhaps because said mouth is so full of foot at the moment. He’s refusing to back down from his fear-mongering over the election of Keith Ellison, a Muslim, to the House of Representatives. And he’s tied the whole thing to immigration. Legal immigration. ROCKY MOUNT, Va. – A congressman said Thursday that he will not retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, “many more Muslims will be elected” and use the Quran to take the oath of office. [...]
[...] Newly-elected Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has put up with a lot of crap from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) because he wanted to use a Qu’ran for his private swearing-in ceremony, and he has responded to every nasty comment with grace. He neatly turned the tables yesterday by announcing that he would use Thomas Jefferson’s very own personal copy of the Muslim holy book. [...]