Islamic Congressman-elect want to swear on Koran (1 Viewer)

[statsman]

Under US law it's not necessary for a representative to sworn in on anything. In effect, he's giving a non-religious affirmation.
It would be legal if he was sworn holding a comic book.
The Canadian Parliament has several Islamic members. Many of them chose to be sworn holding the Koran. Nobody seemed to think it was a big deal.

There are a number of countries in the world that have "State" religions. In England, its the Church of England, in the Netherlands its the Dutch reform church, in most of the Middle East its Islam.

The US Founding Fathers formed a revolutionary concept when they came up the idea of "Separation of Church and State", and put it into the Constitution. It means that no religion is any better than any other and that all should be respected equally. That includes the right not to have a religion.

Has the US strayed so far from the founding concepts of their nation that an Islamic congressman can't take an oath on the Koran?

RICH AND J - due to popular demand, the first of you to comment on this topic will be recorded. The other will be "locked out".

 

[Rich]

I beat him again

 

[jsanders]

Does that really work?

Guess not, so much for Canadian technology

Just Kidding.

 

[Rich]

Does that really work?

Guess not, so much for Canadian technology

Just Kidding.

You really can't resist destroying a thread can you
In any case Stats is almost certainly using a Microsoft product.

As far as the original topic goes I think it's time to ban religion in public full stop.
It's caused nothing but misery for man over millennia and still does; it's derisive and destructive. Long live free thought

 

[ShaneMan]

You really can't resist destroying a thread can you
In any case Stats is almost certainly using a Microsoft product.

As far as the original topic goes I think it's time to ban religion in public full stop.
It's caused nothing but misery for man over millennia and still does; it's derisive and destructive. Long live free thought

Can't see where that would be any better. Your free thought doesn't agree with my free though. Neither of our free thoughts agree with anyone else's and guess what, back to arguing. I really don't think religion in itself is the problem. Humans are the problem. We just have to be right and do not know how to extend grace to another human, therefor here comes the conflict. Pick any subject the results will end in the same train wreck, if enough humans are involved.

 

[statsman]

There is serious thought in Canada to getting rid of swearing in witnesses in court on the bible, Koran or choose your own holy book.
Everyone would take a civil oath.
The thinking is that if the state has no business in the churches, the church has no business in the state's courtrooms.

BYW - I refuse to use a computer named for a fruit even though the MacIntosh apple (the real one not the computer) is indiginous to Canada. Next thing you know I'll be playing a sport named for a bug (Cricket).

 

[Keith Nichols]

Can't see where that would be any better. Your free thought doesn't agree with my free though. Neither of our free thoughts agree with anyone else's and guess what, back to arguing.

Shaneman,

Free thought is generally regarded as an opinion and most are happy to let others hold opinions they don't share.

Simplistically, religions, to those that believe, are true revealed knowledge from god. At the extremes of religiosity the thought process seems to be something like:
"If you don't share my religious beliefs, not only are you wrong, you are immoral and your very belief of something that is contrary to what I believe is an attack on my belief."
There are Many very religious people who do not think this way and some believe that all professions of faith are calling the same god, but by different names.

Curiously enough, the left wing of politics traditionally has been atheistic yet they treated any with right wing views as being immoral, in the UK at least and so seemed to have replaced the missing religion in their lives with total belief the their left wing philosophy.

All the above written as left leaning neo-conservative atheist. Absolutely no offense intended to anyone.

Regards,