Friday, June 20, 2014

Minarets over Monticello


Patriot founder or raghead symp?

It's a hot point for values types in America, and now people are doing it on Kindles and suchlike. Here's when things began to unravel:
The Bible brings personal and communal values into happy alignment, demonstrating that the official’s beliefs accord with the beliefs of three-quarters of American citizens. The Constitution, representing the whole nation, offers a even neater overlap. Other texts pose more of a problem. Even before Keith Ellison, America’s first Muslim congressman, was elected, in 2006, he was asked whether he would take his oath on a Koran. After some evasion (“I haven’t thought that far”) he said that he would. Cue much conservative hand-wringing: the oath text became a focus for people troubled by the idea of having a Muslim in the House of Representatives. Ellison should not be permitted to swear on the Koran, wrote the columnist and broadcaster Dennis Prager; Ellison’s intention to do so demonstrated his belief that ‘it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.” It would “do more damage to the unity of America… than the terrorists of 9-11.” In the end, Ellison did swear on the Koran. He used the copy, in English translation, owned by Thomas Jefferson.

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