Dennis Prager cries foul on Muslim Congressman's wish to swear in on the Koran

The first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, Keith Ellison, D-Minn. announced that he wants to lay his hand on the Koran when he takes his oath of office in January 2007. Some conservative neoclowns such as Dennis Prager are crying foul, stating that doing so would undermine the very fabric that the United States was built upon. I must vehemently disagree.

When this country was established, the founding fathers stated that the people of the nation would have the freedom to choose whatever religion they deemed fit, and that there would be a separation of church and state. It is called Freedom of Religion. After all, the founding fathers were escaping religious persecution in England, and in so sailing to America, they became free to practice whatever religion, or no religion they wished. The latter of which is called Freedom from Religion. Now the Conservative Right continues to push the bible down the throats of those who don't ascribe to it. Sound familiar? Well that is what is happening in Afghanistan and to a lesser extent, Iraq right now, the forcing of religious dogma on an unwilling populace. Prager, in his article insists that America is interested in only one book, the Bible. Hogwash. There are millions of Americans who don't read the Bible and could care less about the Bible. Many of these people practice other religions and worship different deities; Muhammad, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, the Sun, the Almighty Dollar bill.

Swearing into office is currently done with the Bible, but not everyone in this country reads or follows the teachings of that great book, hence Ellison's insistence that he allow to swear in with the Koran, his religion's great book. It shouldn’t be much of an issue that he wants to be sworn in with his hand on the Koran, but events such as 9/11 changed all that. It seems that the right wing conservative neoclowns of this country want the citizens of this country to bow down to the Bible, and insist that no other religious book matters to the people that make up the fabric of this great nation. What Dennis Prager and his ilk are pushing is a religious war of their own, on a changing American demographic. Prager claims that allowing Ellison to swear into office on the Koran will do more damage to the "unity of America to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11." America is a nation where its citizens, of which Ellison is one, has the right to practice whatever religion they deem fit, not a nation where religion is forced upon its citizens.

As one of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson said in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1779:

"[N]o man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."