Regarding Oaths of Affirmation -- On the Qu'ran
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Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 12:27:52 PM EST
Walter Shurden, Executive Director of the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University, has written an exceptionally good essay on "Should We Swear Congressman Ellison in on the Qu'ran" for the December 2006 issue of the Baptist Studies Bulletin.   Below the fold is a quote:
Of all people -- OF ALL PEOPLE -- we Baptists ought to understand and endorse Ellison's call for free expression of religion! Our ancestors went to jail for that kind of freedom! Our ancestors suffered idiotic indignities for that kind of freedom. Our ancestors struggled for a century and a half in this country for that kind of freedom!! Some of our ancestors suffered physical abuse for that kind of freedom.

Do we Baptists not remember any of our history at all? Have we really forgotten the sorry saga of Roger Williams being chased out of Massachusetts by Christian zealots and his subsequent heroic founding of Rhode Island where religious freedom could flourish? Have we forgotten the sad tale of Baptist fathers John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, and John Crandall being jailed for conducting a worship service in a blind man's house in Lynn, MA? Have we forgotten Obadiah Holmes' bloody whipping on the streets of Boston? Do we not remember that long list of jailed Baptist ministers in eighteenth century Virginia?

But even if we were not Christians and even if we were not Baptists, if we were only good citizens of this republic with no religious faith at all, we ought to understand that call for religious freedom that Congressman Ellison wants. Article VI of The Constitution of the United States says, "The Senators and Representatives . . . 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 (bold mine)."




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Baptists have been true heroes of religious freedom in America. I am glad that so many keep the tradition alive and well in the face of adversity.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Dec 20, 2006 at 12:36:03 PM EST

The Christian theocrats have made this problem. They insist on using the Bible although the use of the Bible and religious tests were thrown out of American law in the Constitution.

What the fundies don't realize is all their attempts to mix church and state will give ample ammunition for Muslims to mix Mosque and State. The Muslims will only want to have what the Christians have. If the Religious Right would just give up their quest for a Christian Nation and accept the secular nature of our laws, then we can all combat religious declaratioins that are mixed with Constitutional oaths.

The use of the Bible or the Koran is counter-constitutional and returns us to a Medieval age of religious tests and declarations. When right wing Christians finally wake up to the fact that the oath is to the Constitution and requires no religious context, the sooner we can dispense with the fears of Muslim barbarians at the gates.

The 3rd Clause of the 6th Article makes it clear that your religion is irrelevant as far as public servaice goes.

What we need is for all the Christians to do the oaths constitutionally, without any pretense of religiosity. To swear/affirm to anything but to the SUPREME LAW of the land is to serve two masters. You can't trust fundamentalists to put the Constitution first. When Christians use the Bible and Muslims use the Quran, they are in effect serving two masters and can't be trusted to uphold the constitution ABOVE their religious declarations.

What Congressman Goods sees in Muslims is a mirror image of Christian fanaticism.

And as usual for fundies, the Congressman Goode does not know the difference between law and tradition. It seems none of the far right does.

by James Veverka on Fri Dec 22, 2006 at 07:42:27 PM EST



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