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Who decides upon which Book
a Congressman takes his Oath?

[COMMENT:  My email (just below) to Mychal Massie is a response to his request for help.  His letter is a response from another person who had apparently read Dennis Prager's column.  So you might want to read the articles from the bottom up. 

Rabbi Prager is one of the finest and wisest writers in America today.  He is one of the few who understands the common cause between Judaism and Christianity.  He was influential in producing my Judeo-Christian (not just Christian) emphasis on the Road to Emmaus. 

The issue of religion in government is a make-or-break issue for America.  Either we Christians and Jews get it right, or we forfeit our security under God.  That is not religious fluff, that is the hard fact of life. You can be sure that Muslims are chomping at the bit to get this one through.  We will pay the price of losing our reason for being if we do not return to the God who gave us our reason for being.  And that is not the God of Islam. 

I had thought the problem to be resolved on the grounds that no one takes his oath of office in Congress with hand on any book.  They take their oaths in a group together, no book in sight. That turned out not to be true.  Apparently there is an option for using a sacred book for the ceremony. 

See previous article, On Taking Oaths - Lessons from the Keith Ellison incident.        E. Fox]
 

Dear Mychal,
 
        I wholly support Dennis Prager's comments below. 

        But this confrontation is all to the good -- IF Americans will rise to the occasion, and IF Christians and Jews have enough sense to stand up and be counted, and IF we can get our act together and come up with an answer to the absurd (and really treasonous) nonsense about separation of Church and State.  There is a separation, but not the one noised abroad today.  We need something like this to wake us up. 
 
        The blessing of this event is that it may wake us up to the dangers into which we have put ourselves by being unwilling or incompetent to say that God counts, that religion is indeed a part of our living heritage.  That is an historical fact, a political fact, and a logical fact.  There is no reasonable way around it. 
 
        Another and bigger blessing is that it may point us back toward the astonishing foundation for freedom which Biblical religion gives us, and which no other  religion or philosophy does.  None.  No religion or philosophy outside of the Bible can sustain freedom either inwardly and spiritually, or publicly and politically. 
 
    For starters, visit
 
            http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Ed/FrMktEdVsWall.htm   This is an article about education, but it contains material on Church-State issues.     Also:
 
            http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Pl/Cnst/00Const.htm#Church/State  on the theocracy issue.  We must take this issue head on, and get the story straight about the law of God.   And thirdly:
 
            http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Pl/Cnst/AmndOrdFrdm.htm  on the Ordered Freedom Amendment -- which points toward the need for a nation to protect itself from philosophies and religions which undermine the very possibility of rational freedom, and which will push us into despotism sooner or later -- the very road down which we are currently be led by the so-called "globalist" folks. 
 
        Truth matters, and most of all religious truth.  Like it or not, we will be forced to choose.  So we might as well choose correctly and honestly.  Clarity always favors truth, and unclarity always favors falsehood.  So we must force clarity onto the table on these issues.  If we can do that, gracefully and with respect for all, but no compromise on truth, we will eventually win.
 
        I hope this is helpful.  Sorry I cannot give you a sound byte answer.  We either do our homework and dig into the issues or forget about winning the battle.
 
        If you have any questions, give me a call at my number below.  Sounds like you are under a deadline, but this will be a  loooong term issue.   We must make it a hot one. 
 
Blessings, Earle Fox
  ** Emmaus Ministries - a School of Judeo-Christian Apologetics
  ** 1001 W Lambert Rd, #232   La Habra, CA 90631     562-697-5049
  ** http://theRoadToEmmaus.org
  **** To be an adult in the world...
  **** ...you must be a child in God. 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Mychalmassie@aol.com
To: Mychalmassie@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 10:29 AM
Subject: Need your immediate help

 

 Guys I need your immediate help on this one...plz forward any and all suggestions to me...time is not an ally...thks much...

M


Subj: URGENT MESSAGE, Mychal - Keith Ellision - Koran, yes -, Bible, no 
Date: 11/28/2006 1:18:38 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: ********@013.net
To: Mychalmassie@aol.com

Dear Mychal,

 I am about to pose as serious a question as I ever might ask you. Keith Ellison has apparently decided to be sworn in by placing his hand on the Q'uran. I do not know if you ever read any of that book, but if you have, you will agree with me that it is a user guide for hatred, violence and oppression. There is no other interpretation possible, because Islam does not allow for independent thought.


 To the question: What can we/I, the unknown citizen, do to register my protest loudly and clearly to ensure that Representative Elect Ellison cannot swear on a document that is dedicated to the submission of the entire planet, that clearly places itself above the Constitution and all other documents of law and religion.

 We have available to us a weekly radio show that has limited listenership, some access to a few elected officials, a platform for making presentations through our think tank, access to the Republican Jewish Coalition and a few other avenues, but these are all small potatoes considering the size of the stage on which we must play. I turn to you because of your knowledge of the inner beltway and its workings.

 With best regards,

 Jack

  
America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on
By Dennis Prager
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

 Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.

First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is 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.

Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

Of course, Ellison's defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.

So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?

The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.

This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).

But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.

When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble.

Dennis Prager is a radio show host, contributing columinst for Townhall.com, and author of 4 books including Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual.
 

See previous article, On Taking Oaths - Lessons from the Keith Ellison incident.

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