Church and state...so define "church"....

As the new class of Senators and Representatives prepare for their January inaugurations, one particular member of the 2006 midterm victors is already stirring up controversy before even formally swearing into office. In fact, it's this swearing in itself that's stemmed the most recent debate on the idea of the separation (or lack thereof) between church and state. In November, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison became the first Muslim American elected to serve in Congress. In the interest of his personal faith and principles, he has announced his plan to swear in on a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, rather than the Bible. From a purely pragmatic, logical perspective, this makes sense. The idea behind the oath is a personal pledge to uphold the dignity and truth necessary for honestly serving the people. This decision, however, has lead to criticism by both conservative commentators and those staunchly opposed to religious influence in public life all together.
"He should not be allowed to do so," Commentator Dennis Prager wrote on his website "not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American culture."American culture? The above statement fully implies that the Bible is fundamental to the most basic structure of American "culture." While it may be such a beacon for certain subgroups of Americans, the Constitution clearly delineates the prohibition of an established national religion. So we're left with new battles involving indignant preservers of Biblical tradition and equally indignant preservers of the constitutional tradition who argue that the Biblical tradition is quite inappropriate in the first place.

It is the opinion of this humble blogger that a personal oath of integrity should have sufficient validity from personal affirmation alone, and if a particular individual so chooses to bolster this commitment with the help of a higher power, that is his or her prerogative rather than requirement. For Allah's sake, you'd think this only logical in such a free country as the United States of America.