Swearing Over Swearing In--The Cancer

As predicted at this post some noise is developing about Muslim Congressman-Elect Keith Ellison's use of the Quran during a swearing in ceremony.

The Constitution is well explained in this Christian Science article, which notes that:

In Congress, newly elected representatives do not put their left hands on any book. They raise their right hands, and are sworn in together as the speaker of the House administers the oath of office. Some do carry a book, according to House historians, and some choose to photograph a private swearing-in afterward with their hand on the Bible. One senator is known to have carried an expanded Bible that included the Book of Mormon.

The Constitution 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."

Well, Republican Virginia Representative Virgil Goode has written a letter denouncing immigration and making no bones about his opposition to Muslims being elected to Congress. The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked Goode to apologize, but no dice and this is the xenophobia we can look forward to as the Middle East fiasco unfolds.

CNN has an article that features a good video of Ellison's response.

I think this is just a preview of coming attractions, and it will not be limited to the United States. Holland is still smarting from the murder of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh, who was killed after making the 10 minute film Submission which criticized violence against women in Islamic nations, and smart folks in Britain are asking questions that are difficult to answer.

In Denmark, Karen Jespersen and Ralf Pittelkow's Islamists and Naivists has become a best seller. If you remember, it was in a Danish newspaper that those cartoons appeared that caused all that trouble. On Friday, December 9th, Paul Belien wrote an article, Dispatch from the Eurabian Front, which discusses those cartoons. By the way, if you have not seen those cartoons, they are here (page down a little), and Belien has also written a follow up article that notes the upcoming mess we are facing. Your humble blogger fears this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and the invasion of Iraq was nothing but gasoline on the fire and an exacerbation of the whole monstrosity.

What I am attempting to distinguish is the danger of a cancer growing on a cancer. That the cancer of Islamic Terrorism exists cannot be disputed, but this cancer exists among a tiny fraction of the Muslims in the world. If we succumb to the temptation to think that all Muslims are terrorists, the terrorists will get the jihad they want.