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oh lord.

What the hell. 
The great thing about America is the fact that stupid sons of bitches such as these have the right to spout such bullsmurf.  Totally predictable he played the Hitler card.

What is the significance of swearing an oath on the Bible?  If a person is athiest, it would have about the same importance as the telephone book.  Probably even less, as I would assume athiests look up numbers in the phone book.

The reaction to this to me stinks like a "rile up the base" move amongst the flag wavers.  A "LOOK, SOMETHING SHINY", if you will.

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.

Someone in another forum mentioned that, ironically, Prager is Jewish.

And it's not even true.

Josh on The West Wing: "Well, there's nothing that says that you HAVE to swear on a bible. You could swear on a copy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition if you wanted to."

President-elect Bartlett: "Now, do you think that would be a good idea??"

In laws expressed in the Constitution yes. The following seem to be the most relevant sections:

Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article VI. - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 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.

That Damn Constititution, getting in the way of a good flag waving episode wrote:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, 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.

Emphasis mine.  If I'm reading this correctly, it would seem that placing your hand on one book versus another could be construed as a religious test.

While on a bad day I might agree I don't really think it is fair of Prager to blame American civilization on the Bible exclusively.

iSeamas wrote:

Praeger is either nuts or just plain chose not to do his research.

I'm thinking more that he's looking for a little bit of light being cast on himself, climbing up a few rungs on the Famous Radio Commentator ladder, even if he has to make moronic statements to do so. It's worked for so many other talking heads: Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Savage, etc., have all made a fine carreer and plenty of cash following such tactic.

Now, I personally have never heard of this Prager dude before but I'm gonna watch and see if his name comes up a lot more from here on. I bet it does.

KingFred wrote:

So Representative-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to US Congress, has said he intends to take his oath with his hand on the Koran.

Shock and surprise, some people are furious at this. How DARE he refuse to swear on The Good Book!

Says Dennis Prager, columnist and radio host:

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.

His column is here. As well as the above snippet, he also claims that the act will "undermine American civilization". If you are unwilling to take an oath on America's "holiest  book" then don't serve in Congress, says Prager.

Way to go. Let's tie serving the country to being religious and CHRISTIAN, specifically. This is what America needs right now.

I once had to testify in court, and I refused to swear upon a bible and was properly accomodated.

gas huffer wrote:

I once had to testify in court, and I refused to swear upon a bible and was properly accomodated.

I don't think its standard operating procedure anymore to use the Holy Bible to swear people in.

Keep hitting that crack pipe, Prager. Way to cater to post 9-11 fears and push that anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Why would (or should) a Muslim swear on the Bible? It's not part of his belief system. So much for freedom of religion.

America is hardly a Christian country, even though it parades itself as one.