It came to my attention in a news article today, written by Wayne Bessen that a new Representative, Keith Ellison, Democrat, Wisconsin, who is Muslim has asked to be sworn on his Faith's Holy Book, the Koran, and not the Bible. Here are the problems I see:
1. The American Family Council ( which is rabidly Anti-Gay, Anti-Muslim, Anti-anyone who is not a Fundamentalist Christian AND prescribing to the A.F.C. Doctrines for the U.S. Government's integartion of Religion into Public Istitutions) has already attacked the new Senator and has immediately tried to pass legislation that only the Bible may be used at swearings in of public servants. This is yet another attack on the Freedom of Religion and the Separation of Church and State. It is important to stomp out these efforts of division and isolation of others personal beliefs and Faiths.
Solution 1: We MUST either allow that other holy books (such as the Koran), and others, if they exist, supporting the Faith of the person being sworn into office to be used. Or, 2: Find a State Symbol, such as a copy of the Constitution, to swear all persons into office, and to simply make our Civil Duty be sworn by a Civil Text. Why? Because, we cannot continue in our pluralistic society to allow Fundamentalist Christians to force their personal belief system on all society by establishing what can surely be understood to be a State Church forced upon the American people.
The Religious Right is up to many of these divisive, un-Christian and simply hateful programs, legal actions and editorial whinings which are destructive to what we understand as our basic rights and freedoms in this Our United States. Frightening, sad and just plain evil at times in their misplaced zeal, these men and women supposedly of God seem to forget to love their neighbor as themselves and to reach out to their fellow Americans with arms of inclusion: Jewish, Budhist, Pagan, Atheist and Agnostic... as well as others I'm sure. When will they understand that coercion to convert is no conversion at all - and pray they remeber to set a better example, the only way to bring non-believers to become true believers.
Mr. Besen's article, an Op-Ed opiece may be read first hand at 365Gay.com. Clicking on the Title of this posting will take you to a thoughtful and educated opinion which realizes what the American Constitution has grown and blossomed into over some 250 years, reminding us that we, as Americans, have stood on the high ground of allowing all men to choose their Faith or none at all. Simply because these choices may be radically different than our own, and perhaps even frightening to us at times, we must remember that Christians are called to be inclusive and not resentful and angry because our Constituion and Bill of Rights are now understood, through legislative and court mandated changes over thes last centuries, to include ever broadening definitions of "All men are created equal."
If any Christian American, or American of any faith, rightly practiced, under our protections of the Constitution cannot understand how important this growth of inclusion has been to so many groups of Americans we must simply remind them that under Jeffersonian ideals of "all men are equally created" his generation refered very narrowly to include only white, European men. But, wisely, with broadly worded passages thus leaving room to be reintrepreted as the Nation grew so that we now have the blessing of women being made 'equal in the vote', blacks made equal and freed from slavery, Catholics and Jews allowed to practice their faiths and to run for public offices in America - so many things our generation takes for granted but which would never have occured to our Founding Fathers. That is why our Constitution is a Living Document, not unlike the Bible or Coran, and not simply a stale centuries old manuscript without much current meaning. It is a gift, a great gift. And I pray, hope and plead with you all to be glad that a man could swear his allegiance to these United States of America with the text of the book he uses to lead his own Godly and Spiritual life. We are stronger for the amalgamation of many ethnicities and beliefs, not weakened.
Wayne Besen is an author, activist, columnist and public speaker.
He is a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group. He has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: the NBC Nightly News, The Roseanne Show, CNN's Talk Back Live and The Point, Fox's O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes, Hard Copy, MSNBC News and PAX's Faith Under Fire.
Besen is the author of a book nominated this year for two Lambda Literary Awards, "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth"
1. The American Family Council ( which is rabidly Anti-Gay, Anti-Muslim, Anti-anyone who is not a Fundamentalist Christian AND prescribing to the A.F.C. Doctrines for the U.S. Government's integartion of Religion into Public Istitutions) has already attacked the new Senator and has immediately tried to pass legislation that only the Bible may be used at swearings in of public servants. This is yet another attack on the Freedom of Religion and the Separation of Church and State. It is important to stomp out these efforts of division and isolation of others personal beliefs and Faiths.
Solution 1: We MUST either allow that other holy books (such as the Koran), and others, if they exist, supporting the Faith of the person being sworn into office to be used. Or, 2: Find a State Symbol, such as a copy of the Constitution, to swear all persons into office, and to simply make our Civil Duty be sworn by a Civil Text. Why? Because, we cannot continue in our pluralistic society to allow Fundamentalist Christians to force their personal belief system on all society by establishing what can surely be understood to be a State Church forced upon the American people.
The Religious Right is up to many of these divisive, un-Christian and simply hateful programs, legal actions and editorial whinings which are destructive to what we understand as our basic rights and freedoms in this Our United States. Frightening, sad and just plain evil at times in their misplaced zeal, these men and women supposedly of God seem to forget to love their neighbor as themselves and to reach out to their fellow Americans with arms of inclusion: Jewish, Budhist, Pagan, Atheist and Agnostic... as well as others I'm sure. When will they understand that coercion to convert is no conversion at all - and pray they remeber to set a better example, the only way to bring non-believers to become true believers.
Mr. Besen's article, an Op-Ed opiece may be read first hand at 365Gay.com. Clicking on the Title of this posting will take you to a thoughtful and educated opinion which realizes what the American Constitution has grown and blossomed into over some 250 years, reminding us that we, as Americans, have stood on the high ground of allowing all men to choose their Faith or none at all. Simply because these choices may be radically different than our own, and perhaps even frightening to us at times, we must remember that Christians are called to be inclusive and not resentful and angry because our Constituion and Bill of Rights are now understood, through legislative and court mandated changes over thes last centuries, to include ever broadening definitions of "All men are created equal."
If any Christian American, or American of any faith, rightly practiced, under our protections of the Constitution cannot understand how important this growth of inclusion has been to so many groups of Americans we must simply remind them that under Jeffersonian ideals of "all men are equally created" his generation refered very narrowly to include only white, European men. But, wisely, with broadly worded passages thus leaving room to be reintrepreted as the Nation grew so that we now have the blessing of women being made 'equal in the vote', blacks made equal and freed from slavery, Catholics and Jews allowed to practice their faiths and to run for public offices in America - so many things our generation takes for granted but which would never have occured to our Founding Fathers. That is why our Constitution is a Living Document, not unlike the Bible or Coran, and not simply a stale centuries old manuscript without much current meaning. It is a gift, a great gift. And I pray, hope and plead with you all to be glad that a man could swear his allegiance to these United States of America with the text of the book he uses to lead his own Godly and Spiritual life. We are stronger for the amalgamation of many ethnicities and beliefs, not weakened.
Don Larson, 8 December 2006
Wayne Besen is an author, activist, columnist and public speaker.
He is a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group. He has appeared as a guest on leading news and political talk shows including: the NBC Nightly News, The Roseanne Show, CNN's Talk Back Live and The Point, Fox's O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes, Hard Copy, MSNBC News and PAX's Faith Under Fire.
Besen is the author of a book nominated this year for two Lambda Literary Awards, "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth"
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