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November 17, 2006
Muslims and Hindus and Christians, Oh My!
Two posts caught my eye this morning. Both should be read in full. The first is on Dispatches from the Cultural Wars. Ed tells us of the outrage of one Christian writer at the thought that a Muslim would place his hand on a Quran instead of a Bible to take the oath of office as a member of the United States House of Representatives. Here is a sample of what she said,
Ellison [a newly elected Representative from Minnesota] will be sworn in on a Koran. So now the Bible is equivalent to the Koran in the halls of Congress? Doesn't this then mean he is pledging allegiance to Islamic Law (Sharia) rather than our Constitution? Where is the outrage here? He will also bring his prayer mat and pray to Mecca. Ellison is a Sunni Muslim. [emphasis added]
And exactly why should there be outrage? Would the author of this interesting piece of logic prefer that he lie about his religious convections? And as Ed says,
If one of us secular humanist types suggested that a Christian, by swearing an oath on the Bible, was pledging allegiance to the Mosaic law rather than our Constitution, she would likely accuse us of religious bigotry. There is, of course, no requirement to place one's hand on any alleged holy book when being sworn in to office. But one simply cannot make a coherent and rational argument that using one holy book means swearing allegiance to that book over our Constitution while the other does not.
And then PZ Myers at Pharyngula tells of a so-called concession letter to Minnesota State Senator Satveer Chaudhary, a practicing Hindu. Chaudhary was re-elected last week. Here's a sample from Rae Hart Anderson's "concession" letter to Senator Chaudhary,
The race of your life is more important than this one--and it is my sincere wish that you'll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine--and especially for those who accept His forgiveness. His kingdom will come and His will be done--on earth as it is in heaven. There's more....I love belonging to the family of God. Jesus is the way, the truth and offers His life to you and each human being. Pay attention...this is very important, Satveer. Have you noticed Jesus for yourself...at some moment in time, yet???
So there you have it. Freedom of religion is great as long as you swear on the Bible and convert to Christianity.
Program Note: "Friday Pot Blogging" will likely be on Saturday this week. I have a wedding to go to this afternoon. I sure hope the rental agency has a tie that will look OK with the suit that I haven't worn in a couple of years.
Posted by DuaneSmith at November 17, 2006 09:36 AM | Read more on Religion |
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Comments
I find it annoying that Christians don't realize they're serving the same God as Muslims. I have heard so many of them say,
"No, Muslims serve Allah, not God!"
To which I reply,
"And Spanish speakers serve Dios!"
It's so ridiculous! Muslims are descendants of Abraham, and serve the God of Abraham. Christians, also, serve the God of Abraham. So unless Abraham served two Gods, both groups serve the same Diety.
Posted by: Donny Pauling at November 18, 2006 07:48 PM
And there I go, misspelling the word Deity. :(
Posted by: Donny Pauling at November 18, 2006 07:52 PM
Donny,
It is without doubt that the Christian God and Allah have historical continuity. But I wonder just how strongly it can be maintained that they are the same god when that god as represented in both of their dominate foundational texts and theological traditions demand so many different things from their respective adherents. If we did not know of the historical continuity, we would never guess they were the same god. And while some theologians and most historians would agree with you that they are the same god, many philosophers of religion would not. But of course, on the same grounds it is not so clear that all Christians have the same god and it is even more clear that the god we learn about in the gospels is quite different than the god the ordered Joshua to commit ethnocide against the inhabitance of Jericho among other places.
Posted by: Duane at November 18, 2006 08:36 PM
The real outrage is that they are swearing on religious texts to begin with.
Posted by: Aydin at November 19, 2006 05:56 AM
Aydin,
I agree and the good news is that it is not required.
Posted by: Duane at November 19, 2006 08:56 AM
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