Freedom of Religion in America

Supposedly we have freedom of religion in America. From the behavior of some Fundamentalist Christian groups, and the uproar they are creating over Ellison's decision to forgo the Bible at his swearing in ceremony and use the Quran, you would never know that. Apparently they believe the only religion protected under our constitution is Christianity.

But Ellison would not be the first member of Congress to forgo a Bible, and the list of those who have reaches all the way back to the earliest days of our government. In 1825, John Quincy Adams took the presidential oath using a law volume instead of a Bible, and in 1853, Franklin Pierce affirmed the oath rather than swearing it. Herbert Hoover, citing his Quaker beliefs, also affirmed his oath in 1929 but did use a Bible, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Theodore Roosevelt used no Bible in taking his first oath of office in 1901, but did in 1905.Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., took her oath in 2005 on a Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, she borrowed from Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., after learning a few hours before that the speaker of the House didn't have any Jewish holy books."Each of us has every right to lay our hand on the Bible that we were raised with; that's what America is all about, diversity, understanding and tolerance," said Wasserman Schultz.

The founding fathers were very aware that Christianity wasn't the only religion and they made provisions.

"Affirming" an oath without reference to God or sacred works is an option the founding fathers provided for in the Constitution to protect the rights of atheists and agnostics, argued Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor specializing in free speech and religious issues, on National Review Online, in response to the Prager piece."Why would Muslims and others not be equally protected from having to perform a religious ritual that expressly invokes a religion in which they do not believe?"Many say prohibiting Ellison from taking his oath on the Quran would violate the constitutional provision that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

All the people complaining need to get over themselves. Freedom of Religion means that Ellison has the right to be a Muslim, it means he has the right to consider the Quran the "holy book", and it means he has the right to use it in his swearing in ceremony. It doesn't hurt you or take away from your religious beliefs in any way.