Gov. Linda Lingle (R-HI) takes the oath of office upon a Jewish Torah on December 2, 2002, at the Hawaii State Capitol rotunda by Hawaii State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Moon.
Posted on 11/30/2006 1:23:15 PM PST by Checkers
What sense would it make to require someone to take an oath on a Bible when the person doesn't believe the Bible is THE holy book? Its not as if the person would feel more obliged to act properly!
More importantly...the oath is a joke. Every Congressman and the President take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..."
What a laugh...how many congressmen have ever actually read the Constitution? How many are faithful to it? Answer: maybe one...Ron Paul...if there are any others, I'm not aware of it.
99.9% of today's federal government operates without any Constitutional authority.
Consider this carefully. In that the Koran instructs Muslims to practice deceit against non-Muslims, there is absolutely no way an oath on the Koran could be deemed valid.
Send an email to the Whitehouse about this. I did.
I'm ashamed that my fellow Americans put this guy in office in the first place. Don't they know better?
Stupid question, never mind.
Why Not!Spector wanted and did use Scottish law to get Clinton out of an Impeachment conviction.
Well, if you swear to uphold American laws on a book that encourages you to lie to infidels, just what are you swearing to do, exactly? ;)
They swear to kill infidels. You and me. Us.
shocking...a Mooselimb doing what Mooselimbs do.
Hey, actually reading the damn thing before hyperventilating about this issue is cheating!
If he doesn't want to swear on a bible, he shouldn't be forced to.
Thanks! Good clarification.
There is nothing in the Constitution that says any book should be used.
I am a conservative Christian, and I don't believe in forcing people into a religious expression that would be meaningless to them. I also think that the US Constitution should be strictly interpreted word-by-word. There is nothing in it about any requirement to take an oath on any book.
There is only a requirement to take an oath. I have not researched whether "taking an oath" in that day automatically meant that a bible would be used.
Ellison doesn't believe in the bible, forcing him to take an oath on a book he doesn't subscribe too makes the oath meaningless. If you don't like the idea of a Muslim serving in Congress (and I include myself as someone who doesn't like the idea), then your grievance lies with the voters. Next time, defeat him at the ballot box. The constiution does not discriminate on the basis of religion. Anyone duly elected that meets the consitutional requirements of the office can be sworn-in and seated without a bible, whether they are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Mormon, Hindu, Shinto, Druid, Atheist, Agnosistic, Jedi, worship the moon goddess Ra, are members of the cult of Vesssha, or even if they were openly Satanic.
Several U.S. presidents have NOT used a bible to take their oath (I guess some freepers would argue the Chief Justice should have thus refused to swear in Herbert Hoover), and I'm guessing several Congressmen and judges probably have as well. There are many people who have held high office without being devout Christians, or were devout Christians who simply opted not to use a bible.
This reeks of Katherine Harris' bozo statement in the GOP primary that Christians must be elected or its sinful. I guess the theocrats here think it's sinful that Norm Coleman (Jew) beat Walter Mondale (Christian)
This is factually innacurate. There is absolutely no Consitutional requirement for House members or even the President to swear on the Bible when taking his oath of office - while Presidents have traditionally done so, it's not clear that any oath needs to be with one hand on the Bible to qualify as an oath (it likely doesn't), and under the Constitution, office holders can take an affirmation of office of office instead of an oath anyway. In fact, President Teddy Roosevelt didn't swear on the Bible when he became President after McKinley's death in 1901. One simply might not have been available at the time. He still became President.
House members are traditionally sworn in en masse by the Speaker on the first day of Congress immediately after the Speaker of the House is elected and sworn in. The 2005 swearing in ceremony is available on C-SPAN's website here. The Speaker is sworn in around 2:13:30 by the Dean of the House; the rest of Congress is sworn in shortly thereafter.
All Speaker Hastert asked members to do was raise their right hands while being sworn in. As a practical matter, the House floor normally seats 448 (they somehow squeeze in more seats for the State of the Union address), and there are up to 439 other members of the House (including non-voting members from the territories and the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico) that need to be sworn in at that time. There isn't that much room on the floor for aides or family members to hold the Bible for Congressmen to swear on. So, as you can see from the video, most Congressmen appear to raise their right hand and put their left hand on nothing, at least during this ceremonial swearing in.
Now, there may be a chance for members to have a ceremonial one-on-one swearing in for photo-op purposes (or if the Member is not present at the opening of Congress or is later elected). For example, Congressman Rothman (D-NJ) has a picture of him being "sworn in" with his hand on what appears to be the Bible on his House website. This is when Ellison might swear on the Koran - for a photo-op.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1745413/posts
66 posted on 11/28/2006 5:51:13 PM CST by conservative in nyc
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The Constitution specifies in Article VI, clause 3:
"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."
We now return to the rightwing fever swamp, wich of course is sooo much different than the leftwing fever swamp, where all they do is rant and rave...not like us.
This reeks of Katherine Harris' bozo statement in the GOP primary that Christians must be elected or its sinful
You mean it's not? But it says so right there in 4th Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 6 "And the Lord spake and said unto the people surely thou shall vote the straight GOP ticket. For if thou doesn't then I shall surely smite thee and maketh thou watch Oprah Winfrey until doth see the error of thy way".
Really you can look it up.
There's no law requiring students in school to stand and say the Pledge, yet look at all the legal fuss going on about it.
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