Free Republic

Chivalry, the Nation of Islam way. In the same edition of Final Call, there’s a gushing editorial praising Mr. O: Sen. Barack Obama has already made history by winning enough pledged delegates and commitments from super delegates to capture the Democratic Party nomination and enjoys the possibility of becoming the first Black man to serve as president of the United States. His success engenders a sense of pride among Blacks in America and excitement throughout the world as a nation that touts itself as a great democracy provides another sign of progress. In a country where Africans were once enslaved...

Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat newly elected to Congress, took his oath of office with his hand on the Quran, a copy of Islam's holy book once owned by the nation's third president. No one would have been more proud of the moment than Thomas Jefferson, who pointedly believed in religious freedom, not religious tolerance. Ellison, who was born in Detroit, converted to Islam in college. He is the first Muslim elected to Congress, an interesting footnote at a time the first female speaker of the House is installed. His decision to swear allegiance to his office, country and...

New York Times reporter Neil MacFarquhar, who covers Islam in America, on Friday celebrates Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. During the campaign, the Power Line blog took the lead in exposing Ellison's past affiliation with the Nation of Islam and its anti-Semitic leader Louis Farrakhan. But MacFarquhar, who went to elementary school in Libya and was once the Times' bureau chief in Cairo, disposes of the controversy in two sentences and frames it as Ellison being "attacked on religious grounds."

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Voters elected a black Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress on Tuesday after a race in which he advocated quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and made little mention of his faith. Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed retiring Democrat Martin Sabo in a seat that has been held by Democrats since 1963. Ellison, who converted to Islam as a 19-year-old college student in his native Detroit, won with the help of Muslims among a coalition of liberal, anti-war voters. He advocates an immediate U.S. withdrawal from...

Keith Ellison is hoping that this city of mostly white Christians is ready to make a black Muslim its next congressman. Ellison, a state representative and criminal defense lawyer, is the state-party endorsed Democratic candidate in the liberal-leaning 5th Congressional District. That makes him the favorite in his quest to become the first Muslim member of Congress. But Ellison is dogged by questions about his faith, particularly after disclosures about his past associations with the Nation of Islam, a group led by Louis Farrakhan.

OAKLAND, Calif. - They weren't your ordinary thugs. Dressed in bow ties and dark suits, nearly a dozen men carrying metal pipes entered a corner store, shattered refrigerator cases and smashed bottles of liquor, wine and beer, terrifying the clerk but stealing nothing. But the recent attack at San Pablo Liquor — and an identical vandalism spree at another West Oakland store later that evening, along with an arson fire there and the kidnapping of the owner a few days later — have injected religion into the debate.The two episodes highlighted tensions — and different interpretations of the Quran —...