Hand on the Quran

There's an interesting story and controversy about the first Muslim congressman wanting to take the oath of office with his hand on the Quran instead of the Bible. Kinda felt that this was not going to be easy for Keith Ellison (the Minnesota Democrat). But so soon, before his first day in office?

Frank James of The Chicago Tribune had this to say about the flap-to-be:

"[T]he Bible-only position is constitutionally untenable. If the federal government were to force an individual to take an oath on a particular book of divine revelation contrary to that individual’s belief, that would contradict not only the Constitution’s First Amendment establishment clause but the nation’s heritage of religious tolerance. . . . Here we just celebrated Thanksgiving which had something to do with Pilgrims finding religious freedom in what later became America, as I recall, and days later, there’s a heated debate over someone choosing to take his oath of office on the Koran versus the Bible. We Americans are nothing if not complicated."