american

keith ellison. you heard of him? appt he's the first muslim elected to congress, like, ever. and now he's getting major flack because for his swearing in he wants to put his hand on a quran instead of a bible. yeah, wat's the problem?, you might ask. well appt this act "undermines american culture" ... the same dude also said that since "america holds [the bible] as its holiest book... if you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in congress." um... most americans maybe. but not america. and maybe it's just me, but i didn't kno that being in politics meant that you also had to be christian. i also thought that it was important to americans to be tolarant of others because of our history, you kno, the bit where we came to america to escape religious persecution and so therefore our bill of rights says something about a separation of church and state and how it's wrong to "prohibit the free exercise" of one's own religion? it's the first freakin amendment!

all history, laws, freedoms, and humanitarian rights aside tho. why would you even want a man to swear on something that means nothing to him? see, i always thought that for my inauguration i would swear in on the constitution or something. because the bible means nothing more to me than a book of fairy tales (which i've never completed reading). the whole point of swearing on the bible is that it's supposed to mean something. you're giving your word to god, the god you believe in, that you will try to do a good and honest and fair job. so wat if you don't believe in this god, or any god at all; wat does it mean to you when you are forced to swear in on that? nothing. if anything, it's an insult. to yourself, your own god, and the god the book is about. think about it. does the christian god want someone to take his name in vain? i think not. come on people, let's be american, in the constitutional sense of the term.