There are some things that make me really mad - and outright hypocrisy is one of them. I read earlier that newly-elected Congressman Keith Ellison - the US's first Muslim congressman from Minnesota - wants to swear his oath of allegience on a Koran and not a Bible. This of course has led to howls of protest and demands that he quit Congress if he doesn't swear on a Bible. You see, this is what's fundamentally wrong with the United States and it's one of the reasons why other nations hate the US - the US is a very hypocritical nation - they preach one thing and frequently do another. The so-called wonderful tolerant US constitution is supposed to embrace everyone, regardless of gender, race and religion, and is supposed to guarantee "freedom". (how many times have you heard Dubya Bush preaching about the values of a free society?). But when a democratically elected Muslim congressman wants to swear his oath of allegience on his version of the Bible - the Koran - everyone starts spitting and cursing! Where has the freedom and tolerance suddenly disappeared to? For a Muslim to swear an oath on a Christian Bible would be an insult to his or her religion. But no-one seems to care about that because to swear an oath on a Muslim Koran would be to do something different, to break free of all the norms and protocols expected of a US Congressman. Plus we have to keep all the Christians happy because God forbid we offend them with something like this. If Congressman-elect Ellison follows through with doing his oath on the Koran - which I sincerely hope he will - it will create a very interesting legal precedent. In actual fact it might be good if someone chooses to file a lawsuit (perhaps Ellison himself?) because I would want this issue properly addressed all the way up to the Supreme Court for the sake of the future, for all the other Muslims that will probably be elected to public office. Let's hear it for American "freedom" and "tolerance"! You're only apparently free and tolerated if you're not a Muslim! |
