Posted by David Post: Hey! It's Jefferson's Koran, For Heaven's Sake . . . http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_12_31-2007_01_06.shtml#1167856703
[1]The Washington Post reports that newly-elected Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, will be sworn in by Speaker Nancy Pelosi with his right hand on a copy of the Koran. And not just any Koran -- the copy owned by Thomas Jefferson himself (which Mark Dimunation, who is originally from Ellison's Minnesota district and is now chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, dug up for Rep. Ellison). And in another nice touch, he is being criticized by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), whose district includes Monticello; according to the Post, Goode told Fox News that "I believe that the overwhelming majority of voters in my district would prefer the use of the Bible," and went on to "warn about what he regards as the dangers of Muslims immigrating to the United States and Muslims gaining elective office." Jefferson, wherever he is at the moment, appreciates the irony, I'm pretty certain of that. References 1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010300790.html _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
