This is a letter to the editor I published at the Daily Advance. Posted here for posterity, since they have no online archive:
In response to Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith Ellison’s intention to swear his oath of office on the Koran, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode recently wrote his constituents that to “preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States,” an immigration overhaul was necessary to avoid “many more Muslims elected to office demanding the use of the Quran” and “preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.”
Our Founding Fathers happened to clearly define these traditional values and beliefs in the United States Constitution. Article VI of this civil contract states, “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Officials “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation;” therefore, they are not required to swear and there are no references to god in the various oaths of office this document defines. Nowhere does the Constitution mention taking oath on a Bible, and Presidents John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce both took their oaths of office on a law books instead.
If Virgil Goode intends to represent Americans, perhaps he should familiarize himself with this document on which all of our traditions and values are based, rather than demand we violate the United States Constitution to satisfy his misguided understanding of our nation’s principles.