Keith Ellison

Just a few hours from now, Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, Dem of Minnesota, will use a Quran for his ceremonial swearing-in rite.

WHO CARES?

I could not care less what Ellison does.

I don't think his use of the Quran has any noteworthy significance whatsoever.

None.

WASHINGTON -- The first Muslim elected to Congress says he will take his oath of office using a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson to make the point that "religious differences are nothing to be afraid of."

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., decided to use the centuries-old Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in on Thursday after he learned that it is kept at the Library of Congress.

..."It demonstrates that from the very beginning of our country, we had people who were visionary, who were religiously tolerant, who believed that knowledge and wisdom could be gleaned from any number of sources, including the Quran," Ellison said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"A visionary like Thomas Jefferson was not afraid of a different belief system," Ellison said. "This just shows that religious tolerance is the bedrock of our country, and religious differences are nothing to be afraid of."

Huh?

Ellison's use of a book that once belonged to Jefferson doesn't show any of that.

Perhaps the Library of Congress has a copy of Mein Kampf once owned by FDR.

Does that mean that FDR endorsed Hilter's ideology?

I'm not making any qualitative comparisons between Mein Kampf and the Quran. I'm saying that just because an individual possessed a book conclusions can't be drawn about that individual's opinions of it or why the individual owned it in the first place.

Ellison is taking tremendous liberties and making baseless assumptions about Jefferson based on the Quran being in his book collection.

Moreover, I thought libs worshipped Jefferson for his phrase "separation between church and state." They've used it to justify the purging of religious expression from the public square.

Now, Ellison is suggesting that Jefferson promoted religion, specifically Islam. The "visionary" embraced different belief systems according to Ellison and believed Americans should do the same.

Really?

Jefferson was encouraging the state to accept Islam and eliminate that glorified separation?

Hmmm.

Just because Jefferson had a Quran I don't think one can make leaps about what it meant to him.

I don't think Ellison's ceremony later today is a watershed moment in the nation's history.

Is it supposed to be viewed as some sort of defeat for the Bible?

I don't see it that way.

Ellison can use Green Eggs and Ham for his ceremonial swearing-in for all I care.