Culture Wars
Swearing to Allah
by Tim Lien
If everything goes as planned, after next week, all the investitures for public and civil offices will be completed. These ceremonies make everything official, honorable, and serious, and they culminate in “the swearing in” of our candidates for public office. Traditionally, the oaths have been made while the candidate places his/her right hand on the Judeo-Christian Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (aka the Bible).
Last month The American Family Association (AFA) sent out an email alert to all American Christians decrying the intentions of Representative-elect Keith Ellison (Muslim, D-MN) to use the Koran during his swearing-in ceremony. You can find most that email’s contents here:
The AFA was ignited mostly by Jewish columnist Dennis Prager’s article earlier that week. Prager insisted that, regardless of faith, the United States should use the Bible for all inductions, ceremonies, and swearing-ins. You can find his article here:
However, since we are a nation of laws, (as Clay Staggs often reminds me) there is no law that conscripts any official-elect to use the Bible for any vow/oath as a requisite for office. He found an excellent clause in the U.S. Constitution that was very plain:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
You can read Article VI, in its entirety, here:
In fairness, the AFA finally figured out that they could do nothing (legally) except express outrage—outrage which I believe is unfounded and unbiblical. But they did manage to issue an action point for all concerned Christians:
Take Action 1. Send an email asking your U.S. Representative and Senators to pass a law making the Bible the book used in the swearing-in ceremony of Representatives and Senators.
Now, several things first: 1) I want people to become believers in Christ—the exclusive and only Savior of souls. 2) I can appreciate activism. 3) I like America 4) I like families. With that out of the way, my statement is this: The duties of the office dictate the requirements for the office. Simple, I know. Additionally, I am against petitioning for such a law that would propose this as requirement. I know this may bring up the aged discussion in regards to the separation of Church/State, but this is another example where belief simply does not have the biblical mandate to force others (alien beliefs, persons, or cultures) to comply with God’s laws. It is only within the context of the covenant community (read: Church universal) can these be made requirements.
Posted by Tim Lien at January 17, 2007 05:54 PM
Tim,
Great post. I’d offer two comments. First, in light of the clause of the constitution you cite, it appears that the AFA’s action point #1 urges the passage of an unconstitutional law. Not exactly submission to the government (cf. Romans 13:1-7).
Second, why should Christians expect non-Christians to behave like Christians? Not that Christians are without sin, but there’s at least an (developing) knowledge of their sin and a desire to do differently. Those who are not believers don’t get (or care) that they’re doing anything wrong. Rep. Ellison has not the faintest clue of his situation. Why would we expect him to honor the true word of God when he doesn’t believe? It’s like Bryan always said: if you get sin wrong, you get everything else wrong.
Clay, Right on. I cannot find any Biblical example that had God’s people force belief or action— if people were a) outside corporate Israel (OT) or b) outside the community of the confessing church (NT). For the same reason, I have difficulty with people who express such shock and outrage at the moral behavior outside the Church. That is supposed to happen there.
Once again, an example of Christians who just react…who have not learned to think Christianly, or Biblically. More evidence for the need of a good, classical, Christian education.