The recent article by Dennis Prager about Keith Ellison taking an oath for Congress on the Koran has many people debating that very issue, what book is appropriate for an office in the US Congress/Presidency/Etc?

While I could care less what religion a person subscribes to, with regard so long as it does not violate the law nor their fellow man, I have to bring this issue forward, does a persons "holy book," whatever it may be, have a role in swearing in an elected official to the US?

For example, should a Mormon take oath into office on the Book of Mormon so as to "guarantee" the honesty of that candidate? What guarantees do we have as a people that their "holy book" can promote goodness for "we" as a people in this nation?

Consider the following, if a person practiced religion "x" whereby they are obligated to slaughter a virgin every month upon the first day in order to cleanse the land, would you want that person taking oath upon that text? If the values of the country are LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and E PLURIBUS UNUM, isn't it kind of hard for a person to have liberty if they are the virgin to be slaughtered?   What values does that elected official wish to uphold, his/hers religious ones or the lands?  Would not that person be obligated to keep to the statute in their text? Yet, if they swore upon their text, and kept to it without opposition from those electing them in, who is to say otherwise?

If this practice of allowing people to swear into office upon their preferred religious text of choice is never thwarted nor challenged, then it is bound to cause more harm than good. With the variety of religions and the freedom to choose, there are undoubtedly two religions that oppose each other and are sworn to destroy one another. If one official from each religion is elected in office and swears upon their own text, they are obligated to kill each other rather than uphold the values of the country.

The issue is not the book, rather the values of that book. Had George Washington and the Founding Fathers created a book called "Values of America" and sworn into office upon that book, there would be no issue today. The issue is not "By which God do you stand/swear to?" , rather, what values do you wish to uphold?

With that, what is needed is a central text that states what elected officials agree to uphold, not to which God they worship. It just so happens that the text which our Founding Fathers swore upon was the Christian Bible.

It is noteworthy to recognize that the Founding Fathers, in all their wisdom chose not to create such a book of oath. Rather, they simply saw the values of the Christian Bible and swore to uphold those  inherent within the text.

I have to make note that I am not a Christian, for the simple reason that this may seem a case for a theocratic society or a single religious society. As I stated above, I could care less what a person believes, I am simply seeking to help clarify what many people are, misunderstanding.

With that I leave you with the following question, would a Muslim founded country allow a Catholic to take office upon a Catholic Bible? I think not.