What do the Bible, Koran, & U.S. Constitution have in common? None of them are used in the swearing in of elected officials.

"It's the truth, I promise."

"Swear to God?"

"Swear to God."

Sound familiar to you? When asked to 'Swear to God' which God do you swear to? Would it lose it's integrity if I asked you to swear to my God if my God differed from yours? If you did, would you feel less bound to tell the truth or less guilty if you lied?

Over the last couple days, many of you have heard some of the hubbub surrounding Keith Ellison (D-MN) using the Koran instead of the Christian Bible for his photo-op after being sworn in to congress.

Most of this hubbub has been caused by the statement of Dennis Prager saying that Keith Ellison will take his oath on the Koran, not the Bible. This of course is only the first thing that Mr. Prager gets wrong. Mr. Prager, this country you and I live in, America...well our elected officials don't take their oath on any religious book. Probably due to the founding of this country on the concept of separation of church and state. Or perhaps it is because members of congress are elected, not to uphold the Bible, but instead to uphold the American Consitution. If members of congress were to swear in on anything, one might hope it would be the Constitution.

Another statement that Mr. Prager made that displayed his intelligence was his uncanny ability to contemplate the future..."Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath?". Ahh, but of course. More encouragement from the right to act out of fear. I sit here trying to figure out which is more ironic, that Mr. Prager can actually imagine a racist being elected to Congress or that any person elected to Congress who may be racist would swear in on anything but the Bible. I feel pretty confident saying that it is highly unlikely that a skinhead would be elected to Congress...however, George Allen lost re-election by less than 1% of the vote and I'm pretty sure I know what book he had at his photo-op. But racism in America is a separate conversation entirely...so let's get back to Representative Ellison.

Another misconception is that Mr. Ellison is the first to not use the Bible. In fact, neither Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz nor Hawaii Governor Linda Lingel used the Bible to take their oaths of office. Again, this may be misleading because there is no policy to use any religious book when an elected government official takes their oath. I'm sure all the agnostic and atheist politicians are very thankful for this as well. The use of the Bible or any other book with a religious conotation is generally used for a photo-op...I would imagine to add validity to their oath - that the elected official not only swears to the American people, but also to their God that they will uphold the U.S. Constitution (not sure who confused upholding with ammending...) “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” -The U.S. Constitution US CODE: Title 5,3331 es, the word God appears in the oath...but don't you think when Mr. Ellison speaks these words he will not be swearing to the Christian God, but to his God, so why would we ask him to pose with a Christian Bible?? It's absurd, not to mention misleading and a lie.

Mr. Ellison has been elected by the 5th district of Minnesota and his job will be to represent the ideology of the people of the 5th district. I for one hope when he says, "So help me God" he is speaking to the only God he holds himself accountable to; because honestly that's the only one that matters.

This last election was motivated by the American people seeking truth and honesty in it's elected officials. We are fed up with the hypocrisy, narrow mindedness, and the refusal to listen to constituents of this administration and I for one am grateful to see Mr. Ellison starting out his duty with honesty.

Mr. Ellison, you're already ahead of many in Washington.