So answer me this - what book do Jewish Senators & Representatives use to swear their oath?

[LynneSin]

I'm watching CSPAN2 and enjoying watching Dick Cheney swear in all those democrats. And when I saw Joe Lieberman it made me ponder this question. Keith Ellison isn't the only non-Christian serving in DC; we have plenty of representation of the Jewish faith in DC including 13 senators. Aren't Jews allowed to choose the book of their religion (the Torah) for their swearing-in? Why aren't we making a big stink about that?

I guess all of this is just rhetorical question for thought after the big stink about Keith Ellison using the Koran (the Muslim 'bible') for his swearing-in. I personally don't care what they use for their swearing-in as long as they actually keep their oath that they promise to serve and uphold the law.

[NYCGirl]

1. The Bible — the Old Testament. NT

[Obamarama]

2. My guess would be a Torah or a copy of the Old Testament.

The Torah is basically the first five books of the Old Testament.

[ClassWarrior]

3. None. Nobody does.

The hand-on-the-holy-book part is for photo ops only. Which makes this whole tempest hysterical.

:hi: you!

NGU.

[Bjorn Against]

4. Quite often it is the Bible, but some politicians use the Constitution or no book at all

And certainly Jews would be welcome to use the Torah if they chose to do so, although more often than not they swear on the Old Testament.

I agree with you though, if a politician wants to swear on a Harry Potter book I would have no problem with it as long as they kept their oath.

Unfortunately however there are far too many politicians who do not keep their oath no matter how they choose to be sworn in.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. The freeper freakout isn't based on the fact that one can use

a book other than the Bible in the unofficial photo-op swearing-in; I doubt there has ever been any significant controversy over a Jew using the Torah. The problem for them is simply that Keith Ellison is a Muslim, and he's even acting like he's proud of it (horrors!) by using Jefferson's Qu'ran. To the wingnuts, Muslims are the enemies of America and they shouldn't be in Congress at all. A swearing-in ceremony with a Qu'ran just rubs their noses in it. It's bigotry, pure and simple. The book is secondary.

[Hekate]

17. Yep. It's just another manufactured battle in the culture wars. Fake all the way. nt

[seriousstan]

7. Nobody swears in with any book. They simply raise their hands and swear.

Then they, one by one, pose for a photo-op.

[robcon]

8. No book. Ellison did it on his own.

There are no "swear to" words in the oath, and Congresspeople do not swear on any book.

[Heewack]

9. The Christian Bible.

Up to this point anyway.

[NYCGirl]

10. You do realize that the Old Testament is also the Jewish Bible. NT

[Heewack]

11. In a manner of speaking, but not quite.

I doubt any Jew would consider the Christian translation Bible (NT and OT) representitive of the Tenach.

With that being said I think a person should swear in on whatever they wish. I heard this on some soundbite advertisement but Ellison could have placed his hand on Pelosi's butt for his swearing in and it wouldn't make a difference to me.

[NYCGirl]

12. I don't know from Christian translations. I always just thought the Bible was

the Bible (minus the NT, of course).

[Heewack]

14. It's not.

The problem is that they are swearing upon something in which they don't believe in toto.

[NYCGirl]

16. It's all symbolic anyway — isn't the "bible swearing-in" just a photo-op they

can send copies of to their constituents?

[Hekate]

13. Oy. One more time: the REAL swearing-in has NO holy books involved...

Everyone (all at the same time) raises their hand and affirms:

> I, Loyal Citizen of the Republic, 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.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Oath_Office.htm

Since the Constitution says there shall be "no religious test" for holding office, there are NO Bibles officially involved. None, zip, nada.

THEN the Congresscritters have what I believe is called "a photo-op" with the Speaker of the House, and one by one they raise their hand and have their picture taken with (in this case) Nancy Pelosi. That is the moment where they may choose to hold Ye Olde Family Bible, or their grade-school catechism, or I suppose an entire Torah scroll (though no one has gone so over the top as to do that yet, and besides there are smaller prayer books that would serve as well, and probably have done so), or in the case of two Buddhist freshmen, the Lotus or Heart Sutra. Or not. I doubt the Unitarians among them put their hand on anything.

But they are not being "sworn in" in their photo with the Speaker, because they've already been sworn in.

And I would swear on a stack of -- oh wait, I myself would rather "affirm" -- that it is the same procedure in the Senate.

Hekate

[damntexdem]

15. I don't know about others, but I suspect that Lieberman swears in on the ...

GOP Playbook. ;-)