Tell It to the Constitution

SAN FRANCISCO--I'm a practicing Catholic. I baptized my children. I attend mass on Sundays and holy days and mark important liturgical seasons, such as Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Heck, I even teach Sunday school. So I should be happy every time the name of the Lord or the Bible is used to give meaning to any kind of human interaction or activity. However, every time I see elected officials swearing on the Bible that they will uphold the office to which they have been elected, it makes me cringe.

Shouldn't they be swearing on those laws that they're promising to uphold? How can they swear to uphold laws that are in direct contrast with the Bible? How can our Christian president, for example, have sworn to uphold laws like the death penalty when the Bible says, "Thou should not kill?"

This is just one of the most blatant examples of the nonsensical use of sacred texts by political representatives. So I was surprised when, as a Muslim, Congressman Keith Ellison asked to be sworn into office on the Qur'an, nobody in secular and pragmatic America found fit to say that it is time to be done with the habit of using sacred texts to swear in elected officials. Instead, we should start looking at America's forefathers' teachings when it comes serving our community. Our community, which, besides Catholics, Muslims, Jews and Buddhists, includes Wiccans, Mormons, Hindus, atheists and agnostics, among many others.

I believe that religion may make a person more tolerant. But when it comes to elected office and upholding the laws, people should swear only on the laws to which we are all bound. In addition, I strongly believe that swearing on the Constitution would not only strengthen it, but would also make elected representatives doubly responsible, both morally and materially. If they broke -- or failed to uphold -- the laws, they would be legally liable. It would be like breaking a contract with the people of America, who come in all shapes, colors, languages, religions, sexual and familial orientations, ethnic and racial extractions and cultural origins.

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