now that's awesome!
6 Jan 2007 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouRemember the stink about Ellison (the first Muslim elected to Congress) opting to be sworn in on a Quran rather than the xtian Bible? Well, he's clearly not just an articulate and thoughtful person (judging by his track record) but also pretty damn savvy...
Ellison to be sworn in using Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson
by Fred Frommer, Associated Press, January 3, 2007
Washington D.C. — (AP) - Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday.
The chief of the Library of Congress' rare book and special collections division, Mark Dimunation, will walk the Quran across the street to the Capitol and then walk it back after the ceremony.
Ellison, D-Minn., contacted the library about the book last month, Dimunation said.
Some critics have argued that only a Bible should be used for the swearing-in. Last month, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., warned that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow Ellison's lead. Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.
Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert said the new congressman "wants this to be a special day, and using Thomas Jefferson's Quran makes it even more special."
"Jefferson's Quran dates religious tolerance to the founders of our country," he added.
An English translation of the Arabic, it was published in 1764 in London, a later printing of one originally published in 1734.
"This is considered the text that shaped Europe's understanding of the Quran," Dimunation said.
It was acquired in 1815 as part of a 6,400-volume collection that Jefferson sold for $24,000, to replace the congressional library that had been burned by British troops the year before, in the War of 1812.
"It was a real bargain," Dimunation said.
Jefferson, the third president of the United States, collected books in all topics and languages, said Dimunation. The Quran survived an 1851 fire in the Capitol building. Dimunation described it as a two-volume work, bound in leather with marble boards.
"As a rare book librarian," he said, "there is something special about the idea that Thomas Jefferson's books are being walked across the street to the Capitol building, to bring in yet another session of governmental structure that he helped create."
from minnesota public radio
Ellison to be sworn in using Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson
by Fred Frommer, Associated Press, January 3, 2007
Washington D.C. — (AP) - Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday.
The chief of the Library of Congress' rare book and special collections division, Mark Dimunation, will walk the Quran across the street to the Capitol and then walk it back after the ceremony.
Ellison, D-Minn., contacted the library about the book last month, Dimunation said.
Some critics have argued that only a Bible should be used for the swearing-in. Last month, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va., warned that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow Ellison's lead. Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.
Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert said the new congressman "wants this to be a special day, and using Thomas Jefferson's Quran makes it even more special."
"Jefferson's Quran dates religious tolerance to the founders of our country," he added.
An English translation of the Arabic, it was published in 1764 in London, a later printing of one originally published in 1734.
"This is considered the text that shaped Europe's understanding of the Quran," Dimunation said.
It was acquired in 1815 as part of a 6,400-volume collection that Jefferson sold for $24,000, to replace the congressional library that had been burned by British troops the year before, in the War of 1812.
"It was a real bargain," Dimunation said.
Jefferson, the third president of the United States, collected books in all topics and languages, said Dimunation. The Quran survived an 1851 fire in the Capitol building. Dimunation described it as a two-volume work, bound in leather with marble boards.
"As a rare book librarian," he said, "there is something special about the idea that Thomas Jefferson's books are being walked across the street to the Capitol building, to bring in yet another session of governmental structure that he helped create."
from minnesota public radio
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no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2007 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2007 08:26 pm (UTC)Needless to say, I think Ellison's solution was both ethical and classy.
no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2007 08:13 pm (UTC)if he swears on the Quran, then he's swearing to not go against his word in front of his god.
if he swears on the bible... well, he doesn't believe in Christianity. the vows won't mean anything to him.
i think it's a good idea.
no subject
Date: 6 Jan 2007 08:28 pm (UTC)Although if I (ha, ha) were ever to be sworn into public office, I'd be swearing on Hawkin's A Brief History of Time or similar. Or, some days, maybe Strunk & White's book on good writing!
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2007 04:02 am (UTC)Di
no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2007 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2007 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2007 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 7 Jan 2007 08:24 pm (UTC)And damn hard to argue with Jefferson's own copy!
no subject
Date: 8 Jan 2007 02:25 am (UTC)And yeah, take that all you idiots claiming that all the Founding Fathers thought of non-Christians as second-class!
no subject
Date: 8 Jan 2007 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 10 Jan 2007 06:18 am (UTC)A short but informative article about the founding fathers, religion, and Jefferson's views about all sorts of religious superstition on Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2157314/fr/rss/) today was pretty interesting, especially the part where Jefferson asks Tripoli's envoy to London by what right they took slaves and money along the Barbary coast. I like the last bit, too.
"the Jefferson Bible" for short, this consists of the four gospels of the New Testament as redacted by our third president with (literally) a razor blade in his hand. With this blade, he excised every verse dealing with virgin birth, miracles, resurrection, and other puerile superstition, thus leaving him (and us) with a very much shorter book... The Quran repeats and plagiarizes many passages of the New Testament, including some of the most fantastic and mythical ones. Is it not time to apply the razor and produce a reasonable Quran as well? What could be more inclusive? What could be a better application of Jeffersonian original intent?