The law does not require elected officials to be sworn-in using a Christian bible

[Gothmog]

Link to tweet

[louis-t]

1. Try getting away with that in Alabama.

[herding cats]

2. The silence spoke volumes.

[BigDemVoter]

3. That stupid vacant look on his face with that open pie hole is hilarious.

[Gothmog]

4. Which is the reason why I had to post this clip

I agree that the look on that idiot's face was priceless

[dewsgirl]

5. I watched it live, it was beautiful.

[sarisataka]

17. Only thing missing was the leaf...

[gratuitous]

6. Keith Ellison took his oath of office on a Koran

Which seems appropriate for a Muslim.

However, there are also Christian sects that don't believe in swearing on or by anything (citing Jesus, who said "let your yes be yes and your no be no" and that any further embellishment was evil). For those people, the law allows them to make their statement by affirmation, and swearing an oath on the Bible would be considered by them to be quite sinful, if not outright blasphemous.

In the clip, Ted Crockett looked like he was trying to catch a fly buzzing around the studio.

[Gothmog]

8. Keith used Thomas Jefferson's Koran

This story made me smile http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010500512.html

Keith Ellison made history Thursday, becoming the first Muslim member of Congress and punctuating the occasion by taking a ceremonial oath with a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

"Look at that. That's something else," Ellison, D-Minn., said as officials from the Library of Congress showed him the two-volume Quran, which was published in London in 1764.

A few minutes later, Ellison took the ceremonial oath with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at his side. So many of Ellison's family members attended the ceremony that it was done in two takes.

Ellison had already planned to be sworn in using a Quran, rather than a Bible. He learned last month about Jefferson's Quran, with its multicolored cover and brown leather binding, and arranged to borrow it.

[mn9driver]

9. Thomas Jeffersons copy of the Koran, to be specific.

[Tanuki]

11. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Hindu, swore her oath on the Bhagavad Gita,

and Sen. Masie Hirono, a Buddhist, used "no book at all."

[lunatica]

7. LOL!

HAHAHAHAHHAAA!

[babylonsister]

10. 44th President Takes Oath on Lincoln Bible

https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/09012/obama.html

[Hamlette]

12. He was stunned! Too funny n/t

[riverwalker]

13. You can swear on anything

A Betty Crocker Cookbook if you want.

[Mariana]

16. You don't have to swear at all, on anything.

See The Constitution of the United States, Article VI.

[Hekate]

14. My gods, they are stupid. nt

[Mariana]

15. Article VI of the Constitution of the United States (in part):

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Why do Roy Moore and this jackass on the TV hate America so much?

[GulfCoast66]

18. And he is one of the smarter ones!

I’d like to think we could win this race but I think this stupid is just too strong in Alabamastan. Which is the rule areas. As is normally the case where there are universities and High tech jobs there are Democratic party members.

I do congratulate my fellow members of the Democratic Party in Alabama for all their hard work. We in Florida have a whole Lotta work to do as well.

[Gothmog]

19. From the NYT

Link to tweet