NPR : Ellison to Use Thomas Jeffersons Quran in Ceremony
Newly elected Rep. Keith Ellison announced last month that he planned to take the oath of office with his hand on the Quran. The decision by the Minnesota Democrat, the first Muslim elected to Congress, drew criticism. But now Ellison says he plans to use a copy of the Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. Michele Norris talks with Mark Dimunation, chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, who helped Ellison locate Jeffersons Quran.
You know what? This is all right. All right. I am satisfied by this development, which David and I have been discussing for a while. Congressman Ellison gets sworn in using his holy text, which was owned by one of the framers of this country's most holy text of all… the Constitution. What a beautiful resolution, almost aikido-like in its elegant compromise. That ought to shut those yapping reactionary mutts up.
