State Department Praises Ellison's Swearing-In

The State Department's USINFO website yesterday extensively covered Representative Keith Ellison being sworn in using the Quran. Ellison, a representative from Minnesota, is the first Muslim elected to Congress. In a story apparently designed to appeal to Muslims around the world, the State Department said:

The introduction of the Quran into congressional oath-taking is evidence of the growing religious diversity of the United States. The Quran used by Ellison during his January 4 ceremonial swearing-in is unique. It once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence and third U.S. president. The Library of Congress, which obtained the book from Jefferson in 1815, loaned it to Ellison for the occasion. It is an English translation from the Arabic first published in London in 1734.

Jefferson, who gave much thought to religion, in 1802 wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association: “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State.”

Muslims first arrived in the United States in slave ships from Africa. One of these, Abdur Rahman Ibrahima ibn Sori, was brought from Guinea to Mississippi in the early 19th century. He won his freedom through the intercession of Mississippi Senator Thomas Reed and the sultan of Morocco, who successfully petitioned Secretary of State Henry Clay and President John Quincy Adams to free Sori.

Today, Muslim Americans number several million. Ellison’s election and his inclusion of the Quran in his swearing-in ceremony highlight the legacy of religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution and the contributions to American society made by people of diverse faiths.

Workday Minnesota yesterday said that at a community send-off in St. Anthony, MN, Ellison received blessings from a Baptist pastor, a Jewish rabbi, and a Muslim imam. Meanwhile on the floor of the House of Representatives, Ellison and Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode-- who had strongly criticized Ellison's use of the Koran-- shook hands and agreed to talk more at a later date. (Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch).