After Keith Ellison was elected the first Muslim member of Congress last month, talk show host Dennis Prager, among others, attacked the Representative-elect for indicating that he would swear his oath of office with his hand placed on a copy of the Qur’an. Now, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and regular WorldNetDaily columnist Roy Moore has decided that regardless of how they are sworn in faithful Muslims are not fit to serve in Congress.
Our Constitution states, "Each House [of Congress] shall be the judge ... of the qualifications of its own members." Enough evidence exists for Congress to question Ellison's qualifications to be a member of Congress as well as his commitment to the Constitution in view of his apparent determination to embrace the Quran and an Islamic philosophy directly contrary to the principles of the Constitution.
Citing the recent actions of the rebel government of Somalia and the public statements of the founder of a “radical Islamic school,” Moore argues that the Islamic faith “rejects our God” and is “simply incompatible with our law.” To Moore, these two examples are enough to prove that none of the world’s more than one billion Muslims could fulfill an oath to uphold the US Constitution. Never one for subtlety, Moore goes on to invoke Godwin’s Law:
[C]ommon sense alone dictates that in the midst of a war with Islamic terrorists we should not place someone in a position of great power who shares their doctrine. In 1943, we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on "Mein Kampf," or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the "Communist Manifesto."
Oddly, Moore seems to forget the sixth article of the US Constitution:
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.[emphasis added]
Roy Moore has demonstrated a unique understanding and interpretation of the US Constitution in the past, though it may take a truly singular intellect to explain how preventing Muslims from serving in government would not constitute the application of a ‘religious test.’
