Last Thursday, Carolyn Walker-Diallo was sworn in as a municipal court judge in New York. Since she’s a Muslim, she was wearing a traditional head covering for a woman, a hijab, and she also took her oath of office with her hand on the Koran instead of the Bible.
But from the reaction by some narrow-minded asshats on the far right, you’d think Judge Walker-Diallo had just set fire to the courtroom where she will serve and shouted “Death to America.”
Over at the website YoungCons (how appropriate is that name? They do indeed con people into thinking that only the far right nutjobs can “save” America), some jerkweed named John S. Roberts wrote this bit of dung:
“I’d much rather have a judge swear on the Bible than on the Koran, because one doesn’t call for the deaths of all infidels.
“Can you guess which?
“America isn’t a Christian nation? Hmm…
“Why then do 70-plus percent of U.S. citizens identify as Christian? Does the phrase ‘founded on Judeo-Christian principles’ ring any bells?
“This is political correctness gone too far, and we have to hope there aren’t more occurrences around the nation like this one in New York.
“If officials can take their oaths on the Koran, what’s next? A cookbook?”
So allow me to take a moment and set John S. Roberts straight on a few things:
- No, America is NOT a Christian nation. Matter of fact, many of the Founding Fathers were anything but Christian. And nowhere in the Constitution does it say Christianity is the official religion of the United States.
- Political correctness? Really? Allowing someone to swear on the book that is identified with their personal religion is being politically correct? Sounds pretty intolerant to me.
- A person swearing an oath is not obligated to place their hand on any kind of religious book. That is left up to the person taking the oath. And if someone wants to swear on a cookbook, how does that affect anyone?
- Public officials who take oaths take the oath to protect and defend the Constitution, not to worship any particular deity.
Personally, I say good for Judge Walker-Diallo. I hope she has a long and distinguished career on the bench.
