AMERICANMEDIA’S PORTRAYAL

OF RELIGIOUS POLITICIANS;

RELIGION “DOESN’T MATTER”

Anna Nelson

World Religions, Spring 2013

Everyone knows that the United States generally enforces the separation of Church and State…

The 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an

establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

See? Religion should not matter when it comes to government because there is not, nor will there ever be, an “official religion” of the United States. It would be unconstitutional!

Religion shouldn’t matter when it comes to acceptance into general society, either!

Article VI of the Constitution states: “The Senators and Representatives… 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.”

The law states that politicians of any sort will not and should not be chosen for or discriminated against due to their religion.

Here it is again! Official, governmental separation of Church and State!

Good, so now we’re agreed that there’s no official, requirement or test of religious sort when it comes to government employees or elected politicians…

But wait! There is! …

… and the administrators of this ‘test’ are American media producers and the American public.

Who knew?!

It’s true! Look!

The media makes a big deal when Non-Christians are elected to office!

It’s almost like the media is saying,

“HEY! Look at us! We’re such a great nation; we accept all faiths!

We can prove it, we have a Muslim Congressman! We elected a Hindu Congresswoman!

This proves we’re all equal!”

But is that really what the media is saying?

In attempting to portray Non-Christian people as now accepted into society because they were elected by US citizens and are now a part of the government, media is actually saying…

“Hey! Look at the US! We don’t quite fully accept Non-Christian religions and the people that practice them, so we are electing Non-Christian Congresspeople to try and show you that we actually DO accept them!”

Because really…

If, as a society, weTruly,Honestly,Authentically,Sincerely,100%

Accepted them and their religion, we wouldn’t have to ‘prove’ it…

In fact, we probably wouldn’t make a big deal out of it!

Cool! New congresspeople!

I like… their ideas the best! *check mark*

Take Keith Ellison, for example… He’s a democrat and a congressman

from Minnesota.

He’s also a Muslim; he practices Islam. But that should not affect whether or

not people voted for him or their thoughts on his ideals,

…but sadly, it does.

When he was sworn into office, he was sworn in along with everyone else on the House floor, as is customary for each congress.

After this, they are all officially members of the US Congress.

This consists of raising one’s right hand and swear (religious) or affirm (non-religious) to uphold and support the US Constitution.

However, if they so choose, they can attend a private ceremony with the Speaker of the House in which they place a hand on a religious text and again either swear or affirm the oath.

This is usually just for photographic purposes and really has no effect on their status in Congress.

The book that is usually used for this ceremony is the Bible, however Ellison decided to use a Qur’an since he is Muslim.

The one he used was one that Thomas Jefferson owned. That’s pretty cool!

Unfortunately, not everybody thought so. Many people, specifically Dennis Prager, said he should not be allowed to use a Qur’an. They said that doing so would be undermining US culture because the US is a Christian country and was founded on God.

Prager also said that America is gaining too much Muslim influence and it is ruining the conservative Christian backbone of society.

He said that the Bible is America’s holiest book and if Ellison isn’t sworn in on the Bible, he shouldn’t be in Congress.

Clearly, Prager and those who shared his opinions on Ellison’s use of the Qur’an do not accept Islam as a ‘real’ or ‘right’ religion.

However, many people have been sworn in on things that are not Bibles! Even some presidents don’t swear in on the Bible!

Teddy Roosevelt didn’t use anything, he just affirmed the oath. John Quincy Adams swore on a book of Law, and Lyndon B. Johnson swore on a Catholic Missal, even though he wasn’t Catholic!

Many people jumped to Ellison’s defense, including Kevin Hasson.

Hasson said that forcing Ellison to use a Bible would violate the constitution, and there’s absolutely no sense in violating the constitution in order to uphold it!

Given the 1st Amendment and Article VI of the Constitution of the United States of America, all people, including lawmakers, are free to practice their choice of religion(s).

Ellison, however, was rather calm about the whole issue. He didn’t seem to get worked up about opposition to his religion. In questioning and interviews he emphasized diversity and understanding of all religions, and how he was only adding to it.

Other United States Congresspeople have had issues surrounding their not using the Bible for their photographic swearing in.

For instance, Tulsi Gabbard is a Hawaiian US Representaitve. She wanted to use the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu holy book, to reflect her faith. She also ran into opposition, yet still used it.

See? Many United States citizens still oppose non-Christian religions. Why? Who knows.

Of course these intolerant people do not represent all in the US, but almost all citizens know they exist. Then again, both tolerant and intolerant people are prominent in countries all over the world.

Yet in what is supposed to be the most free country in the world, people are still trying to limit their neighbors’ rights.

Luckily, many people are accepting of all faiths.

Now do you see why American media tends to report on lawmakers’ faiths?

It’s because not everyone in America is accepting of others, so the media tries to portray them as being exactly the same as Christians.

And by singling out Non-Christians in American government, it only brings more attention to them!

If we truly accepted Non-Christians in our society and therefore our government, media wouldn’t have to portray those people to the public as the same as Christians. In fact, their election probably wouldn’t be big news at all!

WORKS CITED http://www.usconstitution.net/const.pdf http://

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301179.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/05/AR2007010500512.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-215_162-2329808.html http://

www.thehindu.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-takes-oath-on-gita/article4273791.ece http://

www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/tulsi-gabbard-hindu-bhagavad-gita-swearing-in_n_2410078.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/new-congress-nonreligious-hindu-buddhist_n_2403381.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/13/tulsi-gabbard-hindu_n_2466908.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/tulsi-gabbard-hindu-congress-oath-bhagavad-gita_n_2117474.html

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-05/us-canada-news/36161188_1_tulsi-gabbard-mike-gabbard-carol-porter

http://christiannews.net/2012/11/20/first-hindu-elected-to-u-s-congress-to-take-oath-on-bhagavad-gita-instead-of-bible/

http://christiannews.net/2012/10/04/mitt-romney-were-all-children-of-the-same-god/

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Islam/2006/12/Keith-Ellison-A-Quranic-Oath.aspx?p=1

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/ellison.asp http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-01-muslim-lawma

ker_x.htm?csp=1