About a month ago, right-wing talk-show host and writer [tag]Dennis Prager[/tag] became something of a laughing stock by arguing that Rep.-elect [tag]Kieth Ellison[/tag] (D-Minn.), Congress’ first Muslim, will literally “undermine American civilization” and “embolden Islamic extremists” if he takes the oath of office on a Koran instead of a Christian Bible. Prager’s Townhall piece, despite its historical and legal inaccuracies, was quickly embraced by the religious right, picked up by the cable networks, and became a real news story.
As a rule, when you fall in a ditch, you should stop digging, but Prager couldn’t help himself. A week after his first column sparked widespread criticisms, Prager followed up with yet another column, blaming Ellison for the “controversy.” As Prager saw it, if Ellison would just go along with using a Christian Bible, right-wing critics wouldn’t feel compelled to attack him.
This week, Prager, shovel in hand, digs a little deeper.
That a belief or lack of belief in the divinity of a book dating back over 2,500 years is at the center of the Culture War in America and between religious America and secular Europe is almost unbelievable. But it not only explains these divisions; it also explains the hatred that much of the Left has for Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Mormon Bible-believers. For the Left, such beliefs are irrational, absurd and immoral. […]
This divide explains why the wrath of the Left has fallen on those of us who lament the exclusion of the Bible at a ceremonial swearing-in of an American congressman. The Left wants to see that book dethroned. And that, in a nutshell, is what the present civil war is about.
I’m actually left feeling a little sorry for Prager. After all of his other arguments were debunked and rejected, this is the best he could come up with.
Prager started a month ago arguing that there should be a religious test for public office. The Constitution says otherwise. Prager went on to argue that every member of Congress has used a Christian Bible during their ceremonial photo-ops, and Ellison is ending the “tradition.” That’s wrong, too; plenty of lawmakers have used other books, while others have used no book at all.
Having already been proven wrong on the subject, Prager is left to argue that liberals want the Bible “dethroned.” Why? Because some wacky civil libertarians believe a member of Congress should be free to use any book he or she chooses during the ceremonial swearing-in ceremony, just as it’s been for decades.
As Prager explains it, to support the right of religious minorities to incorporate their religious texts in personal ceremonies is to be necessarily hostile to Jews and Christians. Indeed, he characterizes it as a “civil war.”
The mind reels.