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:
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
She should not be a judge. Does it make sense to have her presiding over a community made up of mostly Christians in a system based on the separation of church and state when she follows the koran, the source of sharia law, which is based on religious prophecies? I don’t think it does and I’m betting the majority of the people whose lives she is going to affect don’t think it does either. It’s got nothing to do with intolerance, but common sense. Does she agree with all aspects of sharia law as the Koran dictates (which she swore on) like the fact that women aren’t equal, or that lgbt is punishable, or any other of the other beliefs that contradict the system she is a part of? I’m sure no one knows, but who cares, let’s get her appointed quick before we offend someone.
If you are indicative of the majority of right wing thought in this country, no wonder you are quickly becoming a permanent minority.
I don’t identify as right wing or left wing. I agree and disagree with ideas from both sides. I DO think decisions and policies should pass a common sense test, which was the core of my post. I notice that you chose to ignore that part of it, though. I also notice that your response doesn’t address any of the issues I raised.
Common sense? Coming from you?! And I most certainly did address the issues you raised, but perhaps they didn’t teach you any advanced reading skills at Romper Room. If you hate Muslims, just say so. I can at least respect a person’s total devtion to being a xenophobic sack of shit. You, on the other hand, are just a total sack of shit because you clearly need to feel superior to someone else.