Thomas Jefferson's Koran

Rep. Elect-Keith Ellison -- you remember him, the newly elected representative from Minnesota who happens to be Muslim and who will place his hand on the Koran, not the bible during his swearing-in ceremony -- will use a special Koran, one owned by Thomas Jefferson.

That surely won't blunt the attacks of right wing Christian mongrel Virgil Goode, who has attacked Ellison for daring to have religious beliefs different than his own and having the audacity to want to take an oath using a book of personal religious significance to himself instead of the book that Goode prefers. In fact, Goode wants to go so far as make it illegal for any book other than the Bible to be used in Congress.

The use of Jefferson's Koran is a delicious bit of irony and symbolism.

It's kind of hard for religious nutjobs like Goode to get past Jefferson. When they talk about the Founding Fathers they have to exclude Jefferson, who does not fit into their picture of American leadership:

• Jefferson doubted the divinity of Jesus and in fact wrote his own version of the Gospel.
• He wrote that the "pursuit of happiness" was an inalienable right, a right that Goode and his ilk spend a great deal of their time and money trying to keep the rest of us from pursuing.
• He based his beliefs and values on a close study of science and history.
• He believed and fought for the separation of church and state (he coined that phrase) and wrote Virginia's bill for religious freedom, an accomplishment he ranked with having authored the Declaration of Independence
• And, his personal life was a bit messy, having children outside of marriage and conducting an affair with a married French woman.

All in all, America's greatest founding father.

Rep.-elect Ellison is quite right, and should be quite proud, to put his hand on President Jefferson's Koran.