Oath Of Office
Last week in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin , professor of law at American University, was requested to testify.He did so.via WayneBesen.com
At the end of his testimony, a right-wing senator said: “Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?”
Raskin: “Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”
The room erupted into applause.
Comments
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Not quite...but still a nice exchange.
According to Snopes:
The Sun reported the following exchange taking place between the two:
"As I read Biblical principles, marriage was intended, ordained and started by God — that is my belief," [Jacobs] said. "For me, this is an issue solely based on religious principals."
Raskin shot back that the Bible was also used to uphold now-outlawed statutes banning interracial marriage, and that the constitution should instead be lawmakers' guiding principle.
"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible," he said.
Some in the room applauded, which led committee chairman Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Democrat from Montgomery County, to call for order. "This isn't a football game," he said.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/raskin.asp
Oops. My Bad. Or at least partially my bad, as I was one of those - perhaps the only one of those - who sent this to Norm without checking its provenance. I love Snopes. Should have known that the quotte was a bit too tidy to be true. It even occurred to me that Raskin must have had that quote in his pocket, just waiting for a chance to bring it out, it sounded so well-rehearsed.
I think this should be the standard answer whenever the religious right pushes their agenda over America's.
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