Thread: US group challenges exclusive use of Bible in North Carolina

Another example how immigration is transforming our country. I thought this was an interesting article since there are a lot of people from North Carolina here.

http://news.yahoo.com

US group challenges exclusive use of Bible in North Carolina courts
Wed Jul 27, 9:08 PM ET



A US civil rights group has filed suit in North Carolina to allow Muslim witnesses in the state's courts to swear on the Koran holy book rather than the usual Bible.

The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged on Tuesday a judge's refusal to let non-Christian witnesses take oaths using holy books of other religions.

Superior Court Judge Douglas Albright in Greensboro had ruled earlier that a state law that specifies using "holy scriptures" in administering oaths refers only to the Christian Bible.

Albright said the southeastern state's laws allow non-Christians to take an oath without using any text at all, but alternate texts were not legally permitted.

"The government cannot favor one set of religious values over another and must allow all individuals of faith to be sworn in on the holy text that is in accordance with their faith," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina.

"By allowing only the Christian Bible to be used in the administration of religious oaths in the courtroom, the state is discriminating against people of other faiths," Rudinger said in a statement.

The suit arose after the court turned away a Muslim group which wanted to donate a number of Korans for use by Muslims called before the court.

The ACLU said its lawsuit only seeks to change the ruling, and not to seek damages in the case.

I'm speechless. Our country is 229 years old. It survived with oaths on the Bible all these many years. Now that we're going down the tubes, the ACLU thinks it's making a contribution of some sort over Oaths on the Koran. We can not allow that. We don't know what the Koran says or means. We do know that in the name of the Koran, Allah, and Jihad, we have 3,000 dead Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC; have fought a war in Afghanistan; and are fighting and extended engagement in Iraq...over the Koran...and which of their religious leaders want control of this new fragile government.

Koran as our tool of oath in the United States?

NOT!!!

I'm surprised the ACLU isn't trying to get the Bible removed using their typical separation of church and state nonsense you usually hear coming out of their big mouths. I guess their tactic in this situation is to undermine Christianity by making it no better than any other religion. I can just imagine some of the weird swearing in oaths we will likely see in the future if the ACLU prevails on this case.

Hopefully they won't use the one where they vow their lives to Jihad and killing all Infidels in exchange for 13 virgins in Heaven.

The ACLU has better "causes" to pursue don't you think, living off of tax payer funded 501 C 3 "contributions".

Grrrrrrrr!!

My feeling is that if you don't like book we use in our justice system, feel free to leave and find a country with a justice system that uses a book that suits you.

Is that reasonable?

I agree Judy. I actually rather see them remove the bible from court on what they appear to be trying to do. Can you imagine the courts having to have books from every known religion on hand in case someone wants to be sworn in under their own religion. It might be comical watching them searching around for the correct book to use.

You can't do that, because you would have to know what the religion stands for in order for the oath to be valid. There are many implications to the oath and the choice of book they swear upon. This nation is a nation that was founded in part upon the bible. We know what it means an what an oath sworn to it means. We DO NOT KNOW and do not have the time nor cause to figure out everybody's religion concerning an oath and their personal religion. If they don't want to swear upon the Bible, then let them lay their hand on a folded flag of the United States and swear to the Flag and forget the book altogether, but not the Koran.

They are leading the country down a path with many implications.

Just give objectors a US Flag to swear on.

I agree with you Judy but you know the ACLU doesn't care anything about what the oath means. The flag probably wouldn't work either since the objectors are the ones who would want to burn it instead of swearing oath to it.

Right! Same with the Bible. So lets just hope the Judge who hears this one has some sense and tells ACLU guys to stop wasting their time and go get some "real jobs".

Later!!