Great Quote

I heard a great quote today. I wish I remember who said it and who they said it to. If I can find it, I'll post attribution.

The quote was to a Senator who was waving a Bible around and asking why there was any question of making gay marriage legal, when the Bible clearly said homosexuality was wrong.

The response was "Senator, when you took office, you put your hand on a Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

I think this is an important distinction, and one which is far too often lost. No one is saying you can't be Christian, if that's what you choose to be, or Jewish, Muslim, atheist, Hindu, agnostic or Branch Davidian. But in becoming an elected official of this country, you set that aside and with regard to fulfilling your duties, you uphold the Constitution, whether you personally agree with all of it or not.

It's simply a matter of courtesy. Since you wouldn't want an Islamic elected official passing laws taken from the Koran and trying to enforce them on you using your tax dollars, don't do likewise to those who do not share your religion.

It isn't an attack on Christianity. You're still free to worship exactly as you like. You just have to keep it out of your political office. If you can't do that, or are unwilling to, then you are unfit to hold the position and you should leave it.

UPDATE: The quote in particular was from Constitution Law Professor Jamie Raskin, testifying on March 1, 2006 regarding Maryland's proposed gay marriage ban. Interestingly, however, it may not have originated there, as comedian Bill Maher is quoted on April 1, 2005, with respect to the Terri Schiavo case, "Does George Bush remember that he put his hand on the Bible to uphold the Constitution and not the other way around?" (Thanks to snopes.com for the details)

Liam.