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The INDEPENDENT, January 18, 2007
The
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month by
The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064.
Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410.
Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net
Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net
Assoc. Editor Noni Andersen, noni@the-independent.net
Opinion
What do we want? Peace.
Blown the New Year resolutions yet? It’s not too late
to make another one. This one is not just for you, but
for the whole world. Make a resolution to help bring
peace to the world. Sounds like a big chunk to chew,
doesn’t it? Here are some ideas for small beginnings:
• Join Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity
(CCCHD); for only $10 you can help promote social
justice in Columbia County and fight against acts that
diminish the human dignity of any person or group. Or,
go to their Winter Gala on January 27, only $25, or go
join their weekly Vigil For Peace every Sunday at 1:00
p.m. at the Scappoose Totem Pole. Learn more at
www.ccchd.colcenter.org.
• Buy a Mercy Corps Peace Kit for $50 to help chil-
dren and families in areas like Afghanistan and Sudan,
at www.mercycorps.org.
• Read the news at www.antiwar.com. Open your
mind to other viewpoints.
• Join www.truemajority.com, a grassroots education
and advocacy project, founded by Ben Cohen, Co-
founder of Ben & Jerry’s.
• Spread the message and prayer, May Peace Pre-
vail on Earth from www.worldpeace.org.
• Are you a Veteran for Peace? Join www.veterans
forpeace.org or join Forest Grove resident and Viet-
nam Veteran Walt Wentz as he stands for peace on
Pacific Avenue, across from the Forest Grove Library,
every Thursday from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. with a sign that
says, “BRING OUR TROOPS HOME.”
• Are you a woman for peace? see the website,
www.codepink4peace.org.
• http://oregonpeaceworks.org and other sites offer
ideas, including these two; 1) Email, call or write your
elected representatives and tell them to bring the
troops home now, 2) Write a letter to the editor and
take a stand in your community.
• Take the Voters For Peace Pledge at www.democ
racyinaction.org.
• Tell your friends and family what you are doing to
help bring peace to the world and let them know what
they can do to help.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat, Re-
publican, Independent, or Other; whether you believe
in the current war in Iraq or don’t – you can still hope
for and work toward a goal of peace.
When do we want it? Now.
Out of My Mind
By Noni Andersen
While we are watching the devastation
caused by warfare over people’s religious prefer-
ences, Virgil Goode, a U.S. Congressman from
Virginia, and a few others, are calling for a ban
on elected officials if they are not Christians.
The trigger for this outcry was the election of
Keith Ellison as U.S. Representative from Michi-
gan. Ellison, who is Muslim, announced that he
would swear his oath of office with his hand on a
Quran (or Koran), instead of a Bible. The only
surprising element of Ellison’s choice, was that
the Quran he would use had been owned by
Thomas Jefferson, our fourth president and one
of our Founding Fathers.
Those who were outraged that Ellison would-
n’t swear on the Bible obviously want a religious
test for national office, something that Jefferson
probably would have found appalling.
Realistically, and ethically, Ellison should not
swear on the Bible because he is not a Christian.
The custom of swearing on the Bible is not to
show religious loyalty, but for people to subject
themselves to a higher authority. The idea is that
breaking an oath to the people is easy; breaking
an oath to God is not. People cannot see what
you do behind closed doors. God can.
Ellison has sworn to his higher authority that
he will uphold the Constitution and the laws of
the United States. Let’s hope he takes the Con-
stitution more seriously than those who wanted
to force him to swear on their religious book.
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states that
“no religious test shall be required” for any pub-
lic office. Asking a Muslim congressman to be
sworn in on a Bible is repugnant. We would not
consider asking a Christian to swear on the reli-
gious book of any other religion.
Goode even managed to use Ellison’s elec-
tion to attack immigration policy, writing to his
constituents: ”... The Muslim Representative
from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that
district and if American citizens don’t wake up
and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigra-
tion there will likely be many more Muslims elect-
ed to office… We need to stop illegal immigration
totally and reduce legal immigration… to pre-
serve the values and beliefs traditional to the
United States of America…”
Speaking of tradition, Ellison was born in De-
troit and can trace his family in America to the
1700s, when they were brought here as slaves.
He was raised Catholic and converted to Islam in
college.
James Madison, one of the authors of our
Constitution and our third president, explained
the reason this fledgling nation chose to prohibit
any merger of religion and government:
“The purpose of separation of church and
state is to keep forever from these shores the
ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of
Europe with blood for centuries.”
We can now add the Middle East, plus parts
of the Far East and Africa to that example. We
would be foolish, even reckless, to ignore his
words.
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