Koran Not Allowed in Courtroom Swearing-In of Witnesses

Here's one worth considering. The implications are troubling.

A widespread tradition in the U.S. legal system is for witnesses to lay their hand on a Holy Bible and swear to tell the truth.

But what if someone wanted to swear on something other than a Bible?

The Koran for example.

In Gilford County, North Carolina, area Muslims attempted to donate copies of the Koran to the county courthouse for swearing in of Muslim witnesses during trials. The judge in charge refused the donation, saying only Christian Bibles could be used for the tradition (story here).

Muslims do not use Christian Bibles, so it makes sense to allow the use of the Koran for this tradition. Christians and Muslims and Jews worship the same God, so why couldn't a Koran or a Torah be substituted? Same God, different flavor.

To disallow another religion's holy book for this tradition opens Pandora's Box to having the tradition discontinued altogether. Now that the ACLU is involved, that is likely to be one avenue that they (the lawyers) will attempt to pursue.

Do we want the tradition to continue, or do we want to risk having it banned altogether? The latter is not something that Christians want.

Something to think about.