In a letter sent to hundreds of voters this month, Representative Virgil Goode, a Republican from Virginia, warned that the recent election of the first Muslim to Congress posed a serious threat to the nation's traditional values.
Goode was referring to Democratic Representative Keith Ellison and criminal defense lawyer who converted to Islam as a college student and was elected to the House in November. Ellison's plan to use the Koran during his private swearing-in ceremony in January had outraged some Virginia voters, prompting Goode to issue a written response to them, a spokesman for Goode said.
In his letter, which was dated Dec. 5, Goode said that Americans needed to "wake up" or else there would "likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."
"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped," said Goode, who vowed to use the Bible when taking his own oath of office.
Goode declined on Wednesday to comment on his letter, which quickly stirred a furor among some congressional Democrats and Muslim-Americans, who accused him of bigotry and intolerance.
They noted that the Constitution specifically bars any religious screening of members of Congress and that the actual swearing in of those lawmakers occurs without any religious texts.
Ellison dismissed Goode's comments, saying they seemed ill-informed about his personal origins as well as about Constitutional protections of religious freedom.
"I'm not an immigrant," said Ellison, who traces his US ancestors back to 1742. "I'm an African-American."
Since the November election, Ellison said, he has received hostile phone calls and e-mail messages along with some death threats. But in an interview on Wednesday, he emphasized that members of Congress and ordinary citizens had been overwhelmingly supportive and said he was focusing on setting up his congressional office, getting phone lines hooked up and staff members hired, not on negative comments.
"I'm not a religious scholar, I'm a politician and I do what politicians do, which is hopefully pass legislation to help the nation," said Ellison, who said he planned to focus on secular issues like increasing the federal minimum wage and getting health insurance for the uninsured.
"I'm looking forward to making friends with Representative Goode, or at least getting to know him," said Ellison, speaking by telephone from Minneapolis. "I want to let him know that there's nothing to fear. The fact that there are many different faiths, many different colors and many different cultures in America is a great strength."
In Washington, Brendan Daly, a spokesman for the incoming House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, assailed Goode's letter as "offensive." Corey Saylor, legislative director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, criticized what he described as Goode's "message of intolerance."
Democrat Representative Bill Pascrell urged Goode to reach out to Muslims in Virginia and learn "to dispel misconceptions instead of promoting them."
REVENGE: Trump said he had the support of the Syrian government for the strikes, which took place in response to an Islamic State attack on US soldiers last week The US launched large-scale airstrikes on more than 70 targets across Syria, the Pentagon said on Friday, fulfilling US President Donald Trump’s vow to strike back after the killing of two US soldiers. “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance,” US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on social media. “Today, we hunted and we killed our enemies. Lots of them. And we will continue.” The US Central Command said that fighter jets, attack helicopters and artillery targeted ISIS infrastructure and weapon sites. “All terrorists who are evil enough to attack Americans are hereby warned
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
Seven wild Asiatic elephants were killed and a calf was injured when a high-speed passenger train collided with a herd crossing the tracks in India’s northeastern state of Assam early yesterday, local authorities said. The train driver spotted the herd of about 100 elephants and used the emergency brakes, but the train still hit some of the animals, Indian Railways spokesman Kapinjal Kishore Sharma told reporters. Five train coaches and the engine derailed following the impact, but there were no human casualties, Sharma said. Veterinarians carried out autopsies on the dead elephants, which were to be buried later in the day. The accident site
RUSHED: The US pushed for the October deal to be ready for a ceremony with Trump, but sometimes it takes time to create an agreement that can hold, a Thai official said Defense officials from Thailand and Cambodia are to meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of resuming a ceasefire between the two countries, Thailand’s top diplomat said yesterday, as border fighting entered a third week. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by US President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The two countries agreed to hold talks using their General Border Committee, an established bilateral mechanism, with Thailand
RSS