Dennis Prager

I attended a lecture by Dennis Prager about 20 years ago following the release of his book Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism. I also bought and read the book. I really didn't followed his career much after that though I was aware that he wrote for Townhall, a Conservative blog. However, the recent blowup in the news involving Prager got me interested. Prager has been accused of Christian ethnocentrism as a result of comments he made in a Town Hall article in which he asserts that all congressmen should swear their oath of office on the Bible regardless of their religious affiliation. According to Prager, senators incapable of taking an oath on the Bible should not serve in the Congress. I understand that Prager's opinion is in contradiction with Article VI of the American constitution, which states that no elected representative may be subjected to a religious test when taking office. Prager claimed that Rep.-elect Keith Ellinson, the first Muslim elected to Congress, had "announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran." Now Members of Congress do not actually use the Bible - or any other religious text - during official swearing-in ceremonies. The use of the Bible occurs at "ceremonial" swearing-in for photo ops.

I really am disturbed by Prager's position. I did not realize he was such a narrow minded neoconservative (but should have realized that since he does write for Townhall). He is a director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which I consider to be a symbol of the potential of intolerance and discrimination. It really bothers me to see Jews who are intolerant. How can we expect non-Jews to behave in a moral and righteous fashion if we are incapable. I really don't care that he is a neo-con but there are members of the Jewish community who need to take a good look into the mirror.