Just thought you might like to know (scroll down to the boldface): Donald Wildmon's American Family Association wants to make it illegal for a member of Congress to swear an oath of office on any book other than the Bible.

Constitution, schmonstitution.

John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960:

I would not look with favor upon a President working to subvert the first amendment's guarantees of religious liberty; nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test, even by indirection. For if they disagree with that safeguard, they should be openly working to repeal it.

Working to subvert Article VI by indirection? Sounds like a plan!

(Or perhaps just a good way to raise money. Note the request for funds right under the boldface in the first link.)

Incidentally, USA Today, citing the Dennis Prager hate tract that stirred up so much fuss, tells us the following:

Prager, who is Jewish, wrote that no Mormon elected official has "demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon." But Republican Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon, carried a volume of Mormon scriptures that included the Bible and the Book of Mormon at his swearing-in ceremony in 1997.

(See that story and this one from Think Progress for more on how nonreligious the process really is.)

Oh, and as Sadly, No! reminds us, President Bush appointed Prager to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Commission a few months ago, praising his "unique moral voice."