Comparison To Controversy in The US Congress
Many media accounts have linked this story with Qur'an oath controversy of the 110th United States Congress that involved Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) the first American-Muslim elected to the US Congress. Ellison's desire to use a Qur'an at the ceremonial reenactment of his oath while symbolically important, was never a judicial issue. The swearing-in was en masse and involved no texts whatsoever. Both of the main figures taking issue with Ellison, Dennis Prager and Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), made sure to clarify that they were not asking for him to be banned from serving if he insisted on using a Qur'an instead of a Bible at his reenactment photo-op. In this regard the Matten case is far more significant.
One commentator laid out the likely outcome should the Matteen case not be judged on its merits, saying one day a non-Christian would appear before a North Carolina judge and would "create an impasse in court when he refuses to swear on the Bible and declines to affirm an oath, insisting he should be allowed to place his hand on the Quran or some other holy book and promise before his God to tell the truth." The judge could then "hold the uncooperative witness in contempt, in effect punishing a person who simply asks that his religious beliefs be granted the same respect as those of a Christian. ... While holding the witness in contempt, the judge also could bar the testimony that would have been offered—thereby jeopardizing the case of one party or the other. ...Or the judge could let the witness testify without swearing or affirming to tell the truth. But that would invite a challenge to the validity of the testimony—another legal controversy."
Read more about this topic: ACLU Of N.C. & Syidah Matteen V. State Of North Carolina
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