Despite all the outrage, Keith Ellison managed to get sworn in to the House of Representatives with his hand on a Koran without destroying democracy or cracking the rotunda.

Appropriately, the Koran Ellison used once belonged to another wild and rebellious character: Thomas Jefferson.


Think Progress:

… Following the official swearing-in ceremony for the 110th Congress, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) was photographed with his wife Kim and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Ellison and Pelosi placed their hands on a copy of the Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

“Look at that. That’s something else!” Ellison said, as officials from the Library of Congress showed him the Koran, which was published in London in 1764. “Oh, my God! This is great!”

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