If I were president, I would swear on the Constitution.
Fox News wouldn’t know what to say.
John Brennan swore in as CIA Director on one of the original copies of the Constitution a few years ago, some conservatives were upset, but most of the mockery I saw was the whole thing about the CIA Director swearing in on the Constitution considering... I think a few members of Congress have done this in the past. Amash chickened out from doing it after hinting he was going to.
Presidents used to
kiss the bible after the swearing in, because that was what Washington had done, but Eisenhower didn't and no one since has. (Although Obama kissing a Bible would have been great, especially when he burst into flames immediately.)
Teddy Roosevelt and LBJ did not use a Bible, but part of that may have been related to their swearing ins coming as the President had just died. I think LBJ swore in on a semi-random Catholic book that just happened to be found on Air Force One and was the closest thing they had to a Bible. Coolidge's dad brought their family Bible which avoided it in his case. J. Q. Adams and Franklin Pierce both swore in on a book of constitutional law (actually, Pierce didn't even swear, simply affirmed he agreed), their one-term statuses probably sent that to the ashbin. (Speaking of which, Hoover said "I do" instead of "I will, so help me God." Another one-termer. Coincidence?!?)
Every President since Truman, except for Reagan and Clinton (and LBJ for obvious reasons), has sworn in the first time on two Bibles for what I assume is the same reason they sign legislation with a hundred pens because it seems one gets stored in the Senate showcase. (And the other is often a family Bible or otherwise famous one.)
Similar to the above Muslin claim:
when Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim, was elected to Congress in 2006, he took the oath of office on a Quran.
The American Family Association went so far as to advocate for federal legislation requiring members of Congress to swear on Bibles, and then-U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) asserted that Ellison’s act would empower Islamic terrorists.
...
Dennis Prager is having none of it:
Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison’s favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.
I guess at least that's a form of a bible, much like when Jewish members use their Bible which I believe has always been the case for them? I assume someone like say Joe Lieberman would have, it seems Linda Lingle used a Tanakh during her swearing in as Governor of Hawai'i, etc.
Funny enough, in the Ellison case is that the House doesn't even do individual swearing-ins, it's the entire body done at once and not on anything unless the member brought it in themselves and put it on their desk. Any individual member photos are just photo-ops taken at some point after.
