The election of a Muslim congressman by Minnesota voters was not "envisioned by the Founding Fathers," Idaho Congressman Bill Sali said this week.
But that doesn't mean Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison doesn't have every right to serve in Washington, D.C., Sali said.
He told the Statesman Friday that his comments quoted on a conservative Web site should not have given the impression that Ellison did not belong in Congress.
"He got elected the same way I did," Sali said. "People certainly have the right to elect anyone they want."
But Sali said he hopes the country's leaders continue to follow Christian principles.
In an interview posted online this week by the Christian news outlet American Family News Network, Sali said: "We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes — and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The principles that this country was built on, that have made it great over these centuries were Christian principles derived from Scriptures. You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike."
Sali was quickly attacked by some liberal blogs around the country, including ThinkProgress.org, which pointed out that the founders wrote Article VI to say that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
Ellison, a Democrat, was elected in 2006 as the first Muslim in Congress.
"The congressman just doesn't respond to comments like that," said a spokesman, Micah Clemens, in an e-mail to the Statesman.
Sali said he has met fellow freshman Ellison and that he planned to call him to clarify what he was trying to say.
"I think that Keith deserves a call from me — not necessarily because of what's in my heart or in my mind, but because of how it's been portrayed," Sali said.
But Sali said he does think the country's Founding Fathers created a government based on Christian principles and that the best course into the future is to follow those ideas.
The country's creators fought for the "principles found in Scripture," he said. "The dangerous part is straying from these principles.
"The idea that somehow we can move to multiculturalism and still remain the same — I think that's a little dangerous, too," he said. "From my standpoint, I believe the Founding Fathers were overwhelmingly Christian, and the God they were talking about is the God of the Bible."
Sali said his policy discussions with people of other faiths would start with core principles, but religion could play a role.
"I would say, ‘These are principles that I think are important,' and if he agrees with those, great," he said. "At the end of the game, maybe it does get down to religious beliefs and how they impact how you make public policy."
Local Muslims said they were saddened and disappointed by Sali's comments and his explanation for them.
"Normally, I would not reply to this — what can you say, you know?" said Said Ahmed-Zaid, a Boise State University engineering professor who sometimes writes columns on religion in the Idaho Statesman. "He's free to think this is a Christian nation."
But the sentiment reminds Ahmed-Zaid of the Civil Rights struggles in the 1960s.
"He's invited me to dinner, but he doesn't want me to sit at the table," he said.
John Wilkins, who sits on the executive committee of the Islamic Center of Boise, said the country's founders created an idea of inclusion, not exclusion, but that it was dangerous to take some of their ideas too far.
"This issue of what the Founding Fathers would or wouldn't have approved of is kind of a slippery slope," Wilkins said. "They were slave owners, and they didn't extend voting rights to women or men who didn't own property."
But Sali's Boise political ally, conservative advocate Bryan Fischer, said Sali's "caution with regard to Islam and public policy is wise."
"The citizens of Minnesota certainly have the right to send anybody to Washington they wish, but when you examine nations whose public institutions have been shaped by Islamic politicians, you find no freedom of religion, no freedom of speech, no freedom of conscience, no fundamental rights for women, and no freedom for ordinary citizens to choose their leaders," Fischer said in a release from his group, Idaho Values Alliance.
"If an Islamic-inspired worldview were to shape America's public policy, this country would be a far different land than the one handed to us by our Founding Fathers. It would no longer be the ‘sweet land of liberty' of which we sing. That's not the kind of nation we want, and Rep. Sali is right on target in issuing his word of caution."
Gregory Hahn: 377-6425
