-John Adams, letter discussing laws which punished citizens for doubting the Bible, to Thomas Jefferson, January 23, 1825 [Courtesy of www.stephenjaygould.org.]
This story’s been all over the internet today, but I couldn’t find an original source, so I’m not citing one. Since Mr. Raskin’s site also contains the quotation, however, we can assume it’s true.
On Wednesday, March 1st, 2006, in Annapolis at a hearing on the proposed Constitutional Amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Jamie Raskin, professor of law at AU, was requested to testify.
At the end of his testimony, Republican Senator Nancy Jacobs said: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"
Raskin replied: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”
The room erupted into applause.
Ahhhh, the exquisite bliss of having a school of thought summed in two short and cogent sentences. Thank you, Mr. Raskin.
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