Government with Religion

Last week, thirty Jewish members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 13 Jewish U.S. senators were sworn in. The 43 Jewish lawmakers assuming office Thursday in the 110th Congress include 29 Democrats and one Republican in the House and nine Democrats, two Republicans and two independents who caucus with the Democrats in the Senate. The number of Jewish senators sets a record although there were more than 30 Jewish House members between 1990 and 1994.

Two Buddhist also came to Congress, a first for our country. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, became a Buddhist decades ago, though his family does not share that faith. Rep. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, is also a Buddhist. In addition, Rep. Keith Ellison from Minnesota was also sworn in. Ellison is the first Muslim elected to Congress and he used a Koran owned by Thomas Jefferson. An array of Jewish groups joined Arab-American and Muslim-American groups in condemning some right-wing assaults on Ellison’s decision to use the Koran. I support both them and him.

Both the strong level of Jewish leadership and the widening array of religious traditions represented in the Senate and House make me proud to be an American. The highest “House” makes me think of my “house” and reminds me of the words of Mahatma Gandhi who once said, “I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be blown off my feet by any of them”.