Religion in the Capitol

St. Paul, Minn. — U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn. is about to become the first Muslim member of Congress. He'll join the other House members when they take the oath of office together.

For his official portrait, he's expected to be pictured with his hand on a Quran borrowed from the United States Library of Congress. It's an English translation from the eighteenth century which once belonged to Thomas Jefferson.

Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode, among others, has criticized Ellison's use of the Quran in the ceremony as un-American. St. Olaf College political science professor Dan Hofrenning has the opposite opinion.