Richard Tafoya
Dec 21st, 2006, 08:22 PM
Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/21/holocaust-museum/
Right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager raised a firestorm charging that Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) must swear in using a Bible (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/30/koran-bible-prager-ellison/). He said that if Ellison swears in with a Koran, it would “undermin[e] American civilization” and be akin to swearing in with a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” In September, he was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term on the taxpayer-funded United States Holocaust Memorial Council (http://www.ushmm.org/museum/contact/).
Yesterday, the Executive Committee of the Holocaust Memorial Council adopted a resolution condemning Prager’s views as “antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance (http://www.ushmm.org/museum/press/archives/detail.php?category=07-general&content=2006-12-21).” Resolution
WHEREAS, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, is charged with implementing the mission of the Museum as a living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust devoted to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for the benefit of all mankind; and
WHEREAS, Dennis Prager, a member of the Council, has recently publicly expressed and disseminated certain statements which have been widely interpreted as being intolerant;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, while recognizing that Dennis Prager has the right to express his personal views freely, disassociates itself from Mr. Prager’s statements as being antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance and respect for all peoples regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/21/holocaust-museum/
Right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager raised a firestorm charging that Muslim Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) must swear in using a Bible (http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/30/koran-bible-prager-ellison/). He said that if Ellison swears in with a Koran, it would “undermin[e] American civilization” and be akin to swearing in with a copy of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” In September, he was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term on the taxpayer-funded United States Holocaust Memorial Council (http://www.ushmm.org/museum/contact/).
Yesterday, the Executive Committee of the Holocaust Memorial Council adopted a resolution condemning Prager’s views as “antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance (http://www.ushmm.org/museum/press/archives/detail.php?category=07-general&content=2006-12-21).” Resolution
WHEREAS, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, is charged with implementing the mission of the Museum as a living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust devoted to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust for the benefit of all mankind; and
WHEREAS, Dennis Prager, a member of the Council, has recently publicly expressed and disseminated certain statements which have been widely interpreted as being intolerant;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Executive Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, while recognizing that Dennis Prager has the right to express his personal views freely, disassociates itself from Mr. Prager’s statements as being antithetical to the mission of the Museum as an institution promoting tolerance and respect for all peoples regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity.