MN Congressman will use Koran at swearing in

Incoming Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) will use a Koran rather than a Bible at his swearing-in on Thursday. He is the first Muslim member of Congress, and will get to use a Koran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

Rep. Virgil Goode, a Virginia Republican who represents the area where Jefferson lived, was one of those who criticized Ellison for wanting to use the Koran, calling for strict immigration policies specially crafted to keep Muslims out of the United States.

The English translation of the Koran from Jefferson's collection dates to the 1750s. Jefferson sold his collection to the U.S. Congress after its library was lost when the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. Much of his collection was destroyed in an ensuing fire in 1851 but the Koran that Ellison will use survived, Dimunation said.