Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

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(AP)  An Islamic civil rights group said Monday that
a columnist who criticized Rep.-elect Keith Ellison's decision to
use the Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in should be removed
from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
 

     The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the comments by
Dennis Prager, a columnist and conservative talk radio host,
displayed an intolerance toward Islam that make him an
inappropriate person to serve on the council.

      Ellison, D-Minn., is the first Muslim elected to Congress.

      In his column last week, Prager wrote: "Insofar as a member of
Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is
concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If
you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in
Congress."

      The Holocaust Memorial Council oversees the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington.

      "No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant and divisive views
should be in a policymaking position at a taxpayer-funded
institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive
impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society,"
CAIR's executive director, Nihad Awad, wrote in a letter to the
council's chairman, Fred Zeidman.

      Prager, Ellison and the Holocaust council did not immediately
return phone messages Monday.


Gallery

An Islamic civil rights group said Monday that
a columnist who criticized Rep.-elect Keith Ellison's decision to
use the Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in should be removed
from the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.


Islamic group wants Ellison critic removed from Holocaust council

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