Does taking an oath of office in the U.S. require placing a hand on a Bible? Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as Mayor of New York City on the stroke of midnight, January 1, 2026. At the ceremony he placed a hand on two copies of the Quran. One belonged to Puerto Rican historian Arturo Schomburg and the other to Mamdani’s grandfather, according to The New York Times. You can watch the ceremony on YouTube.
Immediately countless posts on social media claimed that the oath wasn’t legitimate because Mamdani didn’t swear on a Bible. But in fact there is no requirement in the Constitution or U.S. law that oaths of office require a Bible. Lots of people have been sworn into office without one, including presidents of the United States. John Quincy Adams placed his hand on a law book when he was sworn in as president in 1825. The third president, Thomas Jefferson, used no book at all. Neither did Theodore Roosevelt, although in his case there were extenuating circumstances. When Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as president in 1923 there was a Bible present, but Coolidge did not place his hand on it to take the oath. Coolidge was raised in a Puritan tradition that discouraged treating physical objects, including Bibles, as if they have divine power. And for his second presidential inauguration in 2025 Donald Trump did not place his hand on the Bible that was provided for the occasion. Possibly he just forgot.
I’ve also seen claims on social media that Mayor Mamdani refused to take the oath of office and would not swear to protect the Constitution, which is nonsense. It was on live television. There are videos. He took it again during his public inauguration on the afternoon of January 1. You can hear him in the video swearing to support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and the Charter of the City of New York. Some people are just way too hysterical over the election of a Muslim. Bigotry is so sad and so damaging.
Oaths of Office in the Constitution
The presidential oath of office is in the Constitution, in Article II section 1, last paragraph:
Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:– I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
It says nothing about a Bible. There is no mention of the Bible, or God, anywhere in the Constitution.
And then in Article VI we see this:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
The “no religious test” clause, along with the establishment clause of the First Amendment — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” — make it clear that an office holder cannot be required by law to be of any particular religion, including Christianity. Nor can an office holder be required to take an oath on any scripture. Those who wish to do so may do so, but it is strictly voluntary.
Federal law wouldn’t cover a city mayor. I assume the oath taken by Mamdani is one mandated by New York City and maybe state law.
Oaths of Office and Alternative Scriptures
Zohran Mamdani is not the first person in the U.S. to take an oath of office on the Quran. In 2006 the voters of Minnesota’s 5th congressional district elected a Muslim, Keith Ellison, to the U.S. Congress. When Representative-elect Ellison let it known that he intended to take his oath of office with a hand on the Quran, elements of the political Right went, um, ballistic. Right-wing activist Dennis Prager wrote a column, archived here, that said “What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.” Well, yeah, and that’s what the Constitution says and what the founding fathers said also. Religion is a matter of individual conscience that government must respect. See, for example, “James Madison and Religious Freedom.”
But apparently many Americans fervently believe that there is some legal requirement for oaths of office to be taken on the Bible, or they don’t count. This just plain isn’t true.
Since 2006 other members of Congress — representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib — have taken oaths of office on the Quran. The first Buddhists to be elected to Congress were Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia, both first elected in 2006 and still serving. Senator Hirono chooses not to use a religious text in her oath ceremonies. I understand that Rep. Johnson, a Nichiren Buddhist (see “Tina Turner’s Buddhism“), has taken his oath of office with a hand on the Lotus Sutra, a Buddhist scripture especially venerated in the Nichiren school. More recently, Tulsi Gabbard, when she was elected as a U.S. representative from Hawaii, placed her hand on a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu scripture. And, obviously, the many Jewish members of Congress have preferred Jewish scriptures over the Christian Bible. I understand the Torah is a common choice.
And if you broaden the search to state and city offices, you find people swearing their oaths on everything from Superman comics to Dr. Suess books. See “10 Books Other Than the Bible U.S. Politicians Have Been Sworn In On” by Melissa Baron at Book Riot.
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