Dr. Oz swears on Bible despite touting ‘secular Muslim’ identity in 2022 Senate race

Dr. Mehmet Oz, known to be Turkish and Muslim, placed his hand on the Bible Friday as he was sworn in as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, marking a notable contrast with his self-identification as a “secular Muslim” during his unsuccessful 2022 Senate campaign.

U.S. President Donald Trump administered the oath of office in the Oval Office to the former television personality, who now assumes control over the nation’s largest public health insurance programs.

“We’re delighted to swear in Dr. Mehmet Oz as the next administrator of the Centers for Medicine and Medicaid Services, which is a big deal,” said Trump, mistaking the agency’s official name during the ceremony.

Trump praised Oz as an “internationally acclaimed heart and lung surgeon” and noted with apparent sarcasm “how convenient” it was that Oz had attended Harvard University — a reference to the administration’s ongoing disputes with the university over federal funding conditions.

The Senate confirmed Oz in early April in a 53-45 vote that fell along party lines.

Focus on program efficiency and health responsibility

In his remarks, Oz outlined four priorities for his tenure, indicating he would focus on Medicaid spending that he claimed is “crowding out education and other important social programs” in many states. He also highlighted America’s high per-patient healthcare spending compared to other countries, the prevalence of medical errors, and declining U.S. life expectancy since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s the patriotic duty of all Americans to take care of themselves,” Oz said, echoing themes from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, “Because it’s important for serving in the military, but it’s also important because healthy people don’t consume health care resources.”

“The best way to reduce drug spending is to use fewer drugs because you don’t need them, because you’re healthy, and it feels a lot better,” he added.

Oz said he would target fraud in Medicaid, specifically mentioning brokers enrolling patients without their knowledge, funds spent on undocumented migrants, people eligible for Medicaid in multiple states, and program funds used for non-medical expenses like child care.

Trump assured attendees there would be no cuts to the programs. “We’re not going to have any cuts. We’re going to have only help,” the president said.

The ceremony ended abruptly when a young girl in Oz’s party collapsed and was rushed from the Oval Office as Trump began taking questions from reporters.

Mehmet Oz’s Bible oath continues pattern of religious ambivalence

Oz’s decision to place his hand on the Bible rather than the Quran during the swearing-in ceremony underscores his complex relationship with his faith. During his 2022 Senate race in Pennsylvania, his candidacy generated discussion about potentially becoming the nation’s first Muslim senator, though his relationship with the faith and Muslim American communities has been complicated throughout his public life.

During that campaign, Oz identified himself as a “secular Muslim” who rarely discusses his religious beliefs. He raised his four children in his wife’s Christian faith and has previously expressed ambivalence about his Muslim identity.

“I have struggled a lot with my Muslim identity, in part because, within my family, there were two very different perspectives on it,” Oz said in a 2009 interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr. on PBS’s “Faces of America,” describing his upbringing between a pious father and secular mother who reflected divisions within their native Türkiye.

In that interview, Oz expressed an affinity for Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition emphasizing an individual’s search for the divine over doctrinal rigidity.

“It’s much more mystical, much more interested in taking away the 99 percent of reality that we think is there and looking at the real, important 1% that’s beneath that veneer,” he said then, “the true connection with God.”

During his Senate campaign, some Muslim Americans expressed disappointment that Oz seemed to distance himself from the community. Despite outreach efforts from mosques across Pennsylvania, Oz reportedly did not engage with many Muslim institutions during his campaign.

“I have called, I have emails I sent to them, and nothing,” Nagi Latefa, a volunteer at the Islamic Education Center in Allentown, told The New York Times in 2022 about his attempts to organize a candidate meet-and-greet at his mosque.

Oz also made statements during that campaign that some Muslims considered problematic, including telling Real America’s Voice, “We don’t want Shariah law in America. I’m a secular Muslim. I don’t want any of these religious fanatics playing a role in American society.”

His association with former President Trump, who implemented a travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries and once said, “I think Islam hates us,” further complicated his standing among many American Muslims.

Only about 10% of American Muslims identify as Republicans, according to 2022 research from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, making Oz’s political affiliation unusual among his faith community.

The ceremony’s use of the Bible rather than the Quran reflects the continuing evolution of Oz’s public religious identity. While his Turkish-Muslim background was a topic of discussion during his Senate campaign, his swearing-in ceremony aligned more with mainstream American political tradition than with his cultural heritage.

“Together, we’re going to make the care better. We’re going to make the outcomes improve, and we’re going to make sure that America can actually be the healthiest country it could ever possibly be,” Oz said. “We’ll make America healthy again.”