by Laurie Mueller

Created on: May 30, 2008

Should the Bible continue to be used for swearing-in ceremonies and in courtrooms?
"I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God." , "We trust in God", "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." These were all drafted by our founding fathers in a world where they could not conceive of a populace that wasn't Christian.

At that time swearing on the bible was a promise of truth that couldn't be broken for fear of God and the church. Today, I have a friend who makes her husband swear to God that he didn't take the last cookie. Swearing to God has lost most of its meaning to Christians, and never had any to those who don't believe in God.
As a Christian, I have read the bible, and still do, but the Quran is just a book to me. If I chose to read it, I would read it in the same context as I would read any other non-fiction book. Or supposed non-fiction book, since I might consider parts of it to be fiction, or based on facts not in evidence. Given that outlook, if I were in a part of the world where they expected me to swear on that book, I would do so with the understanding that while the government of that place might punish me for lying, God would not. People who don't read the bible, which is becoming an increasing part of our society, don't consider an oath sworn on that book any more binding that an oath sworn on a dictionary. It's just a book to them, and because of that, the oath they swear is just words to them.
There is currently a suit by the ACLU to change the swearing in ceremony to include any sacred text based on witness preferences. I expect the ACLU will win its case because we recognize other religions in this country, and people of those religions should be able to swear on their own holy books. Inclusion of other holy books will increase the meaning of the ceremony for people of faiths other that Christianity, but not for those who don't believe in God at all.
While I don't think we should get rid of the swearing in ceremony, with the religious text of choice, I think we should add a signed document explaining the legal consequences of lying under oath. That might scare more people than the fear of Almighty retribution. The ceremony itself has a place in tradition and still matters to a large amount of the populace.

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