There are a lot of government functions that require you to take an oath.
Whether you're a new immigrant into America, whether you're at jury duty,
whether you're a military officer, or you just got elected to higher office, you have to take an oath.
And at the end of a lot of these oaths
are four words: "So help me God."
And what do you do if you're an atheist and you're supposed to say these things?
I should point out, even the presidential oath of office, you know,
when Barack Obama got sworn in as president, even he had to say: "So help me God",
but it should be noted that that's not an actual part of the presidential oath.
But what do you do if you're an atheist? How do you handle the situation if, you know,
you go in for jury duty and they want you to say that?
It turns out there are a few ways around the situation.
Simply put, they can't make you say it.
And actually they shouldn't make you say it, because it would be really weird for you to have to say, you know,
"I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
and now I'm going to end this oath with a lie."
Like no one should force you to have to do that.
And I would think even Christians would be on board with that,
because no one's ever forcing them to say,
you know, "So help me... God doesn't exist"
No one would make them say that and no one should expect them to say that.
So, what happens when they tell you: "Here's the oath, sign it or say it."
Well, if you have to say it verbally,
you can just stop before those last words. You just say the rest of the oath,
but you don't say the God part.
That's okay. You don't have to do that.
Another option is to request an alternative.
I know this is a little uncomfortable because you don't want to stir the boat.
But if it's a one-on-one oath and someone's making you say this,
you could say, you know, "I'm not religious. Can I please take an alternative oath?"
And they should have it readily accessible.
Government agencies should have an alternative oath for people
who don't want to say something that says God exists,
or for people whose religious beliefs, for whatever reason, say
they shouldn't be taking any oaths to someone who's not God.
They have to accommodate that request.
In fact, it would be illegal for them not to.
You know, going back to 2012 when we had all these new Congress members,
it's interesting, because Representative Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona,
she actually took her oath on the Constitution, and not the Bible.
And Representative Keith Ellison, from Michigan, he swore in on a Quran,
because he's a Muslim.
And Tulsi Gabbard, from Hawaii, swore in on the Bhagavad Gita.
You know, you don't have to swear in on the Bible even though that's kind of the tradition.
Now, will right-wing websites and Fox News flip out when that sort of things happens? Absolutely,
but there's nothing illegal about taking an oath on a different book.
I know it may be uncomfortable to make that request,
but part of the reason it's so uncomfortable is because so few people tend to do it.
And maybe if more of us asked for that alternative oath,
they would have it a little more easily accessible and maybe instead of saying: "Hey, everyone, let's take this oath,"
they would say, you know, "We're going to take this oath, but if you don't feel comfortable with that,
we have an alternative one as well. Take your pick."
They would do that if more people were willing to challenge them on it. So,
you know, if you go to jury duty, if you are fortunate enough to get elected to some office where you have to take an oath,
request that alternative. It'll be a good thing for all of us if you do that.
And by the way, that's not limited to just atheists
or people who are not Christians. Christians can request an alternative, too. And I think it would be good of them if they did that.
They can say an oath to God on their own time, but when they're performing a government service,
they ought to be taken a secular oath.
By the way, if you want more information on what options you have if you have to take an oath,
we're going to leave some links below that you can check out, where they really go into detail about what your options are.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
Leave a comment below and we'll be sure to check it out.