Under Oath

[Wolfgang]

This is based off a conversation I had with my law studies teacher in high school (many years ago people) and I just remembered it a few days ago, so here I present the case to you.

When you are called to testify as a witness in court, you are sworn under oath while holding your right hand up and leaving the left hand on a copy of the Bible. It is assumed that if you swear on a Bible that you will not lie. The President of the United States has to be sworn under the oath of office on a bible. It is assumed that he will not lie about serving as our president and being in our best interest and etc.

Why do we have to swear on a Bible? What of people who are not Christian? What of people who wish to swear on their book, their mother's grave, their children's names? Does no one realize that the 'good book' tells you explicitly not to swear upon the hairs of your head, god's feet, or most of all the bible itself? Regardless of your beliefs, would it make sense to swear on a book that says not to swear on it? This is not a 'bash' on Christians, I am just asking what you think about having to swear on the Bible. Is it right or wrong, and why should we swear or not swear on it for oaths?

 

[Guest]

;D

 

[mawk]

if you're not christian, you tell them and they give you something different to swear on. the act of giving an oath is in itself mostly just a custom, and is less about religion than it is about making you liable for charges of perjury. swearing on things like your mother's grave is a lame idea; those sorts of oaths have just become little sayings over the years and don't mean anything. oaths use a holy book or a legal text so that you understand that you're supposed to take the oath seriously because you're using something that has value not just for you, but for others as well. the judge and jury like as not don't give a damn about your dead mother or your kids' names.

I get it, you're very avant-garde, but give society a little credit.

 

[Jason]

Underoath is a good band o.O

And yeah I agree with Arbiter actually, cause if you think about it, you WOULD swear upon the bible even if you weren't christian, you wouldn't want to make a scene in the middle of a courtroom....

... Or would you ?

 

[Wolfgang]

I might make a scene, depending on how I felt at the moment about the Bible swearing. Think about it... the judge is telling me to swear an oath on a relgious text that does not condone swearing oaths at all. I find this oxymoronic and I would almost feel compeled to tell them that I refuse to swear on it. That would make as much sense as swearing the president into office on a religous text that rejects all forms of government. As far as I know, there isn't such a book, but the point remains. I don't care that it's Christian, I'm just pointing out how stupid it is. Who set this shit up anyways?

 

[mawk]

if you're not christian, you tell them and they give you something different to swear on.

the act of giving an oath is in itself mostly just a custom, and is less about religion than it is about making you liable for charges of perjury.

oaths use a holy book or a legal text so that you understand that you're supposed to take the oath seriously because you're using something that has value not just for you, but for others as well.

protip: don't post just to reiterate your points from the first post.

as for the "bible prohibits swearing on it" thing, I've seen worse breaches of doctrine. if you're One Nation Under God and you're predominantly christian (especially in the old days) it's easy to see how swearing on a bible became a custom -- it was probably the only thing you could count on as a commonly accepted thing of value back then. it's not as big a thing as you're playing it up to be; LOL YOU CHRISTIANS ARE BEING SO ZANY AND BACKWARD

 

[Dissonance]

I might make a scene, depending on how I felt at the moment about the Bible swearing. Think about it... the judge is telling me to swear an oath on a relgious text that does not condone swearing oaths at all. I find this oxymoronic and I would almost feel compeled to tell them that I refuse to swear on it.

You obviously know nothing about how a courtroom works.

If you're going under oath you are being called as a witness - you would have known about this many weeks earlier. They may ask you well before the date of the trial "do you want to swear under a bible", and you say yes or no. If they DO NOT ask you, you have ample time to talk to somebody about it before the trial begins and get it settled - If you don't, then it's your own fault.

Blissfully believing that you know nothing about being sworn in and then starting a scene while court is in session when somebody brings you a bible simply shows how you are either naive or stupid.

 

[Amos36]

I am a Christian (not a brought-up believer but I guess you guys would call me a born again?), - and I still think it's stupid. I think you shouldn't swear on the Bible for sure considering it tells you not to. Also swearing on a Bible would have no relevance to a non-Christian which the vast majority of people are (no, there are not 2 billion Christians in the world).

On the other hand of course they need to make sure you understand how serious your testimony is. I think they should just read out a set verse like:

"You are about to give testimony therefore we ask that you speak nothing but the truth. If you lie about the things you have witnessed to then blah blah blah..."