Being under oath

[JoeKraus22]

As I uderstand that if you are under oath, You must place your hand on a bible and swear to tell the truth so help me God. I have never been under oath, or plan on it, but I think that is wrong. First off to me saying" I swear to God" is misusing his name. So If it is OK to be put umder oath, can you refuse, cause it does not seem right to me. Plus It is unfair anyway, because athiests or none chistians are swearing on a book they don’t care about, and swearing to a God they don’t believe in. Just wondering what you all think about it

 

[thistle]

As I uderstand that if you are under oath, You must place your hand on a bible and swear to tell the truth so help me God. I have never been under oath, or plan on it, but I think that is wrong. First off to me saying" I swear to God" is misusing his name. So If it is OK to be put umder oath, can you refuse, cause it does not seem right to me. Plus It is unfair anyway, because athiests or none chistians are swearing on a book they don’t care about, and swearing to a God they don’t believe in. Just wondering what you all think about it

That is not correct. If you are in court, for example, it is perfectly okay to swear an oath in God’s name with your hand on the Bible.

Modern Catholic Dictionary:

OATH. The invocation of God’s name to bear witness to the truth. A person, being conscious of his or her own fallibility, professes by an oath that God is omniscient and the omnipotent avenger of falsehood. For an oath to be licit, the statement sworn to must be true; there must be sufficient reason for swearing, i.e., regarding some matter of importance or because the circumstances demand an oath, as in a court of law; and the statement itself must not be sinful, e.g., not disclosing a secret that should not be revealed.

Oaths are assertive when God is invoked as witness to the truth of a past or present event, e.g., that a crime was not committed. They are promissory when God is invoked to bear witness not only to a future act but also to a person’s present intention of doing or omitting something, e.g., the promise to fulfill the duties of one’s office.

Oaths may also be distinguished as invocatory and imprecatory. They are invocatory when God is simply called upon as witness to the truth; they are imprecatory when, in addition, he is also invoked as the avenger of falsehood. In the Old Testament oaths of imprecation were very frequent, e.g., in the expression, “The Lord do so to me and more also.” In current usage they now occur in the familiar form, “So help me God.” (Etym. Greek oetos, a going; fate.)

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

As I uderstand that if you are under oath, You must place your hand on a bible and swear to tell the truth so help me God. I have never been under oath, or plan on it, but I think that is wrong. First off to me saying" I swear to God" is misusing his name. So If it is OK to be put umder oath, can you refuse, cause it does not seem right to me. Plus It is unfair anyway, because athiests or none chistians are swearing on a book they don’t care about, and swearing to a God they don’t believe in. Just wondering what you all think about it

I am puzzled by the same question.

 

[JRKH]

In the US I believe that most courts/jurisdictions have dispensed with swearing on the Bible. Likely for some of the reasons you already mention such as swearing in non-Christians.

However, I must say that I too have considered this question and visualized myself being called to testify and being asked to swear to God on the bible…In my “fantasy’” I would refuse and upon being questioned about my refusal, taking the Bible they wished me to swear on and opening it to Matthew 5:33-37 and reading…(assuming they are using the KJV)
33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
I would then tell the Judge that, “As a Christian, I am bound to speak the truth always but am forbidden to make the oath that the court requests”.
I suspect that any Judge would accept this as sincere and perfectly in keeping with the intent of the normal, prescribed oath.

What I actually find more troubling is where, even if the oath/promise is not made on the Bible or invoking God, they ask you to promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…Then the lawyers proceed to only bring out part of the truth and in certain cases will try to prevent you from speaking the “whole truth”…This seems to me to be a violation of the very oath one is sworn in with…
Or maybe i just watch too much “Law and Order”…

Peace
James

 

[JoeKraus22]

First off Thank you, but eaven though you say it is OK. For starters, I think lying under Oath would be a huge sin. Which brings me to the next point, Do the courts make Jewish people swear on the Jewish holy book, and Other religions swear to their own holy books, And do they all say I swear to tell the truth so help me,( Other religious God) depending on what their religion is. If not , then I feel that as Catholics, or all Christians are the only one’s who are forced to tell the Truth. If I had to swear on some Other religious Bible and Swea to their God, I could Bend the truth, or Lie. And really Athiests, don’t believe in any higher power, I think, But No matter what book they were to swear on, could just Lie their way out of trouble.But there is another point to my question, Like when someone is bothering another, and that person says " I swear to God I’ll kill you if you do this or that". I would say like 99% of the people who say that don’t actually kill that person. Or terms Like “Oh my God”, or God D@mn it" These are both in my oppinion wrong, because in the King James version, the Third commandment is " Thou Shall not use the Lord’s Name in Vein", and in NIV the third Commandment say thou shall not misuse the Lord’s name." In my last two scenarios, the Lord’s name is misused, Mainly, because of a promise to God that you will kill or just is wrong, but if you don’t do it you judt broke a promise you made to the Lord. If I am playing arounf with someone, and I would say like I swear that I’ll get you back, and Instead of Saying G Damnit, I just say oh man, or obviously say like Oh my. The reason this concerns me, is I once asked a Priest at my church, but he was busy, so he told me If it seems wrong don’t do it. To me mentioning the Lords name is a sin unless you are spreading the word, or are praying

Please respond to this, because I have just became a Godfather to my niece, and her mom, my sister is considered Catholic, but still is never trying to improve her self, and my Job is to guide my Goddaught though Faith and do the righ thing

 

[JoeKraus22]

JRKH:

That is exactly what I am talking about, They still make you swear in to testify, but the only thing is I am sure that you Must say “so help me God” at the end.
Which I know I am kid of being difficult at this time, but The courts say the truth, the whole Truch and nothing but the truth. I would feel bad if I forgot something, because that would be Not telling the whole truth

 

[JRKH]

JRKH:

That is exactly what I am talking about, They still make you swear in to testify, but the only thing is I am sure that you Must say “so help me God” at the end.
Which I know I am kid of being difficult at this time, but The courts say the truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the truth. I would feel bad if I forgot something, because that would be Not telling the whole truth

I’m not even sure that most courts use “so help me God” anymore. The various lawsuits and such over separation of Church and state have made most courts look at this and make adjustments…But I can’t say for sure as I have never attended a trial where I live and I imagine there are variations across the country.

As for forgetting something…That would not concern me too much since it is the job of the attorneys to ask the proper questions in order to get to the truth. My concern has always been if I know something that neither attorney brings out, or worse prevents me from saying, then I am unable to fulfill the oath I have taken - to tell the whole truth…
But I don’t dwell on it since It is a highly unlikely that I will ever find myself in that situation.

Peace
James

 

[jilly4ski]

JRKH:

That is exactly what I am talking about, They still make you swear in to testify, but the only thing is I am sure that you Must say “so help me God” at the end.
Which I know I am kid of being difficult at this time, but The courts say the truth, the whole Truch and nothing but the truth. I would feel bad if I forgot something, because that would be Not telling the whole truth

No, this is incorrect, one can either swear in (take an oath) or one can make an affirmation to the court. From Wikipedia:

In law, an affirmation is a solemn declaration allowed to those who conscientiously object to taking an oath. An affirmation has exactly the same legal effect as an oath, but is usually taken to avoid the religious implications of an oath. In some jurisdictions, it may only be given if such a reason is provided.

Some interesting history, a long time ago in the US, atheists were considered incompetent to testify, because there was no guarantee that they would tell the truth, because they did not fear divine retribution, and thus could not swear on a higher being.

 

[thistle]

First off Thank you, but eaven though you say it is OK. For starters, I think lying under Oath would be a huge sin. Which brings me to the next point, Do the courts make Jewish people swear on the Jewish holy book, and Other religions swear to their own holy books, And do they all say I swear to tell the truth so help me,( Other religious God) depending on what their religion is. If not , then I feel that as Catholics, or all Christians are the only one’s who are forced to tell the Truth. If I had to swear on some Other religious Bible and Swea to their God, I could Bend the truth, or Lie. And really Athiests, don’t believe in any higher power, I think, But No matter what book they were to swear on, could just Lie their way out of trouble.But there is another point to my question, Like when someone is bothering another, and that person says " I swear to God I’ll kill you if you do this or that". I would say like 99% of the people who say that don’t actually kill that person. Or terms Like “Oh my God”, or God D@mn it" These are both in my oppinion wrong, because in the King James version, the Third commandment is " Thou Shall not use the Lord’s Name in Vein", and in NIV the third Commandment say thou shall not misuse the Lord’s name." In my last two scenarios, the Lord’s name is misused, Mainly, because of a promise to God that you will kill or just is wrong, but if you don’t do it you judt broke a promise you made to the Lord. If I am playing arounf with someone, and I would say like I swear that I’ll get you back, and Instead of Saying G Damnit, I just say oh man, or obviously say like Oh my. The reason this concerns me, is I once asked a Priest at my church, but he was busy, so he told me If it seems wrong don’t do it. To me mentioning the Lords name is a sin unless you are spreading the word, or are praying

Please respond to this, because I have just became a Godfather to my niece, and her mom, my sister is considered Catholic, but still is never trying to improve her self, and my Job is to guide my Goddaught though Faith and do the righ thing

Taking an oath has nothing to do with taking the Lord’s name in vain. Please read the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the teachings on this. You are badly misinformed.

By the way lying is a sin whether it is under oath or not!!

 

[LilyM]

A) In the majority of jurisdictions people can and often do make a non religious affirmation if they wish, rather than taking an oath.

B) In my jurisdiction people can and do swear on other holy books. I vividly remember being sworn in as a lawyer and seeing a couple of copies of the Quran and the Tanakh (Hebrew Old Testament) that were provided alongside copies of the Bible.

C) The ‘truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ expression is a bit of flowery legal language, a bit like ‘give devise and bequeath’.

To take the phrase ‘the whole truth’ literally, you would have to tell the court everything you know to be true about any topic whatsoever, even things that are totally unrelated to the court proceedings!

Clearly you are not meant to lie, or x

he concern about atheists is silly, as lying under oath is in any event a crime and carries hefty punishment.

 

[LilyM]

A) In the majority of jurisdictions people can and often do make a non religious affirmation if they wish, rather than taking an oath.

B) In my jurisdiction people can and do swear on other holy books. I vividly remember being sworn in as a lawyer and seeing a couple of copies of the Quran and the Tanakh (Hebrew Old Testament) that were provided alongside copies of the Bible.

C) The ‘truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ expression is a bit of flowery legal language, a bit like ‘give devise and bequeath’.

To take the phrase ‘the whole truth’ literally, you would have to tell the court everything you know to be true about any topic whatsoever, even things that are totally unrelated to the court proceedings!

Clearly you are not meant to lie, or conceal anything that the questions demand you reveal. But the lawyers only need present sufficient evidence to either prove the case on the one hand or cast sufficient doubt on the other, and are not bound tomraise everything.

And lawyers do have opportunity to ask further questions of witnesses (either by re-examining or recalling them) if it is sufficiently important that they do so.

D) The concern about atheists is silly, as lying under oath is in any event a crime and carries hefty punishment.

 

[puzzleannie]

As I uderstand that if you are under oath, You must place your hand on a bible and swear to tell the truth so help me God. I have never been under oath, or plan on it, but I think that is wrong. First off to me saying" I swear to God" is misusing his name. So If it is OK to be put umder oath, can you refuse, cause it does not seem right to me. Plus It is unfair anyway, because athiests or none chistians are swearing on a book they don’t care about, and swearing to a God they don’t believe in. Just wondering what you all think about it

I don’t think in American courtrooms witnesses have sworn on a bible in years, and in any case, even back then those who objected to the practice were allowed to affirm rather than swear, no bible. Don’t think there is anything to discuss. There never was and is not now any Catholic objection to the practice.

 

[NonServiam]

Since the thread’s question has been answered already, it’s time for some comedy! Comedian George Carlin once remarked on the phenomenon of swearing on the Bible:

“Suppose the Bible they hand you to swear on is upside-down. Or backwards. Or both! And you swear to tell the truth on an upside-down backwards Bible. Would that count? Suppose the Bible they hand you is an old Bible and half the pages are missing. Suppose all they have is a Chinese Bible, in an American court! Or Braille Bible, and you’re not blind! Suppose they hand you an upside-down, backwards Chinese Braille Bible with half the pages missing! At what point does all of this stuff just break down and become just a lot of stupid [expletive] that somebody made up?”

He continues later on:

“Swearing to God doesn’t mean anything, swearing on the Bible doesn’t mean anything, you know why? Because Bible or no Bible, God or no God, if it suits their purposes, people are gonna lie in court. The police do it all the time. All the time. Yes they do. It’s part of their job to protect, to serve, and to commit perjury whenever it supports the state’s case. Swearing on the Bible is just one more way of controlling people and keeping them in line, and it’s one more thing that holds us back as a species.”