Oaths and Affirmations... U.S.Presidency

[teeboy]

Per the Sermon on the Mount, a disciple should not swear or take oaths.

Did Obama take an Oath or an affirmation on Sunday?

 

[runningdude]

There are also many interpretations of what Jesus meant by prohibiting “oaths”. Merely using the word “oath” in a solemn promise is not necessarily prohibited.

However, the constitution allows either an oath or affirmation to accommodate the president-elect’s religious beliefs. The president can “swear” or “affirm” his commitment to uphold the constitution.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

The Church has never taught that Christians should avoid all civil oaths, although some radical protestant churches do. That is why the Constitution allows us to “affirm” rather than “swear.”

Avoid the protestant error of taking Bible verses out of context.

See the Catechism:

"2149 Oaths which misuse God’s name, though without the intention of blasphemy, show lack of respect for the Lord. The second commandment also forbids magical use of the divine name.

[God's] name is great when spoken with respect for the greatness of his majesty. God's name is holy when said with veneration and fear of offending him.80

II. TAKING THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN

2150 The second commandment forbids false oaths. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one’s own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord’s name. "You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve him, and swear by his name."81

2151 Rejection of false oaths is a duty toward God. As Creator and Lord, God is the norm of all truth. Human speech is either in accord with or in opposition to God who is Truth itself. When it is truthful and legitimate, an oath highlights the relationship of human speech with God’s truth. A false oath calls on God to be witness to a lie.

2152 A person commits perjury when he makes a promise under oath with no intention of keeping it, or when after promising on oath he does not keep it. Perjury is a grave lack of respect for the Lord of all speech. Pledging oneself by oath to commit an evil deed is contrary to the holiness of the divine name.

2153 In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained the second commandment: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all. . . . Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one."82 Jesus teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God’s presence and his truth must be honored in all speech. Discretion in calling upon God is allied with a respectful awareness of his presence, which all our assertions either witness to or mock.

2154 Following St. Paul,83 the tradition of the Church has understood Jesus’ words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reasons (for example, in court). "An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice."84

2155 The holiness of the divine name demands that we neither use it for trivial matters, nor take an oath which on the basis of the circumstances could be interpreted as approval of an authority unjustly requiring it. When an oath is required by illegitimate civil authorities, it may be refused. It must be refused when it is required for purposes contrary to the dignity of persons or to ecclesial communion.""

 

[Glacies]

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) notes that as St. Paul made oaths in his Epistles it can be allowed in some cases, while St. Jerome of Stridon (347-420) says Christ does not forbid swearing by God specifically in Matthew 5:33-37. The Church Herself allows specific vows and oaths for the 1983 Code of Canon Law has legislation concerning them. (Cann. 1191-1204)

From the Catena Aurea of St. Thomas Aquinas:

Aug., cont. Faust., xix, 23: Therefore in his writings, as writing allows of greater circumspection, the Apostle is found to have used an oath in several places, that none might suppose that there is any direct sin in swearing what is true; but only that our weak hearts are better preserved from perjury by abstaining from all swearing whatever.

Jerome: Lastly, consider that the Saviour does not here forbid to swear by God, but by the Heaven, the Earth, by Jerusalem, by a man’s head. For this evil practice of swearing by the elements the Jews had always, and are thereof often accused in the prophetic writings. For he who swears, shew either reverence or love for that by which he swears. Thus when the Jews swore by the Angels, by the city of Jerusalem, by the temple and the elements, they paid to the creature the honour and worship belonging to God; for it is commanded in the Law that we should not swear but by the Lord our God.