posted on October 21, 2001 09:24:24 PM new
I make the most typos right before dinner when Chris is waiting and also often when I'm engaged in several conversations at once. For one thing, soldiers are no longer the state upon entry to service, they are the property of the state; but be that as it may be I'm sure that whatever oath involved was placed to satisfy the preferences of some religious opportunist. Courts have ruled several times that a personal oath made voluntarily or under duress does not have a thing to do with any requirement of worship as used in the 1st amendment. That's why this whole exchange is irrelevant even though irreverent, and should explain my giving it no serious consideration whatsoever.
posted on October 21, 2001 11:07:24 PM new
"So Help Me God" was the phrase added by
George Washington took the Oath of Office
at the First Inauguration on April 30, 1789
with his hand on an Holy Bible opened to
Deuteronomy 28:1.
After the Oath prescribed by our Constitution, Washington bent over
and kissed the Bible.
posted on October 22, 2001 07:01:32 AM newHi saabsister - While your husband doesn't remember exactly (I can understand that - it was a long time ago) I would bet that the oath all service men/women have taken/still take included the same wording. Can't see any reason to not have had the word 'God' not be in the oath then, but be there now. And on the issue of being able to say the oath differenctly, I agree with Fred, and our son also stated, that there was only one place you could change your oath, and it didn't include eliminating the word 'God'. 'Course if someone proved it has changed... But I don't believe that to be the case.
AirForce huh? As a young girl I always wished I could become a flier. Wasn't an option for girls then.
Hi Fred Thanks for verifing what I was saying about our country's history and use of the word God and the oath our military uses.
In gravid's url about the 'In God We Trust' issue, seems the issue has been challenged.
One of the first legal actions to challenge religious sloganeering of this type was made in 1978 by American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair. In the case of MADALYN MURRAY O'HAIR et al. v. W. MICHAEL BLUMENTHAL, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY, et al. (462 F. Supp. 19 -- W.D. Tex 1978), the court opined: "Its use is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of religious exercise."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reached a similar conclusion in the 1970 case ARONOW v. UNITED STATES. Subsequent cases also fell short, even though they argued that the motto clearly encouraged religion and made a statement about god and theology.
