If an atheist goes to court, does his swearing to the Bible count?

Answer 1

In my state, people do not swear on the Bible in court nor do they say "so help me God." The oath used in my state is: "Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is true, under penalty of perjury." People do still swear on the Bible if they wish when they are sworn into an elected office.

Answer 2

First of all, if an atheist appeared in court, and did not wish to swear on the Bible, they would make an "affirmation", rather than an oath. However, if they proceeded to take the oath with their hand on the Bible, then the oath would be binding.

In legal terminology, an "oath" and an "affirmation" are not the same thing. An oath is a promise to tell the truth with one's hand on the bible or another religious icon (in many states, if you are not Christian, you may ask to swear on the sacred text of your particular religion).

An "affirmation" is specifically the non-religious equivalent of the oath. You do not place your hand upon the bible when you make an "affirmation." As a matter of constitutional law, a court must accept either an oath or an affirmation as absolutely equivalent: they cannot discriminate against you in any way because you choose to make an affirmation rather than an oath.

As David said, in many states they will now simply ask: "Do you swear or affirm...."

Interesting trivia: When making an affirmation, it is customary to raise one's right hand into the air with the palm open. This is an extremely old custom. In the middle ages, before centralized criminal records existed, courts would signify a felony conviction by branding the guilty party in various places (including the fleshy part of the right hand) with a small letter or symbol to signify the person's crime. (For example, "T" would mean "thief"). Then, as now, felons were disqualified from giving testimony under oath. By raising their right hand, a person would show that they were free of branding marks, and therefore able to legally give testimony.

Answer 3

Atheists don't swear on the bible, they just affirm they will tell the truth. Seems plenty of Christians have no problem swearing on a bible and lying anyway.

Answer 4

As an atheist I would refuse to swear on a bible. Fortunately I have not yet had to test how that would go.
Bring me a periodic table of the elements and I will swear on that.

Answer 5

The witness is legally required to uphold the oath taken. The bible part of it is ceremonial and irrelevent.

If I ever had to testify though, I'd have trouble with the oath itself. How can you swear to tell "the whole truth" when you're strictly limited to answering only the questions asked of you?

Answer 6

David's answer is typical of most States these days.

One bit of trivia...... Under English common law (Which is the basis for all American law) anyone who was "forsworn", ie who was known to have lied under oath in the past, could not be sworn in before testifying. They would testify unsworn, and the jury would be advised of why. This practice didn't make it into American practice, though. (I wish it had, knowing some of the lying scumbags that have no problem swearing before they take the stand and lie through their teeth.)

Richard

Answer 7

The bible only serves as an indication for the oath taker, (passed on from those Christians who believed in God and founded this country), that they agree to keep to the truth and understand the consequences if they do not.

Answer 8

The thing is that christians don't swear either, so the terms that are used include : Do you solemnly swear or affirm" This takes care of all the angles.

Answer 9

I have testified in four federal proceedings, none of which used a Bible for either atheists or the faithful. I simply told officials ahead of time that I was atheist and to please affirm me rather than swear me. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Answer 10

They generally don't swear on the Bible, they affirm to tell the truth.