Swearing Atheism
I’ve never held high political office, or low political office for that matter, but I’ve noticed that when people who assume key political positions are sworn in they typically have to place their hand on a bible and swear to faithfully fulfill the duties and responsibilities of their offices, “so help me God.”
Here’s my question: I’m an atheist. If I win a senior political job, when it comes time to swear to fulfill my responsibilities and not do anything that contravenes the laws of the land, instead of a bible, can I place my hand on a copy of The Origin of Species and conclude my oath with, “so help me Darwin?”
Categorised as: religion
You probably can, but it would be simpler to just affirm, which has always been an option since the founding of the US.
Brian: Thanks for the info.
love how you think! good question! and i’m agnostic…what do i put my hand on and swear to?
Mona: As an agnostic, you should not know know what to put your hand on and swear to, and you should believe that no one can ever know that. As an atheist, I believe it would be nonsensical to put my hand on a bible and swear to God. The Origin of Species and Darwin make more sense to me.
I think you can swear on any old imaginary friend of your choosing. Me, I’d go with Ike the Viking. (I like the hat.)
Bex: That should come in handy. I think I’d swear on the tooth fairy should the need ever arise. She’s stopped bringing me money — thankfully, I haven’t lost any teeth for a few decades — but I loved her when I was a kid and it would be nice to have her visit me again.
Ha! Great question. Personally, I’d choose Woody Allen.
Chowner: Shame on you for taking Woody’s name in vain!
Thanks to the JWs, you don’t need to swear an oath.
I’d recommend swearing on your wedding ring or something similar- Origin of Species is not as constant. We keep on improving it.
Samuel: How about if, rather than swearing on something, I just swear? That would make things interesting.
I am agnostic myself. I think it would be worthless to swear on a book that I don’t believe in. I mean, that’s kindda like lying, right?
Marcuss: Lying? I don’t know. You’re still swearing to tell the truth. Pointless? Absolutely. If you’re an agnostic or an atheist (I’m the latter) you might as well swear on a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It amounts to the same thing.
To affirm, you typically just raise your right hand and make whatever the statement is, using “affirm” instead of “swear”, and no gods mentioned at the end.
Brian: Gee, I kind of liked the idea of swearing “so help me Darwin,” particularly on this, the 200th anniversary of his birth.