Why do witnesses swear on the bible

Constitution denies the government any authority to coerce a person into performing a religious act, including swearing oaths on a bible. If being sworn in for a jury, or attesting to the accuracy of a document before a notary public, or as part of a government job, speak to the person administering the oath yourself. If, after you have made the person administering the oath aware of your preference, the person refuses to allow you to give an affirmation, please let us know by submitting an incident report to the American Atheists Legal Center.

Strong , 4 Day 51 Conn. Amling , 53 Md. Whitney , 56 Mass. Griddley , 18 Johns. Milligan , 10 Ohio , As they swear the oath, the witness will be asked to place their hand on the religious book that binds their conscience, most commonly the Bible.

Everyone testifying in a court case must promise to tell the truth, but in Canada today witnesses are not obligated to swear an oath on the Bible. In the past Canadian courts saw some unusual forms of oaths. This eNews explores the variety of oaths that have been sworn in BC courts and the modern alternatives.

A witness may swear an oath on the holy book that binds their conscience. BC courthouses are equipped with Bibles and may have other books of faith, depending on the location. People whose consciences are bound by a holy book other than the Bible may swear an oath on that book or they may affirm - make a non-religious promise to tell the truth. If a person wishes to take an oath on a book of faith other than the Bible they should speak to the lawyer who will be calling them as a witness.

The lawyer should enquire whether the Court Registry has the desired book, and if not, make necessary arrangements to obtain the book and bring it to court. If a lawyer is not involved, a witness who wishes to bring their own holy book or use a different form of oath should tell the Court Registry about it at least two weeks before the trial.

However, a judge may require a person to affirm in certain circumstances - if the judge decides it is not reasonably practicable to administer an oath to the witness in the manner appropriate to their religious beliefs without inconvenience or delay. See section 20 3 of the BC Evidence Act. An affirmation is just as acceptable in court as an oath. An unnamed thirteenth-century Latin manuscript, now held in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, sets out the method and the significance of the act.

By placing a hand on the book and then kissing it, the oath-taker is acknowledging that, should he lie under oath, neither the words in the Bible nor his good deeds nor his prayers will bring him any earthly or spiritual profit. In time, this became standard legal procedure—all witnesses swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth—and made its way into American courts.

In such cases, no book is used. The tradition of using a book during the oath of office is borrowed from the courts, which explains in part why the Bible is the most frequently chosen text. The swearing-in ceremony transforms the oath into a public, secular commitment: a verbal contract between the oath-taker and the nation rather than between an individual and God.

But the oath book tips the balance back toward the individual, allowing her to profess her personal—usually religious—values through both the text on which she chooses to swear and the copy of the text that she uses.

The majority of Presidents have sworn in on their own Bible or on a family Bible, and over a particular page rather than over a closed book. Isaiah and the Psalms are popular choices; Franklin D. At the same time, the book emphasizes the public and the performed aspects of the oath, making visual and physical what would otherwise be only verbal. This physicality is twofold: the physical object the book and the physical display on the part of the oath-taker.

The Constitution, representing the whole nation, offers a even neater overlap. Other texts pose more of a problem. Cue much conservative hand-wringing: the oath text became a focus for people troubled by the idea of having a Muslim in the House of Representatives.