If the US has separation of church and state, why do you have to swear on a bible when testifying ??
And what if your a Jew or Muslim...?? Same result...??
Answers:
If you are a Muslim, you get to swear on the Koran.
There is some deal about how any human being may look at the Bible, or the holy works of any religion, but only a Muslim my touch the Koran, because it is not just the word of God that is holy, it is also the paper the word is written on, so I do not know how the court system is supposed to store Koran between use ... I mean it might be sacriligious if it is in a closet gathering dust, being sniffed by the local rodents and insects.
What separation of church and state signifies is that the government is not supposed to establish a religion ... the people have freedom of religion.
If you ever visit a nation where this is not so, which is many nations in the world, you will appreciate what we have.
In some nations it is a death sentence if you are not of the right religion. Even in some secular nations, you can go to jail for having christian cross jewelry.
There are some US laws banning discrimination against people on the basis of religion ... I think some of them make an exception for Athiests ... in other words it is Ok to discriminate against a person if they have no religion, but if a person is a member of some religion ... Satanist, Wicca, Druid, no matter how weird to some people, illegal to discriminate against them because they are of that religion.
We shouldn't have to swear on a bible. It has always seemed wrong to me.
Because in America we have freedom of religion, not freedom FROM religion.
The Founding Fathers founded this country on Judeo-Christian values. If muslims had founded the country, then our politicians would swear on the Koran.
noone swears on bible any more except congress men and Ithink it should be chaged to constution and bill of rights
One does not need to swear in on a Bible. You are free to use whichever book you believe in. Most of our elected officials are Christians (or CLAIM to be Christians), so the Bible has become standard procedure for elected officials.
Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim in the House of Representatives, set off a firestorm when he announced that he would take his oath of office with his hand on a Quran rather than on a Bible.
Forcing one to swear upon the Bible who does not view it as sacred would undermine the whole purpose of taking an oath in the first place. The unbelieving person might as well take his oath on a phone book or a bowl of spaghetti.
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You don't have to.
You can affirm that the statement you're giving is the truth without the Bible. It's completely the option of the deponent or witness being sworn in.
go to the same jail too? they ran out of jails!
You don't swear on a bible anymore that's just in the movies. You just raise your right hand.
You don't. Bibles are used only by choice, usually in being sworn in to elected or appointed office. This last congressional term saw the first muslim elected to Congress sworn in on a copy of the Quran.
The last 3 times I was sworn in (Air Force, appointed interim city treasurer and jury) I was just asked to raise my right hand and "...solenmly swear or affirm.." my oath of office.
A religious text was an option, which I declined, only for the appointed city position.
Though I don't remember the exact words, the Bible says,
"Do not swear upon me or anything in Heaven, say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no"
I am a Christian, but would have a hard time with swearing on a Bible because of that verse.
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