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What does an honest Atheist do in court ?

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tmaromine

Member
From what I know, if one goes into a court room, one must swear to an oath of 'truth under God' or something of that sort, right ?

What does an honest Athiest do ? One wouldn't just get sent to jail if they say otherwise.

This perplexes me. . . And I can't think of a possible answer really.

I do know that the use of "God" in the government has been more or less been disposed of, such as the 'Ten Commandments', and 'under God' in money, yes ?


So, the judge says some thing like, "...Do you swear under God to speak the truth and only the truth..."

I reply, "Not under God."

What comes next ?

( I have little knowledge on anything with 'God' and the US government, so any correcting is much welcomed; I want the truth.)
 
Booko

Booko

Deviled Hen
tmaromine said:
From what I know, if one goes into a court room, one must swear to an oath of 'truth under God' or something of that sort, right ?
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That's only on teevee, tmaromine. Courts don't make anyone swear on a book. Not even in the Bible Belt. :)
 
T

tmaromine

Member
Booko said:
That's only on teevee, tmaromine. Courts don't make anyone swear on a book. Not even in the Bible Belt. :)
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Oh, wow, really ? Well... Shorter answer than I'd figured. :rolleyes:

I've a 'Youth & Government' trip coming up in a week, where I get to go to the state capital for three days and learn actual things about the government and stuff. There I shall get to see an actual court case or two, so... I guess I'll get to see off-TV. :)
 
Booko

Booko

Deviled Hen
Katzpur said:
Are you serious? I thought they did!:shrug:
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Well, I never saw a Bible in the courtroom the 6 times I was on jury duty here in Georgia. And people have left posts here on RF that it's the same where they are. Even Texas. :)
 
Booko

Booko

Deviled Hen
tmaromine said:
Oh, wow, really ? Well... Shorter answer than I'd figured. :rolleyes:
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Yeah, well you know how Hollywood is. Their depicions and real life often have little to do with each other. :D

I've a 'Youth & Government' trip coming up in a week, where I get to go to the state capital for three days and learn actual things about the government and stuff. There I shall get to see an actual court case or two, so... I guess I'll get to see off-TV. :)
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Ah, that should be fun, then. I remember when we had the assignment of sitting in on some court cases. It's much different than teevee shows. A lot more boring paper shuffling goes on, and if you're on the jury, you see even less, because the judge sends the jury out sometimes while the lawyers argue about what evidence should be admitted and so forth.

I rather hope that they'll leave me a lone and not call me for jury duty again. I think I've done my bit already. I know almost no one else who's been called at all, and here I'm up to 6 already. :rolleyes:
 
Booko

Booko

Deviled Hen
ALifetimeToWaitFor.... said:
does the statement you have to say go "do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and only truth so help you god?"
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Nope. No mention of God at all.

On a vaguely related note, I'm a poll manager here in Georgia as well, and before we open the polls we have to swear in the clerks and assisstant managers (and ourselves).

No mention of God there either.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I know you have to swear to tell the truth, but if it's on the Bible or not, I don't know. I'll have to call my mom and ask her. Or maybe it's different for jury members?
 
Lindsey-Loo

Lindsey-Loo

Steel Magnolia
I've a 'Youth & Government' trip coming up in a week, where I get to go to the state capital for three days and learn actual things about the government and stuff. There I shall get to see an actual court case or two, so... I guess I'll get to see off-TV. :)
Click to expand...

Wow, really, you do Youth in Government, too? I go to the middle school ones, they're really, really fun, especially if you have friends going.

As for the swearing to tell the truth thing, I seriously thought that you had to swear on the Bible to tell the truth! Now I am really sad, because I have been wrong about that my whole life.
 
doppelganger

doppelganger

Through the Looking Glass
Luke Wolf said:
I know you have to swear to tell the truth, but if it's on the Bible or not, I don't know. I'll have to call my mom and ask her. Or maybe it's different for jury members?
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I practice in Texas and I've never seen anyone have to swear on a Bible in court. In fact, I've only once ever seen a Bible in court. There's a funny, though difficult to tell story, behind why it was there.

The legal effect of "swearing" an oath in court is to agree to make one's self subject to the laws of perjury. Even if the word "god" is ocassionally used, it has nothing to do with religion.
 
T

tmaromine

Member
Anade said:
Wow, really, you do Youth in Government, too? I go to the middle school ones, they're really, really fun, especially if you have friends going.

As for the swearing to tell the truth thing, I seriously thought that you had to swear on the Bible to tell the truth! Now I am really sad, because I have been wrong about that my whole life.
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The 'teacher-board' (I guess one could call them) chose some of the best students to go on the trip, which is just eight. So that is me, and the other seven are pretty much friends. :) It's this coming Sunday; I can't wait! :D

Well, I guess that's just another way the TV lies. :rolleyes: I can't wait till I get to go to an actual court case on the trip.
 
Lindsey-Loo

Lindsey-Loo

Steel Magnolia
The 'teacher-board' (I guess one could call them) chose some of the best students to go on the trip, which is just eight. So that is me, and the other seven are pretty much friends. :) It's this coming Sunday; I can't wait! :D

Well, I guess that's just another way the TV lies. :rolleyes: I can't wait till I get to go to an actual court case on the trip.
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Yeah, I guess so. Geez, I feel stupid now, though!!! It's the same thing in my school, our gifted counselor picks ppl to go, but we bring about 15 people from each grade, and don't do court cases. We have Model United Nations and Youth Legislature. It's great, I hope you have fun! And figure out if they make ppl swear on anything, or not.
 
T

tmaromine

Member
Anade said:
Yeah, I guess so. Geez, I feel stupid now, though!!! It's the same thing in my school, our gifted counselor picks ppl to go, but we bring about 15 people from each grade, and don't do court cases. We have Model United Nations and Youth Legislature. It's great, I hope you have fun! And figure out if they make ppl swear on anything, or not.
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My school has one of the teacher's husband's company donate money for us to go, they'er congenial enoguh to even give each of us eight 30$ extra! :)
Model UN and Youth Legislature ? Sounds like the type of governemt stuff I'd love experience! I'll be sure to have fun, and will remember to pay close attention to what occurs in the court room.
 
P

pladecalvo

Member
In the UK you may choose whether you swear an oath on the bible or take what I think is called a 'civil oath'. This means that you just say "I promise to tell the truth".
 
T

tmaromine

Member
pladecalvo said:
In the UK you may choose whether you swear an oath on the bible or take what I think is called a 'civil oath'. This means that you just say "I promise to tell the truth".
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Interesting to know.

Well, I still shall find out, for my trip was rescheduled to March 4 due to weather... I need to recreate my excitement that I had. :rolleyes:
 
Terrywoodenpic

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
pladecalvo said:
In the UK you may choose whether you swear an oath on the bible or take what I think is called a 'civil oath'. This means that you just say "I promise to tell the truth".
Click to expand...


That is called to affirm....
 
A

azza

Member
pladecalvo said:
In the UK you may choose whether you swear an oath on the bible or take what I think is called a 'civil oath'. This means that you just say "I promise to tell the truth".
Click to expand...

Same for Aussie and NZ as well.
 
Fluffy

Fluffy

A fool
When you are in court, you won't care what you are swearing by. You just want to get it over with as quickly as possible whilst kicking up the least amount of fuss. I would have given the oath because that is what everybody gives and I had no interest in being different for the sake of it in that particular situation.
 
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