People have been swearing to God that they will keep their promises since they learned to speak and conceive of God. When public service came along in the course of civilization, swearing to God was a customary part of being sworn into office.
That wasn’t necessary in the newly founded United States. The Constitution, in fact, expressly declared that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public trust under the United States.” Oaths to God weren’t prohibited, however, and remained popular at many levels of government.
Until this fall New Jersey was among them. In response to an early October lawsuit, the state Division of Elections will quit requiring the word “God” in the oaths that political candidates swear to get their names placed on an election ballot.
The lawsuit had been brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit organization that since 1976 has advocated for atheists, agnostics and non-theists.
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State law requires office seekers to sign the New Jersey Oath of Allegiance. The foundation’s lawsuit said a Bergen County resident, who had run as a Libertarian in 2021, couldn’t run for office again because he could no longer in good conscience swear “so help me God.” The lawsuit argued an oath mentioning God violates the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Since a dozen states still require “so help me God” as part of the oath to public office — Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia — perhaps New Jersey could have successfully defended against the lawsuit. Instead it simply created an option for those who prefer no deity in their oaths.
In late October, the Division of Elections sent a memo to county clerks telling them to give candidates a swearing option — either the oath that includes “in the presence of Almighty God” and “so help me God,” or a solemn affirmation or declaration with no religious reference. “Such affirmation or declaration has the same force and effect as an oath,” according to the memo.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation praised the state for its quick response and filed to dismiss its lawsuit. “We were very pleased to see the state has essentially agreed with our complaint and our legal concerns,” Samantha Lawrence, a legal fellow at the foundation, told New Jersey Monitor.
The state has come a long way since its founding. In 1776, New Jersey didn’t just require swearing to God, the state constitution specified certain religious beliefs and practices as qualifying a person for public office: “No Protestant inhabitant of this Colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil right, merely on account of his religious principles; but that all persons, professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect, who shall demean themselves peaceably under the government, as hereby established, shall be capable of being elected into any office of profit or trust, or being a member of either branch of the Legislature.”
The advice of the savior of the Protestants seems to be at odds with political candidates swearing to God. In Matthew 5:34, Jesus tells his listeners “to not swear oaths” — don’t swear oaths and make promises they are unable or unlikely to keep.
Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher most widely known for saying that God is dead and humans have killed him, suggested this oath: “If I am now lying, I am no longer a decent human being and anyone may tell me so to my face.”
We think politicians today aren’t much worried about being told they’re indecent, even to their face.
Oaths, of course, like all promises are only as reliable as the person making them and the future allows. Better principles, self-understanding and honesty make them more credible.
God or no God in them, oaths today are easily sworn and broken. That damages human trust, which is essential to social organization, and we should promise to do better as soon as we’re capable.