The oath taken by military members has been pretty much the same since the founding of the United States of America.
“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).
But as America turns away from God, it becomes difficult to establish by what authority an oath is binding. The reason people have invoked the name of God in everything from marriage to court testimony to enlistment in the military was because He would hold you accountable.
The US Air Force has told a sergeant he will have to leave the military unless he agrees to take an oath with the phrase “so help me God,” officials said Tuesday. The Air Force is bound by law to administer the oath as outlined by congress, they do not have the authority to change the oath in any way.
The atheist airman last month was denied his request to re-enlist because of his refusal to swear the oath as required by the law and he is now poised to take the military to court, his lawyer said.
“We have not received word from the Air Force regarding our letter. It has not indicated a willingness to settle out of court,” said Monica Miller, an attorney for the American Humanist Association, which has taken up the service member’s case.
With the deadline for re-enlisting expiring in November, the technical sergeant at Creech Air Force base in Nevada — whose name has not been released — will be forced to sue the government in a federal court.
In the past, an airman could opt for an alternative phrase and omit the words “so help me God,” but the US Air Force changed its policy in October 2013 to agree with the law.
The other branches of the American military do not require the reference to God and make the phrase optional even though the Uniform Code of Military Justice by law does not provide for such an option.
“This is the only branch to my knowledge that’s actually requiring everyone in all instances to use the religious language,” Miller said. “The government cannot compel a nonbeliever to take an oath that affirms the existence of a supreme being,” she said.
Yet the United States, once a solidly Christian nation, has required it for the last 200 plus years.
The battle continues for the hearts and minds of America. The question becomes whose faith will we embrace? The God fearing or the godless.
