Posted on 11/14/2012 2:33:15 PM PST by TaraP
President Barack Obama will be taking the oath of office for the second time on Jan. 21, 2013. And atheists want him to do so without mentioning "God" and without a Bible. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent Obama a letter following his re-election, asking him to reject the way "this country politicizes religion."
"When you stand to reaffirm your oath, do so using the language of the Founders. Eliminate the religious verbiage. While you're at it, why not place your hand on the Constitution instead of a bible?" FFRF attorney Andrew L. Seidel wrote in the letter.
The words "so help me God" are not included in the oath as prescribed by the Constitution, the organization argues. The Constitution also does not require the president to place his hand on a Bible when taking oath, FFRF adds.
When Obama took office in 2009, he repeated after Justice John Roberts: "I, Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God."
FFRF argues that "so help me God" violates the Constitution as it alienates the nonreligious, which the organization believes is the future of America.
Some are taking odds that he’ll use a Koran for the swearing- in.
“So help me Allah...”
Praying to Satan never ends well.
I quoted the Founders’ words. If you have an argument with the wording, take it up with them.
What is shameful about honesty?
Obama's god is not the God of Israel.
His party is not the party of God...and Jerusalem is not his party's capital of Israel.
Obama should put his hand on the Koran. And let's be done with it.
He is the Mahdi (or a Mahdi wannabe).
Let's bring it out into the open.
Let's take the lid off this travesty. The truth sets us all free...even those who have been lying.
‘So help me, Allah’ would be more appropriate in the case of Omuslim.
Yes, because asking someone to help you keep a promise and blowing up buildings in someone’s name are exactly the same thing.
Yep, Christians/Jews following Yahweh are the equivalent threat that Muslims following Muhammed/Allah are.
And teenage Asian females cause as much trouble in public schools as teenage black males.
I hope he says it and God does help him. Whether zero likes the form of help he gets or not.
I know! I mean, those atheists burning Protestants at the stake and drowning witches... theocracies are benign and full of rainbows and butterflies.
First, using your logic, I can assume that since you are an Australian, you are a convicted felon banished to that disntant isle, right? Second, now you are comparing saying 'so help me God' to killing people. You really need help in the analogy department. Your hate of God is corrupting your ability to think clearly.
Right, banished felon I am, and so it would be wrong for me to see the slippery slope in theological matters which lead to the nadir of theocracy ... something that has never happened in history before, and why Thomas Jefferson took the extra care to avoid. Excuse me while I go back and bury my head in the sand...
As for the ability to think, has it ever occurred to you that you might be severely lacking in that faculty yourself, with all the dogma you’ve assumed without inquiry? I never said private statements of affirmation of faith in dogma are by themselves harmful, but your earlier statement about why atheists need not be bothered by something they do not believe in is just laughable. It’s not god that atheists are worried about - just what its followers do in its name.
Because they can't ignore the fact that WE exist.
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