For over two hundred years, men and women have sworn upon the Bible before taking public office. Both Christian and non-Christian, religious and non-religious alike have sworn upon the Bible before taking public office. Even Jews, who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, have sworn upon the Bible. Yet now, after two hundred years, someone has rejected this tradition and is trying to modify a national, very symbolic, tradition for their personal preference.
The first question that comes to my mind is why did the Founding Fathers decide this was something that needed to be done. It is reasonable to imagine that the Founding Father could have sworn upon any written work. It is also reasonable to even imagine that the written work upon which they would swear would be the U.S. Constitution, the document to which they would be responsible to uphold. As it turned out though, they chose the Bible. Why? I suppose it is because they believed that it represented something integral to the success and future of the nation. That would be the reason for someone to swear an oath, wouldn’t it? To make a most solemn vow to uphold a set of values and principles vital to the longevity of the organization to which one is becoming a member.
They must have believed that the Bible was the embodiment of principles and ideas that would preserve the future of the nation. I believe this was made all the more clear when George Washington started the tradition of adding, “So help me God” to the Oath of Office. To this day, individuals still honor that tradition by continuing to add that phrase.
Today the nation is faced with the fact that a member of Congress for the first time in history will swear upon a book other than the Bible. What his act indicates is that the individual will be swearing to live by and be accountable to different principles and ideas, the ideas and principles of the Koran. The Koran represents different ideas and principles than those America has held to for the past two hundred years. Where the ideas of Christianity have been allowed to fully flourish, freedom has followed. Where the ideas of Islam have been allowed to fully flourish, oppression has followed.
Some might say that requiring one to swear upon a book they do not believe in is wrong. I agree, that’s why I believe if the individual finds it too objectionable that he should abstain from being sworn in as an U.S. Congressman. This nation was not founded upon random principles and ideas. Rather it was founded upon the ideas and principles hidden for centuries within the pages of the Bible. The Founders took the time to identify these principles and find ways to incorporate them into the workings of government. They also knew that apart from these principles that the nation would eventually fall to the wayside of history as every other nation before it.
Our laws were formed upon the ideas of Blackstone, who used the Bible as his ultimate reference when proving the legitimacy of laws. The Founding Fathers derived the main principles of our government from Locke, who references the Bible in his Two Treatises of Government over 1,500 times. They used biblical principles to form our government, right down to the tri-branch design (Isaiah 33:22).
Apart from the ideas and principles of the Bible, this country cannot continue to exist. Despite the liberties Christian principles have afforded this nation, there will always be those within this country who do not believe or agree with Christianity. Yet if this nation ever tries to forgo her explicitly Christian heritage, she will be as good as gone.
What this swearing in will be is the open declaration to the world that we are a nation which no longer requires our representatives to hold themselves accountable to the ideas and principles upon which she was founded.
Others also say that this is a public endorsement of religion by government. Again, I refer back to the Founding Fathers, who understood living under state regulated religions better than most in this nation. They set up one of the first governments in history that did not require any man or woman to profess faith, yet they began the American tradition of public servants swearing upon the Bible. Anyone in this nation can profess to any faith and the government does not regulate this. This is freedom of religion. Yet to protect those freedoms for all, the Founding Fathers believed that an individual should swear to uphold specific American ideas and principles derived from the Bible, which protect all the other freedoms. This does not violate anyone’s freedom of religion, rather it insures that it will endure for generations to come.