I don't think there are any American courtrooms that demand one "swears on a bible" -as far as I know, you can just simply swear or affirm to tell the truth. No superstition or mythical text required.
Legally is atheism a religion?
- Thread starter lightgigantic
- Start date
I don't think there are any American courtrooms that demand one "swears on a bible" -as far as I know, you can just simply swear or affirm to tell the truth. No superstition or mythical text required.
This isn't an attempt to establish theism as the default position, as in born theistic, is it?
When did atheism become illegal? Are you trying to invoke some universal law stating that non belief in a deity is a felony?
There is no belief requirement to be an atheist. All that is needed is to deny your claim that your fa nasty of "allah" has any basis in fact.
Granted some atheist do go the extra mile and say "allah," as fantasized by people like you, is categorically impossible. But they still don't believe anything about the matter.
They only ask you "will you tell the truth" without "so help you God" after it.
No, they don't demand it. But to a jury in many American towns, you are gonna look mighty suspicious if you don't.
I dont think so, but if you go looking for incidents you can find anything.
Some people are naturally defensive and usually this stems from a personal issue then there are those who enjoy being a 'victim'. This is from what i have seen and is not restricted to a belief system.
What if you tell them you follow Jesus, who is reported to have said, "...take no oaths, let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no."?
Seems very unlikely.
Most anti-religious speeches are true.
There is no law against you feeling butt-hurt because you don't like hearing about reality.
I call bullshit.
Sorry, it was Arkansas:
Article 19, section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution: Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness.
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.
Will need to check where I read about jury duty.
edit:
Here,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/texas.htm
Article 19, section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution: Atheists disqualified from holding office or testifying as witness.
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court.
Will need to check where I read about jury duty.
edit:
Here,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/texas.htm
There were several states that didn't allow atheists to hold public office. Don't know if its still true. I would like they would have been struck by now.
Texas: Article 1, Section 4.
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/txconst/sect...
Tennessee: Article 9, Section 2.
http://www.tncrimlaw.com/law/constit/IX....
Arkansas: Article 19, Section 1
http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/data/const...
North Carolina: Article 6, Section 8.
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/s...
Texas: Article 1, Section 4.
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/txconst/sect...
Tennessee: Article 9, Section 2.
http://www.tncrimlaw.com/law/constit/IX....
Arkansas: Article 19, Section 1
http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/data/const...
North Carolina: Article 6, Section 8.
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/s...
The Buddhist, traditional Navajo, Taoist, and a few other brands of atheist are members of legally recognized religions in the US.SAM said:
The Catholic priests who are atheist are also members of a legally recognized religion. So are some Jewish atheists, Quaker atheists, and the like.
From that link:
S.A.M.'s link said:
I.e., it's been 48 years now since ALL such state laws were overturned by SCOTUS.
This is an important one too:
Duelists holding office
Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel, or knowingly be the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge for that purpose, or be an aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this State, and shall be punished otherwise, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe.
Duelists holding office
Any person who shall, after the adoption of this Constitution, fight a duel, or knowingly be the bearer of a challenge to fight a duel, or send or accept a challenge for that purpose, or be an aider or abettor in fighting a duel, shall be deprived of the right to hold any office of honor or profit in this State, and shall be punished otherwise, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe.
Ah, so now they do have atheists swearing in for jury duty? Government service?
Doesn't the Quran promote atheist hate speech?
Then, there should be a law banning the Quran.
Yes, that has uniformly been the case for close to 50 years now (and was the norm prior to that).