'So help me God' optional in Air Force honor oath

[Francois Jeopardy]

Source: AP


Oct 25, 5:33 PM EDT

'So help me God' optional in Air Force honor oath

By DAN ELLIOTT
Associated Press

DENVER (AP) -- Air Force Academy cadets are no longer required to say "so help me God" at the end of the Honor Oath, school officials said Friday.

The words were made optional after a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, that they violated the constitutional concept of religious freedom.

Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson said the change was made to respect cadets' freedom of religion.

The oath states, "We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore, I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably, so help me God."

Cadets are required to take the oath once a year, academy spokesman Maj. Brus Vidal said.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AF_ACADEMY_HONOR_OATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-25-15-41-39

[tomm2thumbs]

1. the courts have already moved that way, 'bout time the military figured it out

'swearing on the Bible' is so black-and-white TV-... one day they'll finally let the President swear on The U.S. Constitution instead of the Bible. Hope to see that in my lifetime.

[Journeyman]

4. John Q. Adams made his oath upon a copy of the Constitution. Teddy Roosevelt didn't use a Bible. . .

Franklin Pierce chose to "affirm" his oath rather than swear it before God.

The world is a complex, evolving entity, and it makes and remakes itself in a constant state of dissatisfaction.

[Journeyman]

2. If they pledge foremost to not lie, why must they repeat the pledge the next year? . . .

Does the Air Force not believe them when they first affirm their belief, or does the Cadet's honor slip over the summer?

[tomm2thumbs]

3. "So help me, me"

George Burns in 'Oh God'

[eggplant]

5. The Air Force Academy is in the heart of fundie territory. I'm surprised they agreed. n/t

[Paladin]

6. I agree. I'd have bet they'd be the last hold-outs.

The fundies are going to be so pissed about this.......

[MADem]

7. It always has been optional, per DOD, though some were not aware of it. I never used it.

I made sure anyone reading me an oath promoting me knew it, too.

It wasn't because of any "atheist agenda," either.

I just have strong feelings about the church-state separation thing. I think it's good that government entities remain secular. No one's joining the priesthood or a nunnery when they're taking that oath, after all....

[Indi Guy]

8. "We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does. Furthermore...

...I resolve to do my duty and to live honorably"

Hmmmmm... Can we get this pledge into Congress?

[valerief]

9. Wouldn't matter. They just make laws for themselves making them unaccountable for any

of their transgressions.