That an oath makes a difference in one's inherent attitude toward telling the truth.
As to murder - there are two broad categories of crimes: Those that are morally wrong (that moral people would not commit regardless of the laws - murder, theft, etc.) and those that are wrong because we declare them by law to be wrong (failing to file a tax return, speeding, etc.)
I would agree with your assessment as to the latter category - because there is nothing inherently immoral in driving above a certain speed (for example), but not the former - because most people have a reasonable moral compass that would prevent them from killing others (aside from situations like self-defense) or stealing from others. In the former category, the laws merely encapsulate those standards most of us inherently follow - and are are only intended to be a deterrent (or a means to separate from society) those who have lost their moral compass.
On a side note - I find it very surprising the number of individuals who identify as Christian who believe that if churches suddenly vanished there would be mass lawlessness. They really seem to think that it is this voluntary submission via weekly church services to a God-enforcer that prevents people from raping, murdering, etc. It's pretty scary if they believe that of themselves, and shows a serious lack of logical thinking if they think their fello church-goers would behave that differently from them (since obviously churches vanishing would have no impact on the behavior of non-church-goers.)
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