Oath of office – Bible or Quran?

For nearly four centuries the oath taking process in America consisted of raising your right hand and placing your left hand on the Bible then saying, ‘…so help me God.’ The oath taking process appears in four separate places in U.S. Constitution: Article I, Section 3; Article II, Section 1; Article VI; and Amendment IV. The scriptural origin of this process to speak the truth and swear by His name ‘…so help me God [not allah]’ can be found in the Bible [not the Quran], (Ezekiel 20:15, 23), (Isaiah 62:8) and (Deuteronomy 10:20).

Our Founding Fathers who framed the Constitution believed the oath process was a religious activity.

• James Madison stated: “An oath-the strongest of religious [Christian] ties…”
• Thomas Jefferson was responsible for writing Virginia’s laws, he required every elected official to put his hand on the Bible [not the Quran] while taking an oath of office. Jefferson stated, “Every person…[shall] take the following oath of office, to wit, ‘You shall swear…’ So help me God [not allah].”

Other states required similar oaths. State constitutions required a profession of faith in God [not allah]:

• Delaware’s constitution stated, “Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office of trust…shall…profess faith in God [not allah] the Father and in Jesus Christ His only Son [not Muhammad]…” 
• North Carolina’s constitution prohibited a person from holding office if they denied “the truth of the Protestant religion” [Christian denomination]. Later, North Carolina amended their constitution changing “Protestant” [Christian denomination] to “Christian” [not Islam].

The religious clause of the First Amendment and the religious test clause of Article VI were to limit federal powers and jurisdiction – not the state’s. The federal government does not have the authority to examine the religious beliefs of a candidate – but the state voters do-and should.

However, this would all begin to change in 1947, when the tyrannical courts would rewrite the Fourteenth Amendment federalizing the “Bill of Rights.” By federalizing the First Amendment these state laws and state constitutions set fourth by our Founders would eventually become unconstitutional!  Richard Dobbs a signer of the U.S. Constitution stated, “As to the subject of religion…[n]o power is given to the general [federal] government to interfere with it at all.”

In 1961, the case of Torasco v. Watkins, the courts would use their newly acquired federal power to strike down Maryland’s 200 year -old state constitution requiring an elected candidate to declare a belief in God [not allah] to hold office.

Recently, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar became the first two Muslim [not Christian] women to be elected to Congress. Upon taking office, Tlaib and Omar chose to use the Quran versus a Bible in taking their congressional oath of office – this is unconstitutional.

The First Amendment was not intended to promote a pluralism of other religions. In his commentaries, Founding Father, Justice Joseph Story explained: “The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance, Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects.”

In my opinion, America is no longer a constitutional republic, but a degenerating constitutional democracy. Now you cannot say you weren’t warned.

In the year of our Lord 2019 –
Blessings, Tom
[email protected]
“In all your ways, acknowledge Him…” Proverbs 3:6