Religion and Oaths in court

Mon, 10/04/2006 - 10:06 -- James Oakley

According to Times Online, a magistrate in Hull has drawn up an oath of truthfulness which makes no reference to God.

His reason was that it is more important to stress the risk of a charge of perjury if someone does lie under oath. That is, after all, the importance of the oath.

The trouble is: What if there is a God? What if there will come a day when he will judge the world by the man he has appointed (as Acts 17:31 says)? If these things are so, someone lying under oath may still face a charge of perjury. But they can also expect to give an account of the way they took their oath lightly to God one day. That is far more serious...

Surely it is entirely appropriate to remind someone of the most serious consequence of breaking an oath?

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