Sacredness of an Oath

Last Thursday in my BYU doctoral law class our professor, Dr. Scott Ferrin, show us a video about the Supreme Court. Even though I had always known that government officials were sworn in to office and that they usually had a hand on the Bible when doing so, the Bible hadn't really caught my attention with any great interest until seeing this video. I started to wonder when and how that tradition came to be so I did some researching and discovered all kinds of interesting tidbits that I had previously just taken for granted.

The oath or affirmation of office of the President of the United States was established in the United States Constitution and it's mandatory for a President upon beginning a term. The wording:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Abiilty, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States
is prescribed by the Constitution (Article II, Section I, Clause 8).

Although it not present in the text of the Constitution, it has become standard practice for modern presidents to add "so help me God" at the end of the oath. Also, by way of convention, most raise their right hand and hold the other on a Bible (or other book of their choosing) while taking the oath although neither of these is required by law.

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred as a witness to the binding nature of the promise. To swear is take an oath. Many people take an oath by holding in their hand or placing over their head a book of scripture or a sacred object, thus indicating the sacred nature of the oath. The earliest English settleers in America brought over the tradition of this witness oath.

Teaching About Religion Is Critical to Multicultural Education

Teaching about religion is especially critical to multicultural education.

In 1988, a broad coalition of 17 religious and educational organizations published guidelines that distinguish between teaching about religion and religious indoctrination. The guidelines state, in part:

• The school's approach to religion is academic, not devotional.
• The school sponsors study about religion, not the practice of religion.
• The school educates about all religions; it does not promote or denigrate any religion nor does it press for student acceptance of any one religion.

In addition to these religious-liberty clauses, there are also three guiding principles that Charles Haynes calls the civic values at the heart of American citizenship. They are:

RIGHTS: The rights guaranteed by the Constitution are for citizens of all faiths and none.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Religious liberty depends upon a universal responsibility to respect that right or religious liberty for others.

RESPECT: Living with our differences, including religious difference, in a democracy requires a strong commitment to the civic values that enable people with diverse perspectives to treat each other with respect and civility.

When we teach about the many cultures and religions of our nation and the world, we must also simultaneously emphasize our common ground which is the values and responsibilities we share as American citizens.

Reference

Haynes, C. C. (2007). To advance religious freedom, teach about religion. Retrieved from the World Wide web http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=19421 on December 17, 2007.

Democracy and Moral Character

As Rep. LaVar Christensen reminds us, "Education's original aim was not simply to convey knowledge but to forge character." He is not the only one who expressed these sentiments. We can go as far back as Aristotle who told us that the aim of education is "to make men both smart and good." Thomas Jefferson insisted that democracy could not survive without a virtuous citizenry. President Theodore Roosevelt said, "To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." The English philosopher John Locke wrote, "Tis virtue...which is the hard and valuable part to be aimed at in education." Samuel Adams described the mission of educators as nurturing the "moral sense" of children. "Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them," Abigail Adams told her son John Quincy, "will be of little value and small estimation unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them." John Adams said, "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Benjamin Franklin stressed that "only a virtuous people are capable of freedom."

William Bennett reminds us "The highest values of education in a democracy are more than the competitive advantage of an increasingly productive labor force....Education is "more than the acquisition of skills; it had [has] to do with the architecture of the soul."

From the summit conference hosted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Aspen, Colorado in July 1992 came the following declarations: The well-being of our society requires an involved, caring citizenry with good moral character. The ethical values of respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, justice and fairness, caring, civic virtue and citizenship are core ethical values that are rooted in a democratic society and that transcend cultural, religious, and socioeconomic differences.

We have an inspiring heritage and legacy, a democracy based on moral principles, that all must understand and appreciate if we are to carry the torch forward as we strive to narrow the gap between our country's ideals and realities. "Posterity--you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it," quoting John Quincy Adams.

Because a country can only be as good and moral as its citizenry, it is imperative that each of us strives to develop a moral character and help our young people to do the same through our example and teachings.