Should “So Help Me God” be Banned?
January 3, 2009 by Holly
Should Barack Obama leave “so help me God” out of the end of the president’s oath of office during his inauguration on January 20? A number of atheists and non-religious organizations think so and even went as far as to file a lawsuit Tuesday banning the words. In addition, the lawsuit also objects to plans for ministers to deliver an invocation and benediction, knowing that they will discuss God and religion.
As a president who has fought for the past two years for real change to come to America, will Barack Obama voice his support and acceptance for the non-religious community? Do we perhaps have the opportunity to change “freedom of religion” to “freedom from religion?” I highly doubt it. Not only were two similar unsuccessful lawsuits filed for the 2001 and 2005 inaugurations, but the change America will most likely be seeing in the next four or possibly eight years will simply be reversing and improving the damage that has been done to this country by his predecessor. This is not the time where we will see the reversal of the ultimate brainwashing due to the fact that this country is fueled by how far a group of people will go for a religion that they were either raised with or follow on their own accord.
Within the past few years a study was done to predict if and how many people would vote for someone who happened to be an atheist for president. The results showed that an atheist would most likely never see the presidency. But why is that? Does having one atheist president mean that the entire country and all of its people are going to hell? Would that president not take their job as seriously as a religious follower? Do atheists taint the name of America? Many believe they do, and even more so as we saw with this past presidential campaign, people were going as far as to saying that Barack Obama would not make a good president for American solely based on the fact that he was found to be a Muslim, thus initiating an entire “faith forum” where he was forced to prove his devoutness to Christianity.
An an atheist myself I have been subject to ridicule based solely on the fact that I do not believe in a higher power. Atheists in this country are experiencing the same discrimination as anyone who does not accept the government-appointed God as their own. While it was beyond time that we accept each and every human being in this country despite the higher power they choose or do not choose to accept into their lives, I think we have much further to go before we see that happen. In fact, I do not believe that even “freedom of religion” exists in this country at this time.
What do you think? Do you think “So help me God” should be banned from the January 20 inauguration?
Melissa on Sun, 4th Jan 2009 10:47 pm
This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values and began eroding when faith based values were not only taken from school but the public arena.
hotloss.com on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 8:32 am
I agree with Melissa. There have been a lot of bad things done in the name of religion, but it has a huge historical part in teaching good morals and ethics. As there is less and less interest/belief in religion (as well as people outright fighting against it), there seem to be more and more youth who are growing up without any morals and sense of purpose. Of course, this is just from seeing kids in my town, but it still is of merit.
Besides, when historical quotes of a non-religious nature are continued, no one seems to mind. Yet, because something has a religious background, people attack it. The fact is that it is a part of history whether it is religious or not. If people simply wanted to eradicate all historical references, I’d understand, but I don’t understand why there is so much emphasis placed on getting rid of religious references.
Michele on Mon, 5th Jan 2009 2:30 pm
When things like this come up, I wonder if those who feel so adamantly opposed to reference to God will stop spending US currency that has “In God We Trust” imprinted on it.
Lynn on Tue, 13th Jan 2009 4:30 pm
Hi Holly, sorry you have been ridiculed for not believing in a higher power. I would hope that you wouldn’t let that stop you from giving believe in God a chance. Don’t know your religious background, but I would encourage you to give God a chance. I will pray that a nice, sincere Christian would come into your life and share God’s love with you.