“The US Air Force has told a sergeant he will have to leave the military unless he agrees to take an oath with the phrase “so help me God,” officials said Tuesday. In the past, an airman could opt for an alternative phrase and omit the words “so help me God,” but the US Air Force changed its policy in October 2013. The other branches of the American military do not require the reference to God and make the phrase optional.”
I don’t know why the USAF needs to be unique among the armed services in requiring folks to include this phrase. I don’t know how it would hurt the USAF to have folks serving who would be happy to reenlist but who would prefer not being forced to include a reference to God.
"In the latest religious controversy to roil the air force, the atheist airman last month was denied his request to re-enlist because of his refusal to swear to God – and he is now poised to take the military to court, his lawyer said."
I can’t imagine the courts ruling that the AF actions are constitutional. I am glad he is willing to litigate this issue.
I saw this as well, didn’t know the AF had instituted this. Truthfully, it’s pretty surprising, and boggles the mind that it would get past legal review. Exactly what’s happening now is the easily predicted result.
From the atheist perspective, I wouldn’t take offense to the phrase itself, but I would still find it objectionable. Swearing an oath is a serious commitment that should be treated with the seriousness it deserves, and so references to some religion’s deity really have no place in an oath that is not sworn by a religious person, to the religion or deity itself, or within the context of religious service. Every word of an oath should have meaning to the person who swears to it.
It’s no different from the atheist perspective to demand that we recognize the threat of God’s wrath for breaking an oath than it would be for Christians to swear to the oath under the threat of Thor’s hammer. It’s about personal fidelity, professionalism, and commitment to the organization and country it defends, not to God. If someone wants to add that part, great. If they don’t fear the wrath of a god they don’t believe exists and is irrelevant to their service in the first place, why demand anyone to swear to it. It’s just silly.
This is a case of spineless leadership. There is what the AFI says, and there is what is right according to the Constitution and common sense in general. I have reelisted a lot of guys and there was noone looking over my shoulder while administering the oath. If they didn’t want to say “So help me God” I wouldn’t have made them, and noone would have been any wiser.
USAF Academy had an interesting article (missing citation here) in the last year that described the evangelical nature of many commanding officers. Every organization adopts its own unique culture. Theirs is just particularly bad.
It was bad legal advice. In addition, there have been problems with proselytizing at the USAF Academy and complaints from folks who felt they were being pressured by a commander to attend church or some other function with a religious connection. I don’t know how the USAF felt that it would be a good idea to make folks repeat this phrase in order to reenlist.
