trekbette

I had jury duty last week at the US District Court (the Feds). We had to take an oath that ended with "Under God". I was one of 100+ people so I just kept quiet and no one noticed.

I was very uncomfortable. I felt like I had take an oath swearing to my honesty and I had to end it with a lie. That can't be right.

I am on call for the rest of the month (meaning I have to call in every Monday to see if I am needed for the rest of the week).

If I get in front of a judge, I still won't (can't) make an oath I don't believe in. I take this kind of stuff seriously.

Hopefully it won't come up.

Clarice

Before the oath is administered, and preferably well beforehand in a more private venue, just tell the person in charge, "When we're sworn in, I would like to affirm instead." This is a well-established part of court life, and most court personnel won't bat an eye. It's not only for atheists, but also for people whose religions teach it is sinful to swear by God.

I was recently called for local jury duty and was luckily excused the night before, but my plan was to go and ask the clerk when I checked in how to go about being affirmed instead of sworn, without causing a big to-do.

If it's not possible to do it ahead of time, at the moment of swearing in just politely say, "I'd like to affirm." I've seen people do it like that and it was no problem.

KitKit

i was JUST thinking about this very subject a few days ago. i knew you had the option but i had no idea HOW to ask for it. thank you!

callmejay

When I had it in Washington, DC, they said I, ____, swear or affirm... yada yada yada. You were supposed to choose between them. When I recently had to take an oath for something not in a courtroom, I was asked first, "Are you okay with swearing to God?" So they should definitely let you affirm, and it's a little troubling that they (tacitly) assume no one would have a problem with the normal version.

On a tangential note, I'd suggest not trying to get out of jury duty like so many do, since you're probably more reasonable than most potential jurors and our country would be a better place if juries were made up of reasonable people.

openeyes

I was on jury duty a few months ago (county court). In the jury informational booklet that was handed out the first day they listed both the "under God" oath and an affirmation, so I thought I'd be fine. Problem was, when I did get on a jury, they just went ahead and did the "under God" oath. I guess I was suppose to say something ahead of time if I didn't want to agree to that.

I was involved in one of these one day "quickie" civil trials, so I just let it go. Next time (if there is a next time) I will check ahead of time to see how to do the affirmation instead of the oath.

muon

Cook County (Chicago) Criminal Court administered a completely secular oath to all jurors, unprompted, the one time I served on a jury there. I was impressed!

ElectEngr

A few years ago, I got a questionaire for the Federal Jury. In the remarks section, I wrote "I am an atheist".

I've never heard back from them yet.

Later,
ElectEngr

Belle

I too wrote "atheist" on my jury card and was called a few ago anyway. They swore us in and slipped that little "so help me gawd" or whatever it was in there at the end. I think I got "so help me.." out. Anyway you gotta watch out for those christians. They're sneaky little bastards for sure! I wish I coulda seen it commin so I could of swore by the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

scarmig

I was sworn in locally once, and before we got to the "god" phrase, I dropped my hand and stopped reciting.

I was in the front row, and the judge saw me, eyed me, but didn't say anything.

jayh

I did this and the clerk said, don't worry it won't be religious anyhow.

But when I was faced with jury duty (as it was I wasn't selected) I was deeply worried about another aspect: being asked to convict someone for a crime I cannot agree is a crime.

I thought back to a couple of situations friends of mine have been in. One was on a jury where a woman was charged with possession of gambling paraphenalia; she was at home when the raid took place and there was a betting slip in the house. It was explained to the jurors that as the person in the house she was responsible. This person felt he had no 'choice' but to convict.

Another friend was involved in a case where the defendant was being hit for extra charges beyond simple marijana possession because the police waited for him to travel through a 'school zone' going to his house. There was NO evidence that he was involving kids, simply that's where his house was. This person felt that she had 'no choice' but to convict.

This got me thinking, in good conscience I simply could not vote to convict someone for a wrongheaded law, no matter what the law said. I could not bear it on my conscience that someone is in prision and I could have done something about it.

During my week of jury accountability I sweated this. Should I tip them off ahead of time (and thus get bounced off the jury), should I keep my mouth shut and cast my vote where it counts? Which was more honest, more true?

In the end, the issue never came up. But it haunts me, and it might come up again in a couple more years.

j