Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Swear on What Matters To You:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_05_20-2007_05_26.shtml#1180043721
[1]The AP reports (thanks to [2]How Appealing for the pointer):
Witnesses and jurors being sworn in at state courthouses can take
their oath using any religious text, not just the Bible, a judge
ruled Thursday.
Judge Paul Ridgeway said both common law and state Supreme Court
precedent allow witnesses and jurors to use the text "most sacred
and obligatory upon their conscience."
The ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union argued
that limiting that text to the Bible was unconstitutional because
it favored Christianity over other religions.
The issue surfaced when Muslims tried to donate copies of the Quran
to Guilford County's two courthouses. Two judges declined to accept
the texts, saying that taking an oath on the Quran was illegal
under state law.
State law allows witnesses preparing to testify in court to take
their oath by laying a hand over "the Holy Scriptures," by saying
"so help me God" without the use of a religious book or by an
affirmation using no religious symbols....
This is quite right. First, governmental preference in oaths for the
Bible over the Quran would violate the Establishment Clause, under
existing precedents that as best I can tell are endorsed by all the
Justices of the Supreme Court.
Second, the whole point of the oath is to invoke God as a witness to
one's promise, as a means of making the promise more weighty on the
oathtaker's conscience. We should want devoutly religious people to
swear on the book that is most holy to them, rather than swearing on a
book that means less to them (or means nothing to them), or than
simply affirming. This is why, for instance, the Federal Rules of
Evidence have long stated,
Before testifying, every witness shall be required to declare that
the witness will testify truthfully, by oath or affirmation
administered in a form calculated to awaken the witness' conscience
and impress the witness' mind with the duty to do so.
For a Muslim, that's the Quran, not the Bible.
References
1.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/Q/QURAN_COURTROOM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
2. http://howappealing.law.com/
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