When a witness is called to the stand to testify and the cop says “do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but truth so help you god.” WHAT IF that person says no
First, it’s not a cop. I suspect it varies from juristiction to juristiction but it’s most likely a court clerk, bailiff, or other.
Second, I suspect the judge would hold you in contempt.
That guy isn’t a cop, he’s a bailiff. Though some cops do pull bailiff duty.
Testimony is not admissable unless it’s under oath, AFAIK. The witness is allowed to request to leave the “god” part out if he doesn’t want to say it. If the witness refuses to take an oath or affirmation I believe he can be held in contempt of court.
Correct. A witness may assert various and sundry privileges to avoid testifying, but if they are unavailing, he must take the oath or be held in contempt.
G. Gordon Liddy refused to take the oath when he was summoned to testify before the Ervin Committee concerning Watergate, and he was held in contempt of Congress.
- Rick
thats why i put the cop part in *'s cause i wasen’t sure. no need to belittle me. thanx
Well, Federal Rule of Procedure 603 says:
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.
The advisory committee notes add “no special verbal formula is required.” So basically the witness only needs to make a solemn promise to tell the truth. Lots of people refuse to swear, or make an oath, or just don’t believe in a deity, I suppose, but I’ve never heard of a witness flat out refusing to say that he or she will testify truthfully (although you could fill a lot of books with the things I’ve never heard about). I imagine that a judge would have a lot of leeway and could either advise the witness that continuing to testify will be taken by the court as an implicit promise to do so truthfully and will not excuse the witness from perjury charges, or hold the witness in contempt.
Whoops. Bricker beat me to it. 
Sidetracking - in one of the Rumpole of the Bailey stories (I think it was Rumpole and the Showfolk) Rumpole’s client tells him that instead of taking the oath she “would rather affirm”.
a) Is that an expression used in US courts?
b) What did it mean in the UK court? What wording would be used?
c) If I didn’t want to swear on the Bible, what would I tell the judge?
I think (a) and © have already been answered. If you are an atheist, you don’t have to take an oath, but only an affirmation to tell the truth.
Arnold,
Practitioners of some religions (or holders of some beliefs) won’t swear oaths. They will, however, affirm that they will tell the truth. If you didn’t want to swear on the Bible, you would tell the judge so. IANA lawyer, but I imagine there are some juresdictions where not swearing before god on a bible might be a frightning prospect.
I was wondering if the wording used in the US is “I’d rather affirm” or if that was only a British expression. Or would an American say “get that Bible away from me!”
And if you don’t want to swear on a holy book, what is the exact phrase that you use? “I solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” or is it different?
Generally, I believe one hisses at the bible-brandishing baliff and backs up against the wall.
That was a joke, by the way. Out in West Texas they just leave the “so help me God” part off, as well as change “swear” to “promise” or “affirm”, if preferred. I’ve never seen anyone turn down a bible here in Houston, but I’ve only seen a few trials.
…did this seem rude? I didn’t mean it rudely, Arnold, I meant it funny. I forgot to put one of these things on there 
In fact, Cecil answered this one:
It’s no big deal where I practice (which is Ireland). When you are invited to take the oath you just say “may I affirm?” and the judge says “of course” or “certainly” or something of the kind, and then you say “I do solemnly and sincerely affirm that the evidence I shall give will the the truth . . . etc. etc”. (The court clerk will guide you through this). From a legal point of view this is the same as an oath.
The judge can ask you why you want to affirm - he needs to know that you have a conscientious objection to an oath, and that you’re not just choosing to affirm because you intend to tell lies and your conscience finds it easier to do this if you affirm rather than swearing an oath. But in my experience judges are happy to take your good faith for granted, and I’ve never seen anybody examined on this point.
It’s pretty much the same if you are happy to take a religious oath but are not a Christian, and some form of oath other than swearing on the Bible is appropriate. You just tell the judge what you want, and you get it.
FWIW in Wisconsin there’s no Bible and the person administering the oath says “swear or affirm” as part of the statutory language.
I grew up in the state of Illinois, USA, as a member of one of the religions Shoshana refers to; my Sunday School teachers did (as I recall) mention that term in reference to court testimony. Never having testified in a court of law, I couldn’t say whether a judge or bailiff would understand what I meant if I used it …
I was just wondering this myself. My faith is my business, and if I believe in God, I’m not going to further the state’s business by swearing an oath to him. I would refuse to use the bible because I am religious. I am by no means a fanatic, but to me it would seem that even slightly devote people would not swear an oath to their God for business or criminal purposes of the state.
If I were an athiest, I would have no problem swearing on a bible because, well, who cares. It would be like going to court and being asked to swear on a book of fairy tales…sure, if you want me to! 
Glad to know there are options.