# Did US judges in death penalty cases ever say May God have mercy on your soul?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-us-judges-in-death-penalty-cases-ever-say-may-god-have-mercy-on-your-soul/782599>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-us-judges-in-death-penalty-cases-ever-say-may-god-have-mercy-on-your-soul/782599 "2017-03-20T10:31:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![LiliesOfTheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@LiliesOfTheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiliesOfTheField)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-us-judges-in-death-penalty-cases-ever-say-may-god-have-mercy-on-your-soul/782599/41 "2017-03-23T18:37:08Z")

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An Eastern Orthodox (Christian) couple is silent during the wedding ceremony. No vows are traditionally stated.

So as far as I understand it, no pronouncement, intention, etc is required in the US when the wedding is performed according to religious Tradition.

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