# Do I really have to raise my right hand?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-really-have-to-raise-my-right-hand/465129>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 25, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-really-have-to-raise-my-right-hand/465129 "2008-09-25T06:22:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-really-have-to-raise-my-right-hand/465129/1 "2008-09-25T06:22:47Z")

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Ok I know you don’t have swear on the bible. Which is good because that ain’t gonna happen. Even if I believed in said book I’ve read enough of it to know it says don’t swear by anything, just say Yeah or Neah and stand by it. It would be nice if the folks who DO believe in this book would spend less time fondeling it or thumping it and more time reading it. But I digress.

My real question is am I oblgied to raise my right hand? I mean I’m not opposied to the gesture. Makes it more formal. But I’m left handed. Indeed I’m about as sinister as they come. So can’t I just raise my dominant hand?

Am a called upon to raise my OTHER hand? Is this a legal matter? Cuz when I testfied agianst that mugger they said please raise your right hand. And I did. But I felt… so oppressed. As a left sided American. Did I have to?

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**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-really-have-to-raise-my-right-hand/465129/2 "2008-09-25T12:44:15Z")

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In most courts, when they swear you in, say “Do you swear **or affirm** …” because some people take the biblical prohibition on swearing oaths seriously.

As far as raising your right hand, that would be up to the judge. I regularly work with seven different judges, and if you explained to any one of them that raising your right hand made you uncomfortable, I would bet that any of the seven would let you skip that part.

A relevant Indiana Law:

IC 34-45-1-2  
Oath  
Sec. 2. Before testifying, every witness shall be sworn to testify  
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The mode of  
administering an oath must be the most consistent with and binding  
upon the conscience of the person to whom the oath may be  
administered.  
As added by P.L.1-1998, SEC.41.

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**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\
**Post date:** [September 25, 2008, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-really-have-to-raise-my-right-hand/465129/3 "2008-09-25T15:02:15Z")

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I’m sure that at one time or another an amputee has been called to testify and had no right hand to raise.