Gee, you grandstanding, self-righteous, Bible-thumping, Constitution-trashing, oath-breaking demagogue, I’d like more Senators who maintain the oath they took to uphold the Constitution–you remember the oath you took to uphold the Constitution, don’t you Senator? The requirement that you take it is in Article VI, right before the “no religious test” clause. The oath you took to uphold the Constitution, including the part about Congress not making laws regarding an establishment of religion; and including the part about me being a citizen of the United States, with all the privileges and immunities thereof, and having the equal protection of the laws therein; and including the part about not being a two-bit God-bothering smarmy little peddler of religious snake oil on my dime–oh, wait, I guess that last part is a “penumbra”.
But of course browbeating people who have business before the United States Senate into kowtowing to the tribal idol of Jeff Sessions has an “importance beyond mere legal requirement”. After all, what is mere legality, mere constitutionality, compared to Jeff Sessions being publicly seen as a right and proper pious bigot for the benefit of the folks back home?
Ol’ Jeffy was the attorney general for Alabama when Howell Heflin stepped down as Senator. After saying for months that he wasn’t interested in the job, he suddenly announced his candidacy. Not sure moral fortitude has always been his strong suit.
At least Heflin is gone. God, that man was an embarassment.
…and we were talking about Sessions this morning. As a friend of mine put it, I’d love to know when local and state politicians intend to stop aggressively trying to make this state look bad.
We are already viewed as a total backwater, and stunts like this and Judge Roy Moore’s Andrew Jackson-esque defiance of court order (“To hell with the higher court, I’m a-keepin’ the Ten Commandments up in my courtroom.”) Guess what happened then? The Alabama Supreme Court upheld his right to keep the Decalogue up, 4-0, with 5 judges recusing. Un-fucking-believable.
The tide of religious fundamentalism will make this country a theocracy before it’s all done, I swear.
But, according to http://www.foxnews.com Sessions is upset that “So Help me God” was * Removed * from the oath, so it isn’t as if he wants to add it to something that has ever had the phrase.
Personaly, IMHO, using that phrase, if nothing else, adds a sense of…majestic to the Oath. But that’s just my opinion.
Yeah, it’s a crying shame when we start to recognize pluralism. :rolleyes
Those of us who don’t believe in any God view it as dishonest to say such a thing. In addition, many of us see this as the majority attempting to trample on our first amendment rights.
SpaceGhost, MEBuckner addressed your point of removal in the OP, when he referred to the “no religious test” clause. It was removed because it was unconstitutional. It was proper that it be removed.
The last thing I care about is giving a sense of the majestic to something that doesn’t deserve it. The oath is a legal vehicle to bind a person to a set of standards while in office. It doesn’t need to be majestic. It needs to be constitutional.
Next to Moore, our Chief Justice, I can’t even be angry with Sessions. Moore is the famous 10-commandments judge. Well, night before last he snuck in a one-ton marble monument convered with the ten commndments right into the center of the Supreme Court Rotunda! His fellow justices came to work yesterday to find it sitting there. And apparently, this is completley legitimate–it’ll take a law suit to get rid of it.
The worst part is that the monument is covered with quotations by various founding fathers that seem to support the idea of having the commandments there–never mind that 1) There are plenty of founding-father quotes that disagree and 2) It’s all irrelevant anyway as the Word of The Founding Fathers is hardly a political gospel.
Of course, those of us who DO believe in God view it as dishonest to consiously not say such a thing. In addition, many of us see this as the minority attempting to trample on our first amendment rights.
On the other hand, nothing prevents you from violating the Word of God and including His Name in your testimony, it is simply no longer demanded of those who do not share your beliefs that they pay lip service to your idea of God.
I rather doubt that anyone being sworn in who added “so help me God” to the end of their affirmation would be chucked out of the committee hearing room.
I’m not saying that people whould be forced to say “so help me God,” I’m saying people shouldn’t be forced NOT to say it. Try using your brain, son, it may help you someday.
Duh, don’t trample on my first amendment rights!
is what you said. This says nothing about forcing people not to say it, only that you think it is dishonest not to say it.
This
is the quoted bit from the actual article that indicates that a certain congressman “scolded” another for not forcing people to say it. Note that it does not say that he prevented people from saying it.
Well Tars, when I used my brain to read this thread, I didn’t see anyone proposing that people be forced not to say “so help me God.” How about you use your brain and show where this came up, and as you put it, “the minority attempting to trample on [your] first amendment rights”?
