House Committee Vote to Keep ‘So Help You God’ in Oath After Outcry

A House committee voted to keep the words “so help you God” in an oath witnesses are required to take before providing testimony, after an attempt to remove the phrase sparked objections with some Republicans.

The Democrat-controlled House Committee on Natural Resources proposed to remove the reference to God from the committee’s oath, according to a draft of committee rules that was first reported by Fox News. The draft (pdf) shows the words “so help you God” in red brackets, meaning that the words would have been eliminated. The Democrats also planned to add the words “under penalty of law” to the oath instead.

If the rules had passed, the oath would have read as follows: “Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

But on Jan. 30, committee aides told Fox News that the house committee voted to keep “so help you God” in the oath. The committee has oversight of national parks and federal conservation and species protection programs. It is headed by Arizona Democrat Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ).

https://www.theepochtimes.com/house-committee-vote-to-keep-so-help-you-god-in-oath-after-outcry_2784977.html