“So Help Me God’ Left Out of Naturalization Oath in D.C. Ceremony By Nicholas Ballasy
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2016/09/14/so-help-me-god-left-out-of-naturalization-oath-in-d-c-ceremony/?singlepage=true
Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell, appointed by President Obama to the District Court for the District of Columbia, left out “so help me God” while administering the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony Wednesday.
Howell asked the new U.S. citizens to raise their right hand and “repeat the ‘Oath of Allegiance’ after me.”
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the oath goes: “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
When presiding over the ceremony at the National Archives in Washington, Howell omitted “so help me God” at the end of the oath. She then congratulated the new U.S. citizens and said they may be seated.
Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations provides for a religious exemption, stating in part, “When a petitioner or applicant for naturalization, by reason of religious training and belief (or individual interpretation thereof), or for other reasons of good conscience, cannot take the oath prescribed in paragraph (a) of this section with the words ‘on oath’ and ‘so help me God’ included, the words ‘and solemnly affirm’ shall be substituted for the words ‘on oath,’ the words ‘so help me God’ shall be deleted, and the oath shall be taken in such modified form.”
Judge Howell did not mention the phrase “and solemnly affirmed” while administering the oath Wednesday. U.S. Code does not outline the specific rules for the official or judge presiding over a mass public naturalization ceremony when one or more new citizens requests a religious exemption. CONTINUE AT SITE
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