Meeting Persephone

So help me, god. So help me god. So, help me, god. SO HELP ME GOD!

A tradition for Presidents since the time of George Washington is now coming under fire in the court rooms of the land. Atheists (and apparently some agnostics) are suing to have Obama's inaugural swearing in, taking place less than a week from today, altered to remove "so help me god" from his oath. Justifying their position, they use the fact that taxpayer money pays for the inauguration and therefore the use of a deity's name should not be permitted, encouraged, invoked, nor tolerated during this historical event.

Taxpayer money will also pay for soon-to-be President Obama's salary, protection, travel, food, home, and etc. for the coming 4 years. Shall we forbid him to attend religious services of his choice, carry a talisman of any variety whilst travelling, say a prayer before a meal, display religious icons of any type in his temporary home, or any other expression of his personal beliefs for the next 4 years because he will be provided for with taxpayer money (as he has been for his time in the Senate as well)? Better still, shall we forbid him to keep any sort of religious text in the White House at all? Perhaps we should require that the Obama family rent a storage space for all religious paraphenalia such as religious jewelry, bibles, crosses, prayer books or whatever else they might own. Hey! Wedding bands are a symbol of marriage which, even Obama himself stated is a religious matter, perhaps they should also remove their rings before they set foot in the nation's house - we're paying for it after all! And why stop there? I think it should also be pushed for that the very bible he is being sworn in on, the Lincoln Bible, that is stored in national archives that are paid for by taxpayer dollars should also be obliterated into non-existence! See? The fun could never end for rabid fervor of any kind. A veritable hey-day could be had destroying all bits and pieces of religious paraphenalia paid for by tax dollars that could keep any disenchanted or seemingly disenfranchised atheist busy for a hundred years!

If atheists want to consider themselves the voice of reason how can they be so ridiculously unreasonable regarding this issue? These are not words embedded on coin for the public, they are a moment's utterance in a proceeding that is only slightly younger than our Declaration of Independence. Obama's beliefs are not my own. He is just one of a long string of Christians who have held and will hold this office. But if the uttering of "so help me god" inspires him to walk the path that he has tried to with a dedication that might not otherwise be there - then that's what it should be.

"So help me god" has a variety of connotations depending on the context. It can be menacing - "So help me god if I have to come up there I'm going to beat your ass!" - which is one I heard more than once during my childhood. It can be a plea of assistance, a request for strength, resolution, and courage. It can be stated as a promise and, for those Christians and others who will be watching the inaugural proceedings, it will likely be interpreted that way. For those not of those faiths who rely on his particular diety nor any other, perhaps it should instead be taken as an expression of the seriousness with which he intends to devote himself to the office he is about to hold. That is how I intend to view this small 4 word portion of the oath he will take on January 20th. It's a puncuation mark. A dedication - not to a deity but of his mind and to the people.

Court action does not eliminate the beliefs of anyone, you are simply scratching at a surface of something that frankly doesn't matter to you at all if you're an atheist except that you are offended by 4 words that you will have forgotten in a few days, months, or years from now. It's his faith and like it or not, it is still protected by the Bill of Rights in this country. Atheists and agnostics have the freedom not to believe as they choose but even our President, servant of the people and paid by our tax dollars as he is, is permitted the religious beliefs of his choosing. Are you sure you want to open that can of worms for the sake of 4 words? The day will come when you will see yourselves hauled off to court for going too far in regard to attacking people's faiths and then we will be no better off than we were 400 years ago.

It's not progress. It's a pissing match. Stick to the things that actually impact you personally on a semi-regular basis: In God We Trust on coins, 10 commandments in courthouses, nativity scenes on government lawns. But leave personal beliefs of anyone out of it because you're being no less vindictive than they themselves can be in this instance!