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| New U.S. citizens raise their hands taking the oath of allegians. Photo: Reuters. |
President
of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Rev. Franklin Graham has blasted Democratic
Party politicians in the United States of America for turning away from God.
He spoke when he decried arguments by Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen of
Tennessee, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, told The New York Times last
May and rejected the phrase “So help me God” in oath taking as prescribed by
the American Constitution, arguing that what Republicans are doing, “is using God.”
“And God doesn’t want
to be used,” he said.
But I a swift retort, Rev. Graham while declaring the statement as
backward said: “Why has the Democratic Party turned its back on God?” Graham
said in a series of tweets in response to the report. “We need more
of God, not less! What @RepCohen is suggesting is what Communism did
in Eastern Europe & is still doing in places around the world like Cuba.
Communism only allows worship inside approved churches.
"God is our
Creator and the maker of the universe. He is present everywhere; He is not
limited to churches or temples. The root of the issue is that many politicians
don’t want God in any part of their politics or our country’s business because
His standards condemn their sins.”
This recall came following Anugrah Kumar, a Christian Post
Contributor report on how atheists in America failed to get ‘so help me God’
removed from naturalization oath for US citizens.The report reads:
Atheist fails to get ‘so help me
God’ removed from naturalization oath for US citizenship
By Anugrah Kumar, Christian
Post Contributor
The naturalization oath for U.S. citizenship will continue to
include the words “so help me God,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit has ruled, rejecting claims that the words violate First
Amendment rights of atheists.
“We follow the Supreme
Court’s most recent framework and apply American Legion’s presumption of
constitutionality to the phrase ‘so help me God’ in the naturalization oath
because we consider the inclusion of similar words to be a ceremonial,
longstanding practice as an optional means of completing an oath,” the judgment states in
a federal lawsuit that was filed in 2017 by an atheist, Olga Paule
Perrier-Bilbo, who moved to the United States from France and applied for
naturalized citizenship in 2008.
“And because the
record does not demonstrate a discriminatory intent in maintaining those words
in the oath or ‘deliberate disrespect’ by the inclusion of the words,
Perrier-Bilbo cannot overcome the presumption.”
Perrier-Bilbo, a
resident of Massachusetts, had argued that “whether the use of the phrase is
rooted in history and tradition is not a legitimate way to assess if the oath
in its current form is constitutional.”
Judges said the
Supreme Court Establishment Clause jurisprudence “supports the district court’s
analysis of the challenge by reference to historical practices and
understanding.”
“By its very nature,
an oath that concludes ‘so help me God’ is asserting that God exists,” read
her lawsuit.
“Accordingly, the
current oath violates the first ten words of the Bill of Rights, and to
participate in a ceremony which violates that key portion of the United States
Constitution is not supporting or defending the Constitution as the oath
demands,” it stated, referring to clause that “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.”
The phrase “so help me
God” is optional in the Oath of Allegiance of the United States, which
reads: “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.”
Some Democratic leaders of several key
committees have nixed the phrase “so help me God” from a
swearing-in oath for individuals testifying before them.
“I think God belongs in religious institutions: in temple, in
church, in cathedral, in mosque — but not in Congress,” Democrat Rep. Steve
Cohen of Tennessee, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on
the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, told The New York Times last
May. What Republicans are doing, he argued, “is using God.”
“And God doesn’t want
to be used,” he said.
At the time, the Rev.
Franklin Graham, who serves as president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,
blasted the move as backward.
“Why has the
Democratic Party turned its back on God?” Graham said in a series of
tweets in response to the report. “We need more of God, not less!
What @RepCohen is suggesting is what Communism did in Eastern Europe
& is still doing in places around the world like Cuba. Communism only
allows worship inside approved churches.
"God is our
Creator & the maker of the universe. He is present everywhere; He is not
limited to churches or temples. The root of the issue is that many politicians
don’t want God in any part of their politics or our country’s business because
His standards condemn their sins.”
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