Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I can’t imagine anyone who hasn’t heard that at some point in their life. I also can’t imagine anyone who hasn’t made one of those “can’t keep” promises only to have it come back to bite then. Also can’t imagine anyone having not broken one.
That’s apparently where we are. We make promises, take oaths, utter vows, and swear on bibles stacked with meaning and historical symbolism. We enter into contracts and agreements. We teach our children not to lie. But when push comes to shove does it really matter?
As far as the US legal system is concerned Special Counsel Jack Smith has essentially told us it doesn’t. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives anyone the right to lie. Lying is protected political speech. if you can avoid slandering or libeling someone, or your target doesn’t have the resources to defend themselves, our much cherished freedom of speech gives you the right to lie your ass off. Legally.
That being the case, here’s the question: Shouldn’t we then dispense with the ritual and the formality of swearing oaths? What’s the point? Why do we need the symbolism for something most know is a public pageant and a sham?
We all know the oath that elected leaders, members of the military and other government services swear. Our founding fathers didn’t want to see us swearing fealty to any king or church, so we take an oath to support and defend the US Constitution. Many who have never taken that oath can recite it by heart. I’m not suggesting some don’t take it to heart and live it. But if enough don’t, it makes a mockery of those who do.
I can remember a small right wing media dustup when Obama and the Chief Justice muffed a few words during the swearing in ceremony. That dustup caused enough of a ruckus they later re-created the swearing in. Just to be sure.
We also all know the oath that folks swear on a witness stand or legal proceeding. That one includes the “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” part. We all know how flimsy that is. Heck, the entire legal profession is built on finding ways to keep clients avoid and keep them from divulging the truth when confronted.
So why keep up the charade? What is it about us that when things get dicey we’ll forswear oaths and vows?
In my opinion we all want to believe in something larger, that bolsters and binds our position beyond question. It’s supposedly an enobling act that raises the oath-taker to another plain, above it all, embuing the moment with a deeper unquestioned signficance. Or at times it’s a desperate plea for shelter when caught in the act. We swear to God and heaven. We swear on the lives and souls of our mothers and fathers. We swear on our children’s lives. And some even swear on a stack of bibles.
Oh. About those bibles. In rituals when hands are placed on bibles, there’s often personal and historical symbolism attached to the actual bible used in the act to deepen the signficance. Paradoxically, it’s intriguing that many Christian religions believe that the bible tells us in Matthew 5:34 to essentially forswear swearing on anything in Heaven or on Earth.
If you continue reading the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew you’ll find Jesus saying simply, “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Interpretations of this range from a biblical forbidding of all oaths to it being allowed for ceremonial oath taking. It’s a debatable theological question. Ask the Calvinists and the Quakers. Some hold it tighter than others, which has resulted in affirmations replacing oaths in some situations. Some have simply rationalized it into the ether of meaningless.
Debatable or not, it calls into question the familiar customs and rituals around swearing in, taking vows, and taking oaths. We bind ourselves to these rituals for their significance and some sense of continuity. But in reality most see through the pageantry even while recognizing the holes in the plot. It’s like agreeing to support a couple’s wedding vows when everyone knows they aren’t going to make it.
Dropping out of the theological realm, I prefer to keep my own tussles with the truth grounded in that old saying “my word is my bond.” I’ve stumbled on that ground at times. But while it’s easy to take some comfort in the fact that I’m not stumbling alone, it’s still troubling. I don’t have answers, but it does make me wonder if we shouldn’t bring an end to the pageantry of public oath taking. There’s enough paradox already built in to call the entire thing into question. Why stand on ceremony when we can’t and aren’t expected to stand by our word?
We might have already reached that point without recognizing it as we see large portions of the population living in a fantasy world exposed by an orange madman who never uttered a word he couldn’t break in the next breath.
The willing suspension of disbelief is enough to make one swear.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 