Atheist Sues to Remove ‘so help me God’ from Inaugural

Michael Newdow wants the words “so help me God” removed from the upcoming inaugural. He cites the Constitution’s ban on the establishment of religion as the legal basis, although his motivation stems from feeling that having any reference to God in the inaugural sends the message that only those who are religious are real Americans, and that “it’s unconstitutional to imply that atheists and others are not as good.”

What exactly does the Constitution say about religion? Only this:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Do the words used in the inaugural constitute a law respecting an establishment of religion? While the Oath of Office is set by law, it does not include the words “so help me God”. These are added by tradition only and are not officially part of the Oath. The Constitution does not state that no other words may be added to the Oath, only that the Oath has contained in the Constitution must be sworn to (or affirmed). Therefore no law has been passed, no state religion has been established, and nothing un-Constitutional has been done.

As for the matter of whether someone might be offended by the inclusion of the words “so help me God” it seems clear this is the case. Obviously the Constitution does not protect anyone from being offended, but the argument could be made that a new President could reach out to a certain group by including or not including certain words. However, to try and avoid offending anyone or to try to please everyone would be a slippery slope that would most likely result in everyone being offended. Thus the most prudent course of action would probably be to hold to tradition, since removing the words “so help me God” would likely offend a much larger group of people and cause a bunch of hoop-la that would needlessly distract from the occasion. If atheists are offended by the words being included and feel that is basis for removing them, they can’t logically ask  in fairness for them to be removed since this would also offend someone.