{"id":6542,"date":"2013-10-14T14:23:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T13:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2013-10-16T13:20:57","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T12:20:57","slug":"2013oct14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/2013oct14\/","title":{"rendered":"Secularists behind ‘end oath’ campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PENTAX<\/a>Magistrates could ask the Government to end the ancient tradition of swearing on the Bible to tell the truth in court if a campaign by secularist groups succeeds.<\/p>\n

The Magistrates’ Association, which represents 23,000 lay magistrates, has agreed to discuss a motion claiming that the oath should be abolished because\u00a0some people do not take it seriously.<\/p>\n

The Chief Executive of the Magistrates Association, Mr Chris Brace,\u00a0has told Christian Voice that rather than being discussed at one of\u00a0its policy committees<\/a><\/strong>, which was stated in the press, notably in the Daily Mail<\/a><\/strong>, the proposal is being made as a member’s motion at its Annual General Meeting. \u00a0We understand the date for the 2103 AGM is Saturday 19th October, but the Association had not at the time of writing put the <\/span>date on its website<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Brace said: ‘A member wishes to debate this at the AGM and the Board of Trustees decided that this was a motion worthy of debate, without fear or favour.’<\/p>\n

Ian Abrahams, 62, a Bristol magistrate who is proposing the motion for scrapping the oath, said: ‘More and more I see people shrug their shoulders or say “whatever” when asked to take it.’I’m suggesting we take holy books out of the process. Instead, people will have to show they understand they could be sent to prison if they don’t tell the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘I don’t intend my motion to make any comment on religion. It is certainly not anti-religious.’<\/p>\n

Christian Voice has now discovered that far from not being anti-religious,\u00a0Mr Abraham’s initiative is supported by the Lawyers Secular Society<\/a><\/strong>, which has strong links to the rabidly anti-Christian National Secular Society. Last month the LSS secretary, Charlie Klendjian,\u00a0spoke at the Secular Europe Campaign<\/a><\/strong>. The Secular Europe Campaign is\u00a0supported by<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the British Humanist Association and Richard Dawkins, and is both supported and promoted by the NSS.<\/p>\n

Church leaders, even without this information, also saw the underlying agenda.<\/p>\n

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, said: ‘This could be the slippery slope towards the increasing secularisation of society. Where will it end – with the Coronation Oath?<\/p>\n

‘The Bible is bound up with the constitution, institutions and history of this country. It is right for people to have a choice of oath, a religious or non-religious one.<\/p>\n

‘But we are being urged, in the name of tolerance and secularisation, to restrict that choice.’<\/p>\n

There is already an option for non-believers to take a secular oath, while those of other faiths can swear on their own holy texts. For example, Muslims may swear on the Koran or Jews on the Old Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Rev Arun Arora, director of communications for the Church of England, added: ‘Given that the last census showed almost 60 per cent of respondents self-identified as Christians and two thirds as people of faith, this proposal seems to ignore the statistical reality that we remain a faithful nation.<\/p>\n

‘This kind of proposal seems driven more by blinkered campaigning agendas than abiding interests in justice and truth.’<\/p>\n

Legal expert Lord Carlile said: ‘It would be unacceptable for the choice to take a religious oath to be removed.’<\/span><\/p>\n

For hundreds of years Christian witnesses have been required to hold the Bible and state: ‘I swear by almighty God that I shall tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’<\/p>\n

Under Mr Abrahams’ proposal, the holy books would be removed and the oath would read: ‘I promise very sincerely to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and I understand that if I fail to do so I will be committing an offence for which I will be punished and may be sent to prison.’<\/span><\/p>\n

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘We have no plans to change the arrangements for swearing an oath or making an affirmation in court, which have worked well for many years and still do.’<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Magistrates could ask the Government to end the ancient tradition of swearing on the Bible to tell the truth in court if a campaign by secularist groups succeeds. The Magistrates’ Association, which represents 23,000 lay magistrates, has agreed to discuss a motion claiming that the oath should be abolished because\u00a0some people do not take it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,184],"tags":[921,92,738,917,15,358,920,914,915,916,922,913,912,923,357,924,226,919,918],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-secularism","category-uk-christian-constitution","tag-arun-arora","tag-bible","tag-british-humanist-association","tag-charlie-klendjian","tag-christian-voice","tag-church-of-england","tag-coronation-oath","tag-courts-management-committee","tag-ian-abrahams","tag-lawyers-secular-society","tag-lord-carlile","tag-magistrates-association","tag-maigstrates","tag-ministry-of-justice","tag-national-secular-society","tag-oath","tag-richard-dawkins","tag-rt-rev-michael-nazir-ali","tag-secular-europe-campaign"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t