(January 25, 2018 at 1:07 pm)Khemikal Wrote: It doesn't actually matter whether or not a person is "under oath". You can't casually lie to an investigator just because you didn't put your hand on magic book. That's not how that works.
As secular as our Constitution was written, I still look at at the oath of office as being lost on our religious, both right and left.
If putting your hand on a book had the power of making you tell the truth, there would be no need for perjury laws. Not even raising your right hand will have any magic power from preventing you from lying to a court or jury, and that is why perjury laws exist.
So it does not matter if you are being asked by an investigator or a jury, it still is a real possibility in either case to lie to the person or people you are talking to.
The only REAL metric is when those whom hear what you say, compare it to other metrics.
Point being, the REAL metric isn't ceremony but observation and comparing.
I could swear on a stack of "The God Delusion" that "I fucked Angelina Jolie and got her pregnant" but only a DNA test would prove me to be the father.
The crap about putting your hand on ANY BOOK and raising your right hand is ceremonial. The REAL application is simply not lying.
