If a person swears to God when he or she does not believe the Oath is devalued, for how can someone swear to God if they do not believe that God exists? Writes Barry Ward.
Senator Barry Ward
Article 34.6.1° Bunreacht na hÉireann sets out the Oath that every judge, appointed under the Constitution, must take before assuming office. In English, the Oath reads as follows:
“In the presence of Almighty God, I do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my knowledge and power execute the office [the person is undertaking] without fear or favour, affection or ill-will towards any man, and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws. May God direct and sustain me.”
This Oath is different in character to the Oath in the Irish language which refers to a judge acting, “gan eagla gan claonadh, gan bá gan drochaigne chun duine ar bith,” thereby directly referring to the attitude of judge towards any person rather than any man.
Amendment
I have introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Dáil to change this Judicial Oath of Office through amendment to the Constitution. The Bill will amend the Oath in two respects: the first being to change the English version to make it consistent with the Irish language version and therefore refer to a judge’s attitude to any “person;” and the second to remove the reference to God in the Oath.
I have been much decried for my anti-Christianity, my anti-religiosity, my atheism, and my attempt to secularise Ireland through this move.
Many of the people have decried me, primarily online, have done so because they didn’t actually read what I said when introducing the Bill on Thursday March 20. I am a Christian and weekly churchgoer. I do believe in God and the importance of religion and faith in modern Ireland. However, I also believe, therefore, that the Oath must honestly reflect the faith or otherwise of the person taking it.
If it is the case that a person is appointed to judicial office and then goes into the Supreme Court and takes the Oath in the presence of the Chief Justice and others, and swears to God when he or she does not believe in God, in my opinion the Oath is devalued, for how can someone swear to God if they do not believe that God exists?
In most other respects within our courts system, those who have to swear an Oath are given the opportunity to affirm in the alternative. Witnesses who appear in court to give evidence, jurors, before being impanelled as part of a jury, are offered the opportunity to choose an Oath that accords with their faith, be that Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or other, or to make an affirmation that does not reflect any faith. We recognise the importance of an Oath, but – it would be considered quite inappropriate for a person who does not believe in God to swear an Oath to God, as it would be a totally disingenuous gesture – but we do not afford the same facility or courtesy to those embarking on judicial office who do not believe in God.
Secularise
My attempt to amend this Oath is not one to secularise Ireland but to establish the veracity and sincerity of any Oath a new Judge would take.
I am not saying that no judge believes in God, and I am not saying that every judge believes in God. I suspect, as with most of society, there are judges who believe and judges who do not believe. So, are we not therefore devaluing the importance and the honesty of a Judicial Oath of Office that requires them to essentially profess belief in God even if they do not have such faith?
Furthermore, are we suggesting that those who believe that God does not exist, are incapable of holding judicial office or inappropriate people to sit as judges in our courts? I don’t think anybody thinks that and therefore, is it not also reasonable to acknowledge the fact that not everybody is lucky enough to have faith in God and those who don’t should not be required to say that they do?
The motive behind my Bill is, in fact, to acknowledge that we as a society are made up of lots of different creeds, and those of no creed, and, if we expect our judges to embark on their office in an honest forthright and sincere way, we should not be asking them to swear to a God they do not believe in.
The Bill only seeks to amend the Oath to remove the reference to God, but I would have no objection to a suggestion that an alternative affirmation be made available to those who do not wish to swear to God. I merely think that the Constitution should be as simple as possible and that is why I have put forward this proposal.
Barry Ward is a Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire constituency.