Bret Devereaux

Obvious I cannot speak to the legal implications of the Senate impeachment oath, being a historian, not a lawyer, but I can talk about some of the broader and more profound implications. Since 86/100 Senators self-identify as Christian, I'm going to focus on that context. 2/11

Now the constitution says that the impeachment trial should take place under "oath or affirmation," but the affirmation in the current Senate rules - which may well be altered, of course - is pretty clearly an abbreviated form of Christian oath-taking. 3/11

It runs, "I solemnly swear (or affirm) that in all things appertaining to the trial of ____, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God." So, given what we know about oaths (linked post above), what does that *mean*? 4/11

Oaths, you will recall, have three components: 1) declaration ('I will do impartial justice'), 2) a specification of a higher power ('so help me God'), and 3) a curse called down on the swearers, should they be false... 5/11

The curse component in Christian oath-taking is often left out because it is - my awkward phrasing - theologically obvious: that God would damn an oath-breaker. But that doesn't mean it vanishes from the oath formula, merely that it is left unsaid... 6/11

...the idea is important enough that it is one of the Ten Commandments (forswearing an oath is a core part of 'taking the name Lord's name in vain'). Theologically, a forsworn oath is a form of blasphemy. Note also on the seriousness of oaths Matt. 5:33-37. 7/11

So for the 86 Christians and 8 Jews in the US Senate, the formality of that impeachment oath carries very real religious import - presumably if you believe in that particular God, you also believe he meant business when he said not to forswear oaths. 8/11