Oath Breakers!
from Voice for Justice UK:
What is an oath? True, the word is sometimes used to denote a profane or offensive expression, but the meaning we normally have in mind is that of a formal declaration, pledge or promise, made before God, of allegiance or loyalty, or to fulfill a pledge. It commits the one swearing to future action, and incurs penalties if broken.
For example, before taking their seat in Parliament, MPs swear before God an oath of allegiance to the Monarch. The practice was formally introduced during the reign of Elizabeth I by the Act of Supremacy 1563, but it has its origins in Magna Carta, agreed on 15th June 1215, which begins by acknowledging the nation’s Christian foundation and primary allegiance to God. It is therefore, at base, an undertaking made to God, and the penalty for breaking it, until fairly recently, was death!
Similarly, prior to ordination, priests are called under oath to affirm and declare their belief in the faith as revealed in Scripture and set forth in the creeds, ‘and to which the historic formularies of the Church of England bear witness’. Again, it is an undertaking under seal to God.
By way of variation, but also sharing the character of an oath, the BBC is self-avowedly ‘dedicated’ to God The Latin inscription set in stone over the entrance to Broadcasting House proudly proclaims, ‘This Temple of the Arts and Muses is dedicated to Almighty God by the first Governors of Broadcasting in the year 1931, Sir John Reith being Director-General….’
But in modern day UK, does any of this really matter any more? After all, society has moved on, the argument goes. We’ve outgrown all the mumbo jumbo and superstition that characterized those earlier, primitive times, when it was thought that all this stuff mattered. We’re better, more sophisticated and caring … more tolerant of each other now. True, we still like a bit of tradition and pageantry, but at base that’s all these words are – nice traditions that lend a bit of gravitas to life.
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