Air Force Answers "So Help Me" Question with God

Air Force Restores 'God' to Enlistment Oath
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Sep 04, 2014

An airman's career will be coming to an end unless he recognizes "God" in his oath of reenlistment.

Months after the Air Force last year said "So help me God" was an optional line when taking the oath of enlistment or reenlistment, it reversed itself. The decision will require atheists to infer a belief in a supreme being if they want to remain in the military.

At Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, the airman was told on Aug. 25 that he would not be allowed to continue unless he recited the oath that references God, said Monica Miller, an attorney for Appignani Humanist Legal Center in Washington.

"The government cannot compel a nonbeliever to take an oath that affirms the existence of a supreme being," she said. "Numerous cases affirm that atheists have the right to omit theistic language from enlistment or reenlistment contracts."

Not anymore, according to a spokeswoman for the Air Force.

"Reciting 'So help me God' in the reenlistment and commissioning oaths is a statutory requirement under Title 10 U.S.C. §502," Rose Richeson told Military.com on Thursday. Air Force Instruction on the oath is consistent with the language mandated in the law, she said.

"Airmen are no longer authorized to omit the words 'So help me God'," Richeson said.
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