FFRFMCC Creates Petition Asking Joe Biden to Take a Secular Oath of Office

The Freedom From Religion Foundation Metropolitan Chicago Chapter is asking President-Elect Joe Biden to drop religion in his presidential oath of office at his inauguration.

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President-Elect Joe Biden emphasized during his campaign a promise to heal the divisions within our nation, and to be a president for all the people and not just those who voted for him. Such a promise must include showing no religious favoritism by not placing his hand on a bible, or any religious text during while taking his oath of office on January 20th.

It is time our elected officials learn that unity begins when they take their oath to uphold the Constitution in the secular manner our founders intended, thereby committing to the equal representation of the rapidly diversifying constituency of our country.

The FFRFMCC has created a petition through Moveon.org, calling for U.S. citizens to make the same request of Biden. The petition states as follows:

For decades, and particularly during the course of the last four years under the Trump Administration, aggressive and unconstitutional measures have been undertaken to erode the separation between church and state providing excessive privilege and power to religious organizations and individuals, through judicial appointments, Executive Orders, programs such as “Project Blitz,” and the unconstitutional allocation of taxpayer money to fund private religious schools and organizations.

Religious groups and “faith-based institutions” are seeking to roll back hard-fought advances in areas such as LGBTQ equality and women’s reproductive rights, and as tax-exempt organizations they wield far too much political influence.

Mr. Biden has emphatically promised to heal the divisions and partisanship by claiming he will be accountable to all Americans, not just those who voted for him. This is generally accepted to mean inclusiveness regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, political party, and religious affiliation (or lack thereof). Public servants on BOTH sides of the aisle must learn to refrain from using religious language when speaking in their official capacities. This would include references to their god, attempts to “unite” the country by calling for the blessings of a higher power, or reciting scripture from their chosen religious doctrine. When such language is inserted into the public sphere, it serves only to alienate those of differing or no religious affiliation, making them feel like outsiders in their own country.

As noted in the most recent Pew Research study from 2018, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. These trends indicate a rapid rise of the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” This demographic now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009. Despite the above statistics, those who identify as non-religious or unaffiliated have virtually no cohesive political influence and are virtually ignored in political discourse.

To access and sign this petition, please click here.