If an atheist goes to court, do they make him swear on the bible?

Well... ? Do they?

I corresponded with Robin O'Hair on this subject a few years before he was murdered.

Robin O'Hair was imprisoned in Texas for refusing to swear a religious oath. The outcome of this case was that secular affirmations can be substituted for a religious oaths.

Every time I've had jury duty I requested a secular affirmation when they swore everyone else in. When I was going through my divorce my lawyer recommended that I swear in so as not to prejudice the judge again me so I didn't make waves there.

The fact that requesting a secular affirmation could prejudice the judge or jury against you makes me believe that religious oaths should be eliminated all together. Everyone should simply affirm under penalty of law to tell the truth. Short, simple, and legal for both believers and non-believers.

Remember in Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells Christians not to swear oaths. Some sects of Christianity like Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to take oaths because of this.

yeah, they make everybody do it b/c dated christian laws for some reason still exist in todays society. I was requested to do so and I told the judge I will not swear to something I dont believe in, she got mad and I said that this is just another form of forcing people to be obedient. the justice system requires subservience, so if you have realistic and rational beliefs you will be shunned and ignored.

if you dont believe then who cares what the book is

No, your not required anymore.

You simply swear to tell the truth, etc.
Doing it with or without a holy book, it still has the force of law if you lie.

They still do it here...I had to do it recently.

By swearing on the bible didn’t keep even religious people before to lie under oath! So yeah it doesn’t mean anything. I think laws must be much stricter to force witnesses to tell the truth, by applying longer jail sentences, so they really have to think twice before lying!!!

In most jurisdictions, you can swear on a law book instead. Likewise for inaugurations.

this great nation was founded on christian laws...

***this great nation was founded on christian laws...

Your statement is completely incorrect.
The United States Constitution serves as the law of the land for America and indicates the intent of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution forms a secular document, and nowhere does it appeal to God, Christianity, Jesus, or any supreme being. The U.S. government derives from people (not God), as it clearly states in the preamble: We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union... The omission of God in the Constitution did not come out of forgetfulness, but rather out of the Founding Fathers purposeful intentions to keep government separate from religion.

***this great nation was founded on christian laws...***

Right... you know that Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Lincoln were _not_ Christians, right?

I believe these days you can swear on a book of law if you refuse to swear on a bible. It could be worse though- here in the Republic of Ireland, you have to take a religious oath to become a judge in a court of law, or the president.

I never said that the founding fathers were christians. the nation was founded in the 1600s by CHRISTIAN pilgrims seeking religious freedom.

***I never said that the founding fathers were christians. the nation was founded in the 1600s by CHRISTIAN pilgrims seeking religious freedom.***

First, they weren't all Christian.

More importantly, they didn't found the US as a country - the Founding Fathers did. Oddly, that's why they're called the Founding Fathers.

***the nation was founded in the 1600s by CHRISTIAN pilgrims seeking religious freedom.***

The pilgrims weren't the ones who founded the nation... damn, can you not say ANYTHING accurate?

Pilgrims just documented this new continent. Don't you even involve the natives? They were living here way before those men sailed here.

***Pilgrims just documented this new continent.***

...errr... well... Columbus did that. And Vikings did before him, too...