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27 U. Fla. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 443 (2016)
Fixing Witness Oaths: Shall We Retire the Rewarder of Truth and Avenger of Falsehood

handle is hein.journals/ufpp27 and id is 461 raw text is: FIXING WITNESS OATHS: SHALL WE RETIRE THE REWARDER OF TRUTH AND AVENGER OF FALSEHOOD? Allan W. Vestal* INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 443 I. STATE WITNESS OATHS AND AFFIRMATION PROVISIONS ........... 446 II. WITNESS OATHS AND CREDIBILITY ............................................ 450 III. WITNESS OATHS, PREFERENCE, AND FREE EXERCISE ................. 453 IV. WITNESS OATHS AND PRIVACY .................................................. 467 V. WHERE Do WE Go FROM HRE? ............................................... 472 A . The Reform Option ................................................................ 472 B. The Representation Option .................................................... 473 C ON CLU SION ........................................................................................ 480 INTRODUCTION There was a time in our national history when religious bigotry so infused our state constitutions, statutes, and common law as to bar some witnesses from testifying in court based solely on their religious beliefs.1 As a federal court formulated the rule in 1916: a person who does not believe in a God who is the rewarder of truth and the avenger of falsehood cannot be permitted to testify.2 * Professor, Drake University Law School. 1. Allan W. Vestal, The Lingering Bigotry of State Constitution Religious Tests, 15 U. MD. L.J. RACE, RELIGION, GENDER & CLASS 55, 70-84 (2015). In this discussion the term religious belief' includes both belief and non-belief on religious matters. I decline to engage in the clever but wholly disingenuous distinction that would exclude atheists and agnostics from legal protections of religious belief. 2. United States v. Miller, 236 F. 798, 799 (W.D. Wash., 1916). In Miller the prosecution called Mr. Kirkland. The defendant objected to Kirkland's testimony on the ground that he does not believe in the existence of a God, who is the rewarder of truth and the avenger of falsehood... Id. at 798. At a hearing on the motion to exclude, Kirkland was interrogated as to his beliefs on matters of religion: A: 1 believe there is a creator, a cause for all that we see and all that we hear. 443

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