[thechat] What?? WHAT?????

[Paul Cowan]

Madhu wrote:
> In Australia, for example, to become a citizen you have to swear an oath,
> but if you're not religious, you can also pledge an affirmation, which
> doesn't have any references to God. (Issac?)

<impersonation type="isaac">

 From http://www.immi.gov.au/citizen/becomecitizen.html:

Before 24 January 1994 there was an Oath of Allegiance:

 I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true
 allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of
 Australia, her heirs and successors according to law, and that
 I will faithfully observe the laws of Australia and fulfil my
 duties as an Australian citizen.

After 24 January 1994 the Oath of Allegiance was replaced by the Australian
Citizenship Pledge:

 From this time forward, under God,
 I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
 whose democratic beliefs I share,
 whose rights and liberties I respect, and
 whose laws I will uphold and obey.

The words of the pledge can be spoken in this form as an oath, but like
the former Oath of Allegiance it can be taken as an affirmation. An
affirmation is when someone does not want to use a religious oath. People
making the affirmation do not say the words 'under God'.

</impersonation>


As a kid, I remember at our weekly school assemblies, having to recite
"I honour the Flag, I will serve the Queen, and cheerfully obey my
parents, teachers and the law", which apart from being a pretty
pansy-ass oath, irritated me insanely by the time I was about 13,
because by then I was the sort of little cynic who thought that
the flag was an imperialistic holdover, the Queen was an irrelevance,
my parents were far-from-always-correct, my teachers were buffoons,
and the law was an ass. :)

It used to start with "I will love God and my country" , but I gather
that was hooked out in the 50s (quite the opposite of the US)

http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/fed100/projectflag.htm

Paul